January 11, 2011
Snow prep, blizzard deals and closings
As New York City battens down for another major winter storm expected to arrive tonight, the city’s transit chief is advising residents to skip the Wednesday morning commute.
“If you don’t need to travel tomorrow morning, please don’t,” MTA Chairman Jay Walder said at a news conference broadcast on NY1. “We expect to run service in the morning but there will be changes and no one should leave home without tuning in to the news media or tuning into MTA.info.”
“Tomorrow morning is going to be a difficult, difficult rush hour,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at his own press conference earlier. “The storm is predicted to be at its heaviest just a few hours before rush hour and there’s no way our city’s plows can get to all 6,000 streets in one or two hours.”
Update: Although the forecast hasn’t changed, the mayor has now issued a Weather Emergency Declaration, meaning the city can tow cars that block roadways or snowplows, alternate side parking rules are suspended, garbage collection is suspended and you don’t have to feed the meters.
NYC Schools might get a snow day on Wednesday, the mayor said. That decision will be made at 5 a.m. based not on how much snow has fallen but rather on the status of snow removal, he said.
“What we sure know is that tomorrow morning’s commute is not going to be easy and I would assume that tomorrow night’s is not going to be easy either,” said Bloomberg, who faced more questions about the city’s botched outer-borough response to the Dec. 26 blizzard. “We didn’t do the job that New Yorkers rightly expect of us in the last storm and we intend to make sure that that does not happen again.”
Several city officials outlined how the city’s improved snow response plan is already in motion, including better weather monitoring, a tow-truck task force that will give priority to stuck ambulances, subway trains heading for underground storage after tonight’s commute, snow scouts sending video to City Hall, and the opening of incident command centers at 8 p.m. The city’s regular 1,700 plows and 365 salt spreaders will be augmented by 200 pieces of heavy-duty equipment from private contractors, as well as laborers who tonight will start shoveling intersections after plows have passed, Bloomberg said.
Snow deals
“Billy Elliot the Musical” has e-mailed a snow day offer for tonight at 7 p.m. and Wednesday’s 2 p.m. matinee. Use the code BEGNA1201 on Broadway Offers or to the Imperial Theatre Box Office at 240 W. 45th St. to get 40 percent off orchestra and front mezzanine tickets.
Mamma Mia has a snow deal of $64.50 (including the facility fee,) for orchestra and front mezzanine seats Wednesday night only.
Tony-winning best musical “Memphis” on Broadway announced via e-mail a snow day deal for Wednesday’s 2 and 8 p.m. performances. Use offer code ME4FANS at BroadwayOffers.com to get a 40 percent discount on orchestra or mezzanine tickets. The offer code is also good at the box office, 225 W. 44th St.
“Gruesome Playground Injuries” still in previews at Off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre, is doing a snow day discount for Wednesday with $42.50 tickets when using the code FFOL, and other deals for tonight .
Off-Broadway’s “The Divine Sister” and “Love, Loss and What I Wore” both have snow sales.
Closings and cancellations
Museum of the Chinese in America
Secret Science Club at the Bell House
Albert Gallatin talk at the Museum of the City of New York
Central Park Conservancy free walking tours on Jan. 12 and 13
Sirius XM Live on Broadway
No Union Square Greenmarket on Wednesday
Dag Hammarskjold Greenmarket will be closed on Wednesday.
The Center for Architecture will delay its opening until 2 p.m.
Astor Center classes canceled Wednesday.
Amtrak tweeted “Trains continue to operate but winter storm leads to some reduction in Empire Service. For the most up to date info call: 800.USA.RAIL”
Statue of Liberty
Hotel deals
Winter hotel deals from $79 for New York City
Quikbook’s NYC hotel deals posted today
However, the New York Times reports that many hotels are booked solid.
Key quotes from the pre-snow press conferences:
“New Yorkers should use 311 for non-emergency calls, 911 is life threatening only” - Bloomberg.
“Please do not drive if you can avoid it” - Bloomberg.
“Keep in mind, for nine years, 70-odd snow storms, things worked very well. They didn’t work anywheres near what we would want and for that I apologize to people. It was not done deliberately” - Bloomberg
“We have the potential for upwards of 14 inches in some parts of the MTA service region” - Walder
“In December we were too slow to reacting to events as they happened” - Walder.
“For our paratransit customers, we will only be providing service for vital medical procedures and in any cases where cannot provide that service, we will work with emergency services to be able to assist customers.” - Walder
“Doing this safely means service may be temporarily suspended or curtailed to avoid stuck trains and buses. In the unlikely event that we do have a situation with customers stuck on a train for an extended period we have new plans in place to ensure that we do communicate with customers and we provide them with whatever support we can. To facilitate this, a customer advocate will be on hand in each of or incident command centers.” - Walder
“The real focus has to be preventing the buses from getting stuck at all, keeping the roads clear.”- Darryl Irick, acting head of the MTA’s three bus divisions.
“In the event that there are any delays in plowing or simply keeping up with the snow as it is falling, which is one of the challenges that is there, we will adjust our bus services as necessary to be able to ensure that we are operating on cleared roads. … Bear in mind that there are 350 bus routes across the city of New York, and even across the distance of that bus route they may vary in different parts. So it is something that is very much a route-by-route, a location-by-location decision as to whether a bus is able to operate on a particular route. And the conditions at one moment may be very different than the condition you have at a different moment. - Walder
Mayor Bloomberg was not in New York City during the Dec. 26 storm has declined to reveal where he was. Today’s New York Times reports it was probably Bermuda — Blizzard Mystery Solved? Air Bloomberg Was Seen in Bermuda — though the mayor again today refused to state his location.
Reporter question: “Why did you wait 24 hours to return to the city from Bermuda … ?”
Bloomberg answers, cutting off the question: “I don’t know how where you get that information. We don’t put out, check the public schedule, I can tell you this, I was totally in communications and in charge and accountable all the time and that’s the way I’ve been for nine years.”
Later, another reporter question: “Can we expect you to stay in the city for any predicted storms for the rest of this winter?”
Bloomberg answer: “I, we, you check the public schedule and we’ll be happy to provide that to you …”
Reporter: (interrupting, inaudible)
Bloomberg: “I just told you the answer to that question.”
Later, another reporter: “It was hard to tell last time who was kind of in charge making those decisions —”
Bloomberg: “No it isn’t. The mayor’s been in charge and the mayor is in charge all the time. And while there is a technical chain of command it really is, when I go up to Albany for example, the mayor is still in charge. In this day and age when the president goes on vacation he’s still in charge. There’s not any of that. I’m not on every conference call and shouldn’t be, because you can’t have conference calls with so many people that there’s no chance of sharing information. I’m convinced that we have, well even though it broke down, and the information in this case didn’t get filtered, combined and passed up the chain, I do think it will happen in the future.”
(Another question about Bloomberg’s refusal to say where he was during the blizzard.)
Bloomberg: “We have a public schedule. We started a policy back in January of 2002. The problem is the mayor would have no private life, couldn’t be with his kids when you have the press following you around all the time. The president’s job is different, the president has to be there, and people, I think presidents have always, my recollection, they’ve always told everyone where they are but you don’t know, the president day in and day out. I’m sure he does a lot of private things with his family and I appreciate that and I think he should have personal life. The important thing is that you are in communications. I not only had my cell phone, we have police detail with you with all sorts of communications all the time and to the best of my recollection in nine years when you couldn’t communicate with me, get me on the phone whether I’m traveling or uptown or downtown or Madison Square Garden tonight.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated throughout the day Tuesday as more places announced their snow plans, deals and closures. Follow NewYorkology on Twitter for faster updates.
Earlier: Airports open, transit delays remain in NYC post-blizzard (Dec. 28)
NYC blizzard warning until noon; major transit disruptions (Dec. 27)
NY Blizzard: Amtrak suspension, Statue of Liberty closes (Dec. 26)
January 11, 2011 12:50 PM in Broadway, Cheap Stuff, Hotelology, Transportology
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