NYC Suspends Meter Regulations, Street Cleaning
People in New York have probably never heard of Chicago’s Mayor Bilandic.
It was a poor response to the Blizzard of ’79 that ended the tenure of Michael Bilandic as mayor of Chicago and swept a relatively unknown named Jane Byrne into city hall.
So now, as New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg is having his own Bilandic moment with the city still paralyzed from the snowstorm, that NYC announced the fourth day of suspended parking meter regulations and alternative side parking for street cleaning today according to Fox New York News.
Between the meter holidays of Christmas Eve and Christmas, the fact that meters don’t have to be fed on Sundays, the last week of snow days and now another holiday weekend, New York City parking meters will have not generated a single solitary quarter for 10 straight days.
All these breaks for drivers are positive, but in a lot of cases, many New Yorker’s cars are still moribund in the massive snowfall or plowed in by the nearly two feet of snow that fell.
Maybe Chicago can help our friends in the Big Apple and send them our lawn furniture to help drivers save their parking spaces.
Better them than us, we say.
My parents always tell me how to the mayor of Chicago lost the election because he did not clean the streets. Personally, I was wondering if Rahm Emanuel was going to sponsor salt trucks this Winter season.
I think Bilandic’s problem wasn’t just that he didn’t clear the streets, it was that he promised they would be cleared. Something like that he went on TV, said they’d be clear within 2 days or something and it took an entire week.
I remember during the new years day storm in ’99 seeing Daley on TV, reporter asked him when the streets would be clear. Daley made some comment about not being an idiot and said the streets would be cleared as fast as possible.
According to the New York Post, the Sanitation Department Union called a slowdown in clearing the snow to protest the budget cuts.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sanit_filthy_snow_slow_mo_qH57MZwC53QKOJlekSSDJK
Then there’s this gem…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LVypA4YzyQ
So think twice before bashing our guys and the job they do!
Winky,
I hope you’re not talking about me. I have no issues with the snowplow crews. They seem to do a darn fine job as far as I can tell.