In case you haven’t heard or weren’t here to experience it, the day after Christmas, New York City and the surrounding area had a blizzard. It was my first in the City as well as my first in the Northeast. It was mind-boggling how fast it came. The City got just over 20 inches with some surrounding areas buried under up to 32 inches. On top of that, the blizzard conditions caused drifts four or five feet deep in some places. There are people who still haven’t shoveled their home’s doorways free of snow to allow doors to open.
Nature and the power of the weather are mind-boggling. More powerful than anything we humans are able to construct, build, design or even dream of. Here in New York big snows are not rare. It is to be expected. You would think New Yorkers would be prepared. This was the 6th greatest snow accumulation in New York history but there was one even larger last February. I watch cars slip, slide, get stuck and still have not seen chains, snow tires or many who know how to drive in this stuff. Cars were abandoned all over the area. These abandoned cars block streets and prevent snow plows from doing their job.
Now the local news is covering nothing but the ranting and raving of locals who are blaming Mayor Bloomberg for their inability to get around in the snow. Secondary and tertiary roads are not all plowed and clean as a whistle for their convenience. As powerful as he is, the mayor of this city or any other city is not powerful enough to control snowfall, wind, floods and other weather phenomena. They didn’t campaign based on that nor did we elect them based on their ability to control the weather or its results. It seems the new mantra of this country is the blame game. It seems we are constantly looking for someone to blame. This is mind-boggling. Yes, there are weather caused inconveniences and critical situations that happen in the Northeast and most other places. We do have to live with such challenges and they can’t always be fixed immediately as we desire. The blame game doesn’t help.
Another possible contributing factor in this situation, to take a political view, is that New York City has had to lay-off 400 City employees. The downturn in the economy and the influence of the Tea Party and the Republicans will continue to cause further essential services to disappear. This is what many voted for: A balanced budget and the reduction of the deficit. The cutting of essential services will continue. Pardon me for repeating myself but this is mind-boggling to me. Wanting all the services possible but not wanting to pay for them. As they say, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
Stan the Man
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