We've been asking readers and listeners to let us know if their streets have been plowed. Here are maps from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (white balloons represent unplowed streets, blue plowed). Click the balloons for full information and voice messages where available. Submit yours by texting PLOW to 30644.
Map, as of Thursday (following up with people who texted earlier this week):
Map, as of Wednesday:
Map, as of Tuesday:
Mapping Snow Cleanup: Thursday
WNYC's been collecting your snow stories all week. At a press conference in Queens on Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the sanitation department had plowed every street once. But that doesn't mean every street is clear.
That still seems to be the case in some areas. Louise Mancuso, from Midwood, Brooklyn, said a plow first came down her street around 3 a.m. on Thursday morning. But her street is still a sheet of ice, making driving conditions dangerous. Mancuso said she's lived in Brooklyn for 27 years, and that the city's responded to similar storms much better in the past.
"This really sticks out in my mind as an unusually poor response to something that was clearly predicted. Everyone seemed to be ready. They made a big deal about announcing how prepared they were with plows and salters," she said. "So where were they?"
Others said they're still struggling to dig out. Jeremy Cherson, from Park Slope, said his street was plowed, but he still doesn't know when he'll be able to dig out his car. "The streets are getting plowed, but it's still a mess," he said. "I saw two sanitation workers shoveling stuff and they looked exhausted this morning."
Jessica Scirbona, from Astoria, said her street was finally plowed around 6 p.m. on Tuesday. That's also when a salt truck with a plow slipped and hit her car. "The plow was stuck in the rear-quarter panel of my car until about 11, when two other trucks came to get it out," she said. "We're plowed, but it was not a good time." But Scirbona seemed to take it in stride. She said she was given paperwork to fill out so the city can cover the damage to her car.
WNYC asked those who called us earlier this week to report back on whether their streets had been plowed. Dozens of people responded on Thursday. Most of them said their streets had been plowed. Others said their streets had been plowed, but inadequately. A handful told us their streets still had not been plowed as of Thursday afternoon.
Mapping Snow Cleanup: Tuesday and Wednesday
WNYC received a lot of calls from Brooklyn on Tuesday. Steve Ostrow, in Park Slope, was snowed in on his moving day. "I'm only moving six blocks away but I can't move because the truck can't get onto my street," he said. "And for all I know, that street six blocks away hasn't been plowed yet either. But all my belongings are packed up in my apartment, so I'm sort of camping out here until I can move."
Kurt Richards, in Long Island City, said he felt lucky to be off from work for the week -- and in a convenient location. "I'm at the confluence of four different subway lines, the E, the M, the 7 and the G," he said. But his car was still covered on Tuesday, and his block hadn't been plowed.
Problems continued for others on Wednesday morning. Hannah Bodenstein, a Midwood resident, decided to walk two-and-a-half miles to work since her car was stuck in the snow, and her bus didn't seem to be running. She was surprised by what she saw along the way. "A couple of private plowers, an abandoned bus, abandoned cars in the roadway," she said. "Forty-Seventh Street totally unplowed. It's really unbelievable."
Bodenstein and others said their neighbors pitched in to help with clean-up efforts this week. "We're trying to do the community thing and step in where the city hasn't," Bodenstein said on Tuesday. "All the neighborhood has been trying to help dig out cars." Marjorie Fine, of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, thanked her neighbors for their help on Tuesday. "Regular people have cleared the sidewalks," she said. "Great women and great men from all nationalities, all walks of life, different ages, helped me up and down those snow drifts."