Snow Fallout

Photograph by hbomb1947 the turnstile-jumper on Flickr

Yesterday's rare snow day with the Department of Education closing public schools was a blessing for children and a mess for parents. One mother told the Post, "When I found out it was a snow day, it was too late to make arrangements. When you count on school every day, it's hard to find people to take care of your kids. Had I known [Sunday] afternoon, it might have been easier."

The Post also reports, "For Bloomberg, it was a snow-win situation. Knowing that so many parents depend on the schools to take care of their kids, the city waited until the last possible moment, 5:39 a.m.," noting how the city had called the 2004 snow day the day before. However, Mayor Bloomberg's response was, “If you got up this morning, looked outside and the question didn’t come to you right away, hmm, I wonder whether or not school is going to be open today, and you didn’t know enough to call 311, I would suggest another day in school’s probably a good idea. I mean, c’mon.” (Related: Bloomberg's empathy.)

One Staten Island resident said of yesterday's 8 inches of accumulation, "In Buffalo, they'd be laughing at us. This is like a regular afternoon to them."

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By Jen Chung in News on March 3, 2009 4:49 PM

Comments [rss]

Guest

c'mon, new yorkers. eight inches of snow and widespread panic? you're making us city people look bad up in the north country.

- lost in the woods @ onchiota, ny.

JP Lynch

Why so much venom towards the parents?!?! Especially in today's economy, many people who already couldn't afford an alternate means of day-care are now forced to stay at home nd maybe make an already tenuous position worse?

EVERYONE knew this storm was coming; here on Staten Island (Yeah Mr. Mel, an actual borough of NYC, you fuckin' douche) there were dozens of sanitation vehicles with plows and salters lined up a day before the storm hit. Bloomberg's elitist response shows his lack of touch with the people.

ribaldry

I was going to rail against this but then Snoopy came to my rescue and said it so eloquently.

values_hehe

Moreover, there have been several days this winter when the snow was much worse and nothing was canceled. I'm sure you don't realize that when you have bodyguards carrying you everywhere.

MFer

Really? Which days? I reckoned these days by how much I have to shovel. And you ain't going to prove me wrong.

values_hehe

What an idiot. I leave at 6:30 to teach at my school. I was checking NY1 and my email constantly to see if there was going to be a closure, although I couldn't imagine it happening that late, considering many of my students left before then. Only because I decided to check my email one last time right before I left, at 6:30, did I see the email that my assistant principal sent me. I thought it was a joke at first - what school district waits until students and teachers are already on the way to issue a cancellation? Bloomberg is arrogant and out of touch with reality; there's just no way around it.

whitecastlerock

Bloomberg is a condescending piece of shit. Last June when temperatures hit the 90s he had no sympathy for those students and teachers in classrooms without air conditioning-"In my day we had no air conditioning." His attitude of tough it out is pathetic. Maybe he should tell the wall streeters who got shitcanned to tough it out instead of investing millions to "retrain them"... Fuck him

henricus

I can't believe Bloomberg alone has the ability to call off schools. It seems like the schools should have someone else in place to do this.

Steven

Everyone knows NYC public schools are babysitters headquarters during the day. Buffalo snow is also called "fake snow", since it melts so fast and compress because the snow is so dry.

rachelblue

Well, of COURSE the question of whether or not school would be open arose when we looked out the window; that's not the point. The point is that he didn't actually ANSWER the question until fairly late in the morning.

I realize that 6 am is not "late" to most people, but it can be to schoolchildren and teachers. I woke up at 5:15 to ensure I would make it to school on time, and after checking the DOE website and my local news stations, I proceeded to get dressed and leave the house...all the while looking outside and wondering whether or not school would be canceled, just like the mayor said.

By the time I got the news, I was already on my way to school. And you KNOW that if I had held off on getting out the door, school would have been open and Bloomberg would have been chastising us for our laziness in getting our butts to work in the snow.

verbal

he's such a pompous little douche; he might have well as said "just call the nanny".

colonelcasey

Those parents that are complaining are idiots. They should have expected the possibility of a closing with such a dire weather prediction. And the DOE always has a decision in time for the 6AM news. Just more incompetence and ignorance.

snickerdoodle

Why would parents expect it? Schools hadn't been closed because of snow for five years. NYC schools have been open during plenty of other storms, why close for this one?

MrManhattan

I believe the term is: "Weather Report" (the news segment, not the jazz fusion quartet.)

fugothamist

i LOVED bloomberg's response

if you haven't already, listed to the audio of it...classic

Snoopy

"My little Johnnie got his booties all covered with snow. It was just horrible. And they canceled soccer practice also. What is a parent to do?"

Perhaps these parents that think NYC is a baby sitter for their spawn shouldn't have spawn.

Mr Mel

"One Staten Island resident said of yesterday's 8 inches of accumulation, "In Buffalo, they'd be laughing at us. This is like a regular afternoon to them."

Yeah, Buffalo and Staten Island, 2 New York State garden spots.