I walked from Windsor Terrace to that spot and didn’t see a plow on the street other than a Parks Department pick-up. But there must have been six to eight plows or garbage trucks with plows stalled within a block of 5th Avenue and 9th Street with their engines running. Along with a transit bus, a Boro Park-Williamsburg bus abandoned in the middle of the street, and a bunch of stalled cars. There was also a stalled bus up on 7th Avenue.
The side streets have four foot snow drifts — the plows running through last night before most of the now fell was a waste of time. The snow emergency routes had evidently been plowed during the night — you could walk in those streets — but more snow was blowing on to them.
One garbage truck operator got out and walked around. He looked up 5th Avenue and said he had nowhere to go, and a state of emergency should have been declared to keep the cars off the street. Now, he said he had nowhere to go. I said that at least one minute earlier there was the possiblity of making a left a block up and going up 9th Street, but he said he was stuck. Another plow was idling on 5th Avenue pointing down 8th Street toward 4th Avenue — 8th Street had huge snow drifts.
Unless those vehicles get moving, the snow emergency routes may not stay passable. And those cars on those routes will have nowhere to go when they get somewhere. Where will they park? My car is buried to the roof rack. If those routes cannot be cleared by tonight, the city is going to need some kind of emergency action with neighbors digging them out by hand or something.
Anyway, the R was running under 4th Avenue, and it’s time to get to work.