New York (CNN) — Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended city efforts to clear snow amid a swell of frustration by some snowbound residents who wonder why their streets are still clogged days after a massive holiday blizzard.
“We did not do as good a job as we wanted to do or the city has come to expect,” Bloomberg said Wednesday evening. “I can not tell you for sure why it was a lot worse this time than other times.”
Many New Yorkers are still struggling to get to work or travel to local hospitals as they wait for snow plows to reach their streets in many parts of New York City’s outer districts.
“It’s understandable the first 24 hours,” said Brooklyn resident Woody Noel. “It’s Day 3 and my street hasn’t been touched.”
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she is convening emergency oversight hearings on January 10 to examine the city’s response to the storm.
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“People are mad and they have every right to be mad,” said Quinn. “Almost every storm in memory the city has been much better” in its cleanup efforts.
Head of New York’s sanitation workers’ union blamed both harsh winds and city-wide budget cuts as reasons for the slow response.
“We were 400 people short,” said Harry Nespoli, president of the city’s Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association. “There are certain services that should not be affected,” he said. “The people pay taxes for it.”
Mayor Bloomberg said his administration had not cut sanitation department budgets.
He noted that thousands of sanitation workers have made steady progress in clearing streets, hiring an additional 1,900 laborers to shovel sidewalks and clear roadways.
Some 50 city buses remain stuck throughout New York, Bloomberg said, while many secondary and tertiary streets remain blanketed in south Brooklyn, western Queens and Staten Island.
