The snow that hit New York City on November 15th took everyone by surprise causing delays on the transit system and the roads. The forecast only called for about 2 inches but to everyone's surprise, it was more like 6 inches.
"The bottom line is what happened is unacceptable," City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said the next day. "For New Yorkers who sat in three, five, eight hours of traffic, I'm sorry. We need to do a better job."
Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia echoed the apology on yesterday, saying, "I am certainly sorry that we did not message this. I am certain sorry we did not message appropriately."
Garcia admitted that the city's mistake the day of the storm was "our ability to message the public. Our messaging primarily said, 'Exercise caution.' That is not a strong enough message."
Garcia shared a new plan that will be now in place starting this year and continuing from now on all starting in November.
- plow operations will begin in early November instead of mid-November
- the department will have extra staff on hand in the event the forecast worsens
- emergency escorts and "counter flow" of spreaders and plows to avoid the kind of nightmarish gridlock that had more than a few drivers in tears
Hopefully, this will help everyone get home safer.