Throughout the years, through the hard work of New York City’s Sanitation Department, NYC has built a reputation of getting back to business the morning after nearly any snowstorm. Generally clear roads are enough to get the job done. However, with the recent winter storm, this was not the case. Our DSNY did an incredible job, as always, getting the roads clear. However, with below freezing temperatures and a foot plus of snowfall, mounds of snow blocked cars, crosswalks, parking spots, bus stops, and even whole lanes of traffic, sometimes for multiple weeks. Not even busy avenues and expressways were safe.

At times this doubled commute times, made parking on commercial strips incredibly difficult, and made leaving the house inaccessible for anyone who was unable to climb over mountains of snow and ice. Due to the extent of the below freezing temperatures these conditions continued for days and in some cases a couple weeks after the storm hit hurting commerce, threatening our local businesses, and making it difficult for residents to get food and supplies at times when they may have needed it the most.

Fortunately, we were only hit by one snowstorm, but it is easy to imagine what could have happened if we were hit with multiple. There is definitely history to back it up.

Although it is easy to say, “that’s how winter is in New York,” the reality is we have the resources to conquer this problem. The City has large snow melters to address situations just like this. In fact, these melters were even used in the recent winter storm after it became clear that the snow was not melting. Especially in Manhattan, snow was collected with shovels and front-end loaders of all sizes, thrown onto dump trucks, and carted to centralized locations where it was melted.

This practice of carting off and melting snow needs to be more widespread—in all boroughs—and initiated sooner.

Although it is rare that we get hit by such a large snowstorm followed by an extended cold spell, we are bound to be hit with similar, or worse, winter weather again in the future. Getting back to business without missing a beat has always been a proud part of life in NYC. For this to stay true, City Hall must create an interagency plan to make sure that lanes of traffic, parking spots, crosswalks, and bus stops are promptly cleared in the days following even the worst winter storms. Just as we have a thorough plan to plow and salt the streets as the snowfall is ongoing, our city must have a comprehensive plan to remove the snow after the storm is over. We will not need to implement this plan for every snowstorm, and we will never remove all the snow, but our city needs a better plan for the aftermath of large storms where the snow simply will not melt.