ReportWire

Tag: winter storm response

  • DC set to resume trash collection, give out free salt as snow and ice persist 1 week after storm – WTOP News

    With National Guard support and warmer weather ahead, D.C. officials expect faster service restoration as residents receive free salt and prepare for renewed sidewalk‑clearing requirements.

    After a punishing snowstorm Sunday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city is making progress and garbage removal and other city services will return this weekend.

    City officials said they plan to resume home trash pickup this weekend, starting with homes that have their garbage removed from the front of the home.

    “If your household normally gets front side collection, we will begin to pick up your trash tomorrow,” Bowser said Friday. “This weekend, we want to do the front side collections for Monday and Tuesday.”

    The city is about a week behind on trash collection, so on Monday, they will collect for last Wednesday; and Tuesday’s pickup is actually last Thursday’s. It will be like this until the city gets back on a regular schedule.

    For homes that have alley pickups, the city plans to use Bobcat machinery to get garbage cans that are trapped in snow and ice.

    Mayor Bowser gave an optimistic status report on the snow and ice removal, despite many residents voicing complaints about snow- and ice-covered streets and sidewalks days after the storm.

    In her three terms as mayor, Bowser said she’s never seen a storm that began with 6-plus inches of snow and then 10 hours of sleet, leaving streets and sidewalks coated in ice.

    The mayor also said National Guard troops, which have been on D.C. streets since the summertime, are also pitching in.

    “Some National Guard personnel have been approved to work with us, and we will be giving them some assignments related to clearing pathways for pedestrians to get to and from buses,” she said.

    The D.C. National Guard also announced Friday evening its members would be helping remove snow at D.C.’s public schools, at the request of D.C. government. Those efforts will begin Saturday.

    Overall, the mayor would not give herself or city officials a letter grade on the city’s performance — she said that is up to residents to decide. But she said 250 city plows and 130 contractors have been on the job since the first snowflake fell and she pointed to the fact that numerous downtown events have still been held, including the Washington D.C. Auto Show.

    The mayor pointed out that the extreme cold temperatures have made the snow and ice removal even more difficult, because there has been no day above freezing this week and no melting.

    “We are also urging our residents to take advantage of the sunlight and the increased temperatures next week to take care of your walkways and sidewalks. And if you don’t have that equipment, work together, in your neighborhood,” she said.

    The D.C. Department of Public Works offers a sidewalk shoveling exemption to qualifying residents 65 or older for not removing snow from their sidewalks. D.C. workers do not shovel residents’ sidewalks, but the city has multiple programs, including D.C. Snow Team Heroes, that can help.

    There’s no word yet when the city will restart its enforcement of fines for sidewalks that are not shoveled.

    This weekend, the city will be distributing free salt at five distribution sites to help residents address the icy conditions. Signing up in advance is recommended.

    From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., residents who bring their own bucket or bag to carry salt can pick it up at the following locations:

    • Deanwood Recreation Center (1350 49th Street NE)
    • Greenleaf Recreation Center (201 N Street SW)
    • Kennedy Recreation Center (1401 7th St NW)
    • Turkey Thicket Recreation Center (1100 Michigan Avenue NE)
    • Wilson Aquatic Center (4551 Fort Drive NW)

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    Dan Ronan

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  • Editorial | Why involuntary hospitalization is a last, necessary resort for NYC – amNewYork

    An FDNY ambulance on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn.

    File photo by Ben Brachfeld

    By most accounts, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to the first major winter storm of his tenure at City Hall was a good one. Aside from annoying snow pileups at bus stops, City Hall was prepared and ensured the basics were met: the roads were plowed and salted, and the temporary shift to remote learning for public schools on Monday went with few hiccups.

    But amid the cold snap that gripped the city before and after Sunday’s winter storm, 10 New Yorkers died amid the elements. That happened even as the mayor enacted the city’s “Code Blue,” sending outreach experts across the city to counsel those living on the streets and connect them to shelter.

    In an emergency like this cold spell, the city cannot allow anyone to perish on the streets from hypothermia and related exposure conditions. It shows the necessity of policies such as involuntary hospitalization to commit those who are no longer able to realize they are a danger to themselves and others — namely those struggling with mental illness.

    The deaths occurred even as the city had connected 500 homeless New Yorkers into transitional housing since Jan. 19, according to Mamdani. Of those, 70 people were brought indoors during outreach efforts immediately before and during the winter storm.

    On Tuesday, Mamdani acknowledged that the city needed to do more to prevent further unnecessary deaths from exposure and enhanced the Code Blue response. More social workers and homeless outreach experts are hitting the streets, and the city has opened up more warming shelters and warming buses at key locations — all in an effort to get everyone out of the cold and save lives.

    No New Yorker should have to live on the street, or feel compelled to do so. The biggest challenge for the Mamdani administration amid this brutal cold spell — which is expected to go on through at least early next week — is not so much the resources being provided, but rather convincing street homeless to accept the help offered to them.

    For years, many street homeless people we have spoken to in our reporting on other matters have expressed great mistrust about the city’s shelter system; they believe it is unsafe and does more harm than good. That stigma has been ingrained for years and it won’t be broken overnight.

    Mamdani has been a critic of involuntary hospitalization in the past, but during this winter crisis, he has not ruled out its use as a “last resort” to save the lives of New Yorkers. 

    That is the right approach, but Mamdani should also apply that standard to everyday life in New York, not just during extreme weather. This must be the approach also for tackling those who suffer from severe mental illness and can no longer recognize their need for treatment.

    Involuntary hospitalization should not be seen as punishment, but rather as a last-ditch effort to protect New Yorkers and give those afflicted the opportunity to heal and recover. In short, it can help save numerous lives and restore hope that no one in New York will ever be left out in the cold — both literally and figuratively.

    amNewYork

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