A Message From DSNY On Snow Plans

Via Craig Hammerman at CB6, an update from DSNY:

To Elected Officials and Community Boards:

·        DSNY Snow Operations are underway –

·        450 salt spreaders area already deployed citywide and are operating on their routes in each of the 59 Sanitation Districts (coterminous with the City’s Community Boards)

·        1,700 plows will be activated once 2 inch accumulations are on the streets

·        All DSNY trash & recycling pickups are suspended until snow clearing operations are complete. Residents should hold-off placing material out until collection operations resume. Trash and recyclables that have already been placed out may be left curbside. 

DSNY Snow Plans

The Final Plans for the 2013-2014 winter snow season are posted on DSNY’s website. They can be found athttp://www.nyc.gov/dsny under the tab Snow Plans and Mapping.

Some General Snow Information to keep in mind:

All winter weather information and information about the City’s response to a storm (including tracking spreading and plowing operations) can be found by visiting the City’s Severe Weather Website at www.nyc.gov/severeweather  or by calling 311. Also updates can found on our website at: www.nyc.gov/dsny , where information will be updated regularly. These websites will offer you and your constituents a simple and quick way to keep apprised of current conditions. You and your constituents can also sign up to follow the Department on twitter. 

Please remember that the Department’s snow plans, crews and equipment are place for each of the City’s 59 Sanitation Districts (which are coterminous with the local Community Board). Until all streets are clear, it is neither practical nor feasible to divert resources from the critical jobs to which they are assigned in order to address individual requests. Once all roads are cleared, we can review issues regarding specific locations.

Please understand that the Department prioritizes its resources by first clearing primary arteries, such as expressways; bus routes, hospital and school roads and other critical roadways to facilitate the movement of food and fuel, fire trucks, ambulances, police and other emergency vehicles. Our workforce then clears secondary roads, such as heavily traveled streets, followed by tertiary routes (predominantly side streets). It is important to keep in mind that it does take some time after the snow has stopped falling for all streets to be cleared. Be aware that although a street has been plowed and/or salted, it may not necessarily be black top -- it all depends on how many inches of snow have fallen, temperature and traffic.

We also want you to know that the Department works very closely with the City’s 311 Customer Service Center, which provides a forum for public information and for registering information, service requests and complaints. The data and information received by 311 is regularly transmitted to DSNY officials.

I for one welcome our new crystalline overlords.  Thanks, Craig.