Secondary Navigation

Mayor de Blasio Holds Press Conference on Winter Weather Conditions

January 27, 2015

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU6ETCGYT0A

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Okay, there we go.

All right, I want to give everyone an update, and it is a good update. We obviously missed the worst of this storm, which is a blessing for New York City. We have an old saying that we live by around here – prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. We got a much better result than the original projections had portrayed, and we were spared the worst of this storm. That being said, a lot of other areas were not. And just 20, 30 miles east of the city border, in Long Island, they got exactly what was originally projected for here. Obviously, our friends in Boston got what was projected for here.

So, this storm was real, and it was as big as it was projected to be, but it moved eastward, and thank God for that. But a lot of other people in the metropolitan area are hurting quite a bit right now, and going through a really tough time – a lot of other people in the northeast going through a tough time, over two feet in a lot of areas. Now, here, in the vast majority of the city, we did not even hit 10 inches – 6, 7, 8 inches has been more typical in most parts of the city. Still some snow happening today, so we might pick up a few more inches, but obviously, the worst has passed. So, put simply, we got about half as much as what a lot of the projections had been, or even under half as much. But again, if you look at eastern Queens, where I was this morning, some parts of eastern Queens got 10 inches of snow. Just literally 18 miles to the east in Ronkomp – Ronkonkoma, there were 20 inches of snow, so literally, a distance of 18 miles – twice as much snow in that part of Long Island. Farther out, in Suffolk, Mattituck has gotten 25 inches already. 

So there's no question of how serious this is, how serious it was projected to be, and the kind of precautions that we had to take. The good news is, the people of this city understood how serious the threat was. They took the travel ban seriously, they got off the roads after 11 pm, and that allowed the sanitation department to do an extraordinary job. 

I spent this morning in different parts of the city. I was out in Bayside, and Howard Beach, in Jamaica Center; I was out in Staten Island, on Hylan Boulevard, and other parts of Staten Island – what you saw was an extraordinarily effective response by the sanitation department, and that is in no small measure because people did a great job of getting out of the way, and helping sanitation to do what they do so well. They of course were out all night nonstop, and they continue to work intensely to keep clearing the city up, and getting us back to normal.

Just some recapping – of course, at 7:30 am today, in coordination with the state of New York, we lifted the travel ban. The Staten Island Ferry was back up immediately at that point. The subway system, the MTA – as you've heard – is quickly coming to life. It will not get the full weekday capacity today. It will be the equivalent of a Sunday schedule, which is basically about 60 percent of normal capacity. 

Now, the cleanup, again, underway, going well – but it's going to take today, and into tomorrow, to continue that cleanup. So, the reminder to the people is, even though we didn't see the worst, it's still very cold out there. It's still very slippery. Driving around, you do need to take precautions. It will be slower. I saw a few accidents along the way as I was driving around this morning. People need to be careful, and the farther east you go in the city, the more careful you have to be – particularly eastern Queens, again, which bore the brunt of what the city experienced. 

Sanitation will be working nonstop. I've said that statistic over and over – they have 6,000 miles of roads to cover, same as going from here to Los Angeles and back. I was gratified to hear some of the national media putting up – picking up on that point, and recognizing just what a big job our sanitation department and our transportation department have to do every day. But sanitation has stuck with it, with 2,400 pieces of snow-clearing equipment out, continuing their 12-hour shifts, and they're doing a great job.

Another update – we recognized, thankfully, that because we did not have intense wind conditions today, and because we got a lot less snow – after a careful evaluation was done, that we could go ahead and open up the parks again, so that order was given at 11 am. Parks are now open throughout the city. But again, I want people to remember to be very careful. It is slippery. Some of our young people are happy that it's slippery, but for the rest of us, you've got to be careful. And one particular caution – in some of our parks, there are bodies of water – those can be covered over by snow, and not be as visible. So people have to be careful. Pathways could be icy, et cetera. If there's any problem in a park, or anywhere else, that needs to be addressed, we remind people to call 3-1-1 to report fallen branches or any other kind of obstruction we should know about.

Very, very important topic, our schools – school obviously closed today, here to announce that school will be open tomorrow. If some of you were going to ask, was I heavily lobbied by a certain public school student – the answer is yes. Dante made his best attempt to convince me that school should also be closed tomorrow, but his attempt failed, and by every measure, we will be ready to run school well tomorrow. 

Alternate side parking, however, will be suspended tomorrow, as it is today. We're still not sure, in terms of garbage and recycling, when that will be back up and running – clearly not tomorrow, but we'll give you an update tomorrow on what day we think that will be back.

Reminding people as always, if you have questions, need information – 3-1-1, or go online at NYC.gov. If you see an emergency, if you see something life-threatening – 9-1-1.

So, the bottom line is, we got lucky. Things turned out a lot better than we feared, but we were prepared. The people of this city responded really the exactly right way. They looked out for each other. They heeded the warnings. And that had allowed us to do what we needed to do to keep people safe. Things are getting back to normal but do not be overconfident. It will still take a while to get things fully back to normal, and again, take real precautions while you’re out there today and tomorrow. A quick word in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

And no one has done a better job with the seguridad de todos than Kathryn Garcia, helping to make sure that our streets are being cleared. Again, I had the honor of being with your workers the last couple of days. I had the honor of seeing some of your folks and greeting them while I was traveling around the city and thanking them. Your team really did a first-class job, and please let them know, on behalf of all New Yorkers, how appreciative we are – Commissioner Garcia.

Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, Department of Sanitation: So there’s no pressure when you’re boss goes out to check on your work. So, we did have over 2,400 sanitation workers out on the streets last night. It made a tremendous difference for them in terms of how much geography they got covered. We were able to get into most secondary streets last night for at least one pass. They are back on it this morning and will be on it all day, to both widen lanes on the commercial strips but also to get into some of the secondaries that definitely need a second pass – particularly out in Eastern Queens, that saw more than 10 inches of snow, and there’s a lot of blowing and drifting. They need more attention and they’re doing that now. So I’m pleased with what they’ve been able to accomplish and hope to – well, let me just say, not unhappy we didn’t see 30.

Mayor: Amen. Amen. I want to bring up Commissioner Trottenberg. And again, her team did a great job getting the streets ready for the storm. They are going to have to deal with the aftermath after everything is cleared. Their work is never done – Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.

Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, Department of Transportation: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank, particularly, the men and women of DOT. I was out this morning – as you were – seeing my crews on the job, assisting sanitation and plowing, clearing the pedestrian overpasses and keeping our bridges safe. They did a terrific job overnight and will continue to help sanitation today. Ferry is now running – as the mayor mentioned – ferries up and running on a half-hour schedule – full normal service resume tomorrow. And once again, I’m glad we were able to help the sanitation team to keep the city moving.

Mayor: Thank you very much. And we mentioned the – Parks Commissioner Silver has only 29,000 acres to worry about. And again, we wanted to make sure that we felt good about reopening them and he and his team did a survey to determine that, and gave us the all-clear – so, Commissioner Mitch Silver, parks department.

Commissioner Mitchell Silver, Department of Parks and Recreation: Thank you. I will not reiterate what the mayor said – however I do want to let people know, they should use caution as they use the parks. There are still slippery conditions and again, there are is potential of some falling limbs. We ask anyone who sees either a falling limb or any type of damage or hazards to call 3-1-1. Our recreation centers will be open from 1 to 6 pm. 11 out of 35 will be at limited staffing levels. So, if some of the children want to enjoy our recreation centers, and not just the parks, there will be several open throughout the city. In terms of the zoos, they will be closed today for cleanup, but will be reopened tomorrow – normal hours. As well as the skating rinks – they will be closed today to clean up, and reopen tomorrow, although Lasker Rink is trying to see whether they can open today. The concessions will open up on an as-needed basis as they feel they have staff to open up those concessions. So with that, we just encourage people to use extreme caution. And then for any sledding opportunities, we do have on our website – for those that want to see places where they can enjoy themselves in the snow. So thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much. You’re going to have a lot of customers today. I want to bring up Commissioner Esposito, who has done a great job these last days, getting all the different agencies coordinated. And this has been a constantly shifting situation and he’s kept everyone working together well. Commissioner Esposito.

Commissioner Joseph Esposito, Office of Emergency Management: Thank you. You know, New York City Emergency Management – you know, our job is to coordinate and help with the planning, and that’s what we did the last few days. Our emergency operations center has been open for the last few days. It will remain open until the city gets back to normal, for the next day or so. So, we’ll be doing that. Additionally, we haven’t been hit as hard as we thought we were going to be hit, but surrounding counties have been hit. We’re working with them to provide some mutual assistance and some mutual aid for them. So, as soon as we can free up some of our equipment – probably the DOT, more than sanitation – we’ll be sending some assets out to surrounding counties. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. I want to emphasize that we really do believe in that. Remember some weeks back, the horrible snow storms in Buffalo, and we sent a lot of fire department equipment and very highly trained personnel up to help the people in Buffalo and Erie County. They were deeply appreciative. A lot of people have come to our aid when New York City went through Sandy, and a lot of other tough situations. We know Suffolk County is hurting right now and I appreciate Commissioner Esposito’s focus on making sure we’re helping our neighbors. So, whatever Suffolk County needs that we can spare, we’re certainly going to make sure that we give them that help. Finally, I want you to hear from Chief O’Neill, because he and I were in contact on the travel ban and making sure, with the NYPD’s help, that it would be successful, so sanitation could get out there and do its work. And I wanted you to hear an eyewitness account of the success of the travel ban. Chief O’Neill.  

Chief James O’Neill, NYPD: Hi, good afternoon, everyone. I think it’s after noon, right, a little bit after noon? So, I had the opportunity to conduct a survey last night, around 3 o clock in the morning – came up the East Side, went across 42nd Street, came into Times Square – first time, I think, in my life where I saw no vehicular traffic in Times Square besides sanitation trucks. I saw people having a snowball fight. So coming back to 1PP, I came down Seventh Avenue, and I saw one vehicle – it was a livery cab on West 4th and Seventh – and I told the driver, maybe it’s time to go home, and gave him a warning and sent him home. Just before I close, I want to thank the – we have police communications technicians, and we asked – we kept 50 of them on the overnight. We kept them from the 3rd Platoon. So, they ended up working about 16 to 17 hours. So, I’d just like to thank them for the great work that they did. And by having the roads closed, it gave us an opportunity to respond to jobs. Our actually response time was down considerably last night. So I’d like to thank everybody for their cooperation.

Mayor: Thank you. All right, with that – so, we're going to take questions on this topic. We will be seeing you later on on other topics.

Rich.

Question: Mr. Mayor, whether or not there was any number of summons – was there a number? Were summonses issued, or no summonses issued?

Chief O'Neill: So, Rich, as of now, from what I'm getting from our Operations unit, no summonses or arrests in relation to the storm.

Mayor: And I think on that, Rich, the important point is – and I want to thank all of our colleagues in the media – I think starting on Sunday, people were getting a very clear idea just how big a storm this was going to be, and the kind of dangers that would come with it. And we announced the travel ban early, and made it very clear how serious we were about it, and I think people respected that. And I give New Yorkers a lot of credit for heeding the warnings, and respecting them. And that is why so much work was done on the overnight, and that's why as we start to get back to normal this morning, you can go around a lot of parts of the city, as I did, and see extraordinary progress having been made, because sanitation was able to its work, because police, fire, everyone had the ability to do what they do as quickly as possible. 

Question: Mayor, what do you tell New Yorkers [inaudible] all the precautions that were made, and I'm not asking you to blame the meteorologists here, but for those who might think, oh, this was overkill, this was too much to do, or – and also, how much was 2010, that storm, in your thoughts as you prepared?

Mayor: Well, I would say 2010 was clearly in my thoughts, because that was a case where the city was not prepared sufficiently, and underestimated the danger, and did not give people clear messages in time. And I think that is exactly the prism through which we have to look at this – would you rather be ahead of the action or behind? Would you rather be prepared or unprepared? Would you rather be safe or unsafe? My job as the leader is to make decisions, and I will always err on the side of safety and caution. Now, we had consistently – not just for the day of yesterday, but for several days – reports talking about two feet or more of snow. Again, that would have instantly put us into one of the top snowstorms in the history of this city. To me it was a no-brainer. We had to take precautions to keep people safe. And God forbid this storm had not moved, you know, what was ultimately 20-30 miles to the east in our case – we would have then been hit by that incredible magnitude of storm, and had people not been off the roads, there would have been a lot of people in danger, and probably some people would have lost their lives. We can't take that risk. When we're making decisions about people's lives, we have to protect our people. So, you know, as I said, that example – Long Island, literally, you know, about 20 miles east of the Queens border – twice as much snow. If that storm had hit the way the way it was originally scheduled to hit, or originally envisioned to hit, that would have been us. So, these were the right precautions to take. They worked. Obviously, they're going to speed our ability to get back to normal. But, there's no – in situations like this, you can't be a Monday morning quarterback on something like the weather. The – no – there's no perfect capacity to project the weather. We take the information we have, and we try and make tough, careful judgements based on it.

Yes.

Question: The economic cost [inaudible] city government and to the local economy?

Mayor: I don't know if we do. I'm looking at Tony. We don't have something like that. We can probably put something together. Again – a lot less than it would have been if it had hit in full force. We think tomorrow – and I'll look to Kathryn as I say this – but I think tomorrow's going to be a pretty normal day, although there'll still be some cleaning up to do. Again, alternate side will be suspended, but generally speaking, business will go on in New York City. I think if we had gotten the kind of storm we were talking about originally, we would have lost tomorrow – we would have lost all the business, all the activity tomorrow. So, certainly the economic impact – much less of a negative impact than it would have been. 

Question: I just wanted to ask about the timing of some of the decisions. I think some people were wondering why the travel ban wasn't lifted until 7:30, after you had more information about the storm.

Mayor: Because we had to make sure that we were comfortable with the state of our roads. We obviously coordinated with the state of New York, and their decision making process – but the key point here is, we were not going to make an action until we were sure it was safe, and that it was not going to create a domino effect. For example, you tell people, okay, everybody come on in, you're immediately saying that the snow plows aren't going to be able to do their job right, because there would have been a huge amount of traffic on the road in the way of the plows. So, we had to weigh sort of short-term versus long-term considerations. Job one is to get the city back to normal. After you know people are safe, you've got to get the city back to normal. And it made sense to make sure that sanitation, in particular, felt we could support a lot of new traffic coming in without disrupting the mission of making sure the roads would be cleared. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, do you expect city workers to come in now that everything's calm, and if they took the day today, do they have to use a vacation day for that?

Mayor: It's the same standard we've used in the past in these situations. So, certainly, all city workers will be back to normal tomorrow. I'm looking to Tony – I think individual agencies have issued instructions about today according to updated information. So, each agency is sending messages out to its workers. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, WNYC encountered some people who actually got stranded in the subways last night. Do you have any concerns about the governor's decision to shut down the subways, given that the roads were also closed, it sort of left people with no options?

Mayor: I think, the – based on the information all of us had, it was right to take extraordinary precautions, and obviously, they were announced many hours in advance. I think, by definition, after the fact, everyone's going to look at the specifics of how things were handled to see what we can learn for the future, but based on what we knew at the time, you know, the – if the storm had hit with the intensity we were talking about, you remember the quote from yesterday – Kathryn offered it – in some cases we were expected two to four inches of snow per hour. We did think it would start, I think, earlier in the evening than it ultimately came. That would have paralyzed some of the subway lines above ground, certainly, so I think it was a decision based on caution, and trying to prepare for the worst, but again, I'm sure there'll be a full review to see what we can learn from this that might help us to think of other ways to do things in the future.

Question: Mayor de Blasio, you twice had press conferences – or appearances – at the same time as Governor Cuomo. Why – I mean, you weren't with him this morning, is there any reason you chose to go on CNN instead of standing – 

Mayor: That – CNN had just invited me on, I was happy to do it. The – no, we're all just trying to get information out as soon as it's ready. And there's been a lot of coordination, a lot of communication between our teams throughout. 

Question: Some were surprised by the governor's final decision on closing the subway system – it came relatively later in the day than some of the other announcements. I'm just wondering how much advance notice your team had gotten about that, and obviously there were a lot of New Yorkers who needed to know there would be no subway service at all after 11 o clock?

Mayor: We did not get a lot of advance notice. But again, I want to emphasize, I think all of these decisions were being taken in an atmosphere in which the consistent message we were getting from the weather service, and from all the meteorologists was two feet or even more, and very fast accumulation. So, I think in that atmosphere, everyone was trying to make quick decisions, and the right decisions. But we look at each one of these and try and learn, you know, how we can better approach them in the future. 

Yes.

Question: Was your meeting with Borough President Oddo at all related to the storm, and if not, what did you guys talk about, and was that planned before the storm, or did you just decide to go on a whim?

Mayor: I decided to go on a whim. I was – I knew I was going to be looking around the city, and I called him while I was still in Queens to see if he was available. He was shoveling his driveway, which meant he was available. So – [laughs] – so we agreed upon a diner on – Colonnade Diner, on Hylan Boulevard – and we just spent time catching up. But obviously, I first wanted to see how he thought the sanitation response was, and I think he felt pretty good about it. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, after Hurricane Irene didn't pan out to be the forecast that was expected, the next year a lot of people didn't take the forecast for Hurricane Sandy seriously – they stayed home, they told reporters they weren't evacuating because they had evacuated during Irene, and it hadn't panned out. Do you have any concerns, after a storm like last night, that maybe next year or next month, if you tell New Yorkers not to ride the subway or not to go into the streets, that they'll – you know, not take precautions?

Mayor: I do not, and I want to explain why. And I think it's a very fair question, because it's important to look at this history. First of all, I think one of the things I've said from the beginning – largely based on my experience with Sandy, because after Sandy I was all over the city and the affected neighborhoods, then as public advocate, and it was very, very striking that there was something of a gap in terms of people's consciousness. I don't think it was just because of Irene – I think no one could envision something the scale of Sandy. I think the world has changed a lot in the last few years. So, point one, we are going to be very forceful in our messages to people when we sense danger. This is what you saw in the last 48 hours – tried to clearly contextualize just how bad this storm might be. No one said, you know, you get a perfect guarantee of what you're going to get with the weather. But our job is to take the information we have – even look at it a little more conservatively than what we're getting, because we've seen storms speed up, and be even bigger than projected, so we have to take the worst case scenario – project that early and often to the people, so they can make good decisions, and offer very clear guidelines – like in this case, the travel ban. I think the city needs to do that. I'm not sure, in the history of this city, we always did that clearly enough and well enough – so we're going to be very, very forceful. And I guarantee you, if we ever get to a point in any crisis where we say the word "evacuate," it's going to be very forceful, it's going to be constantly reiterated – we're going to put a lot of muscle into that. So, it's about sending a very clear message up and down the line. I think the other reality is, extreme weather is becoming tragically much more common. Even if you go back a few years to when Irene hit, I don't think it was, for most of us, such an assumption as it is today. I think we have seen now extreme weather events, over and over again, in a kind of progression that was unimaginable just a few years ago. I think people understand it. They understand that global warming is one of the causes. They understand there's a lot of vulnerability, and they have to think about things differently. I think that's one of the reasons why people took last night so seriously, and acted accordingly. First of all, we had every expert saying for several days, two feet or more, and everyone could figure out that two feet was an extraordinarily large storm. But I think the consciousness is changing. I think people want to be safe. They want to keep their families safe, and they're learning to heed those warnings and not take them lightly. 

Phil: Couple more, guys. 

Question: Same vein – I wonder what you make of commentary that we're kind of getting soft as a nation, that we have to, you know, shut down streets and shut down the subways. Obviously, you have your side, I just wanted to know your reaction to that.

Mayor: Well, as a child, I did walk to school barefoot in the snow, so I share some of that concern. I think it's not softness to respond to extreme weather. I think there is a problem of people wanting everything to be convenient, and this stuff is never going to be convenient. Again, weather is thoroughly unpredictable. It, by definition, is going to cause inconvenience, and we're going to do our best to address people's concerns, but there will always be challenges and problems, and I do think people sometimes have to learn to take that in a little more stride as part of life. But, on the question of, sort of, a consciousness of what we're facing – I actually think, more and more – I'll just say for myself, generationally – I could never have imagined the kind of weather situations we're seeing today when I was growing up. So, I think people are catching up with the reality, and really feeling it. They – so many people know someone who had a house flooded, or lost a house in Sandy, or have been on the Thruway when the Thruway was impassable because of the snowstorms. I mean, it's becoming something that's now – a whole lot of families have had a personal experience with it, and so I think at this point, people recognize a storm is a very unpredictable thing, and we're seeing storms like we never saw before. So I think they're rightfully saying, okay, this is not about softness, this is about smart precautions.

Marcia.

Question: Mayor, I just wondered, if, in making the decisions yesterday, you took a look at the mistakes that were made in the blizzard of 2010, when –

Mayor: We got that question earlier, and yes.

Question: I'm sorry, I wasn't –

Mayor: Yeah, and I'll just reiterate – yes, absolutely. That was, having – having paid a lot of mind to what happened in 2010; having lived through it; having been all over the city then as public advocate; having seen the mistakes, which I think were under – the mistake of underestimation – not preparing early enough, not giving a clear message to people, not assuming the worst, not having the right leadership and the right personnel and material in place. We err on the side of caution and safety.

Phil: Two more, guys. 

Mayor: Who has not gone yet. Okay, we'll do these two. Go ahead.

Question: Just to follow up on Mike Grynbaum's question – could we get a time of when you found out the subways would be closed from Governor Cuomo?

Mayor: Tony and his team will get us that answer, because I want to make sure we do it accurately, but again, we found out just as it was being announced. 

Question: Another question on timing – last year, you highlighted the fact that you were having a 4 am conference call to decide whether schools would be open. Yesterday, the decision was made. I wanted to –

Mayor: Yep.

Question: – why the difference?

Mayor: Very good question – because again, think of this as sort of a bit of matrix. You've got the temperature, you've got the snow levels, you've got the wind levels, et cetera. This one was a no-brainer based on the forecast. Two feet of snow – there's nothing else to discuss. Plus, we expected very cold and windy conditions. In that instance, when we had the 4 am conference call, it was a close decision, meaning it was a borderline decision. And, so we had to wait to – I think it's 1 am or 2 am when the National Weather Service does their survey, we get the information at 3 am, plus 4 am was when we had as much information as we were going to have, and then so long as we got it out by 5 am, it would be in time for people to make adjustments. That one was a close decision. This one was not even close. This was a no-brainer. Okay. Thanks, everyone.

###

Media Contact

pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov
(212) 788-2958