Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Good afternoon, New York City. Yesterday, the snowstorm of the decade arrived, with winds of up to 60 miles per hour, and more than two feet of snow falling across parts of our city. In some parts of Staten Island and the Bronx, this storm set new 24-hour records for recorded snowfall.
The forecast for today is dry, with some wind. There is a chance of some additional light snow tomorrow morning-with a maximum of two inches-as a fast-traveling system moves over our city. Today, New York is back up and running thanks to the city workers who worked long shifts to clear our streets, keep our public transit running and respond to emergencies-as well as the everyday New Yorkers who did their parts to shovel sidewalks, clear a neighbor's stoop and stayed off the roads when conditions were hazardous. This was a whole-of-government response to a historic snowstorm. Two thousand, six hundred sanitation workers, working in successive 12-hour shifts, utilized over 3,000 pieces of equipment to distribute over 143 million pounds of salt, and to plow every single street across all five boroughs at least once.
Alongside 1,214 Emergency Shovelers, they cleared 7,398 crosswalks, 1,777 fire hydrants, and 3,366 bus stops-although due to blowing snow after the storm, many will need to be readdressed. That work continues today. If you want to support these efforts, it's not too late to become an Emergency Snow Shoveler. You can still sign up by walking into any DSNY garage until 8PM tonight. All you need is two forms of identification and you'll be paid $30 an hour.
Thanks to these teams' hard work, school is back in session today. I know that there are some who were concerned by the decision to return to in-person learning. I want to explain the reasoning behind it. First, New York's public schools were not in a position to facilitate remote instruction. With students coming back from midwinter break, it was not possible to ensure every student had the devices they needed to effectively participate in remote learning. Second, our public schools hold a purpose beyond providing a designated place for kids to learn. They are critical to the health and wellness of nearly 900,000 children across our city. Whether it's a warm meal, essential mental health support, or a source of childcare for working parents-in-person schooling is a resource that our city's children and families depend upon.
When conditions are safe, our goal will always be to open our schools-and I want to commend the work of 8,000 DOE staff who worked throughout the weekend clearing entrances and keeping buildings warm to make sure our schools would be accessible and safe when students returned. Though the storm may be over, that does not mean the danger to vulnerable New Yorkers has passed. Please continue to keep an eye out for anyone at risk.
An Enhanced Code Blue remains in effect through Wednesday morning. Shelters will continue to operate with an open-door policy-no one will be turned away. Outreach workers will continue canvassing all five boroughs to bring homeless New Yorkers inside. Since Saturday, they've made 250 placements in shelters and other settings. If you see someone in need of warmth or shelter, please call 311 immediately so outreach workers can assist. In a Code Blue, these 311 calls are rerouted to 911. You can also call 311 directly from our LinkNYC kiosks or use them to find the locations of warming centers across the city. I also want to express my gratitude to the leaders standing alongside me today, the dedicated professionals manning our Emergency Operation Centers, and every agency staffer that has worked across government to serve New Yorkers. That includes our NYPD Tow Truck Task Force, who worked to free stuck vehicles and ensured that emergency vehicles could get to New Yorkers in need.
In total, they towed 37 vehicles to safety during the storm, including 7 MTA Buses and 21 ambulances. We have received over 1,800 reports of fallen trees, limbs down and hanging limbs citywide. The interagency Downed Trees Task Force - coordinated by the Parks Department -has been hard at work responding to these reports. As we continue to respond to this blizzard, we are aware that narrow, hilly streets and tight corners on Staten Island were some of the areas hardest hit by the storm. Some parts of Staten Island saw nearly 28 inches of snowfall-the largest amount recorded anywhere in the city. That, combined with high winds, have created large snow drifts across the Island. DSNY has upped their Staten Island snow removal force to 500 personnel - a 210 person-increase - added even more pieces of hired equipment, and will be working throughout the day and the evening to clear snow and make roads passable.
Thanks to these efforts, 99.2 percent of roadways on Staten Island have received at least one pass from snow clearing equipment. While New York City is steadily coming back online, there remain some interruptions to service. There will be no collection of trash today. Collection will resume Wednesday evening on the 6 p.m. shift. We will be prioritizing trash and compost collection this week. I ask New Yorkers to be patient throughout this process. Collection trucks are the same size that they've always been-but in many areas, twice the amount of material will be out, so delays are possible. We expect collection will return to normal by Monday. We expect recycling collection to resume next Monday.
Alternate Side Parking will be suspended through the end of the week. Now is the perfect time to dig your cars out, before the snow hardens into ice. All library branches across the city are open. City buildings are open to the public for in-person city services. For New Yorkers relying on public transit, I recommend budgeting some extra time into your commute. All local, limited and express buses are running with delays. There is reduced service in Staten Island, resulting in significant delays. A number of express trains are running locally. NYC Ferries are running on a modified weekday schedule today. Regular service will be restored tomorrow morning. As of 5 a.m. this morning however, the Staten Island Ferry has returned to a regular weekday schedule.
As temperatures rise later this week, we will see snow and ice falling from buildings. This can be extremely dangerous. I encourage all New Yorkers to stay alert while walking outside. Property owners: please take steps to clear your roofs, and while doing so, make sure you are implementing proper safeguards like putting out signage or temporarily closing off the sidewalk. I want to continue to urge New Yorkers to look after yourselves as you shovel snow. Take regular breaks, protect your back and your heart by digging slowly and, take it from me - lift from your knees.
Finally, I want to thank all the New Yorkers who exercised caution, stayed inside, and contributed to the citywide effort of keeping one another safe. Thank you-and as always, New York, stay warm and stay safe. I will now pass it over to our NYCEM Commissioner, Christina Farrell.
Commissioner Christina Farrell, New York City Emergency Management: Thank you, mayor. As you can see, we are still operating at full force in the city's Emergency Operations Center to make sure that conditions are safe and storm cleanup continues as New Yorkers return to daily life. Our emergency management team is coordinating with city and state operational agencies, transportation providers like the MTA and the Port Authority, utilities including Con Ed and PSEG, to support continued plowing and removal operations, with a focus on Staten Island, New York City schools, and other critical facilities.
The city's Continuity of Operations Plan, which ensures that essential city services can continue during emergencies, will be deactivated today as public buildings have reopened and people are back in the office. I'd like to thank the Emergency Management team here at NYCEM for working around the clock to help New Yorkers weather this storm. From our public warning specialists, who send out notify NYC messages morning, noon, and night to keep New Yorkers informed. To our on-call teams connecting with thousands of partners in the situation room to troubleshoot any storm-related issues and concerns, to our team of field responders, who remain hard at work in all five boroughs to get the right resources to the right locations to keep neighborhoods safe.
Our city's Emergency Management team works tirelessly with care, creativity, and an unwavering dedication to help the people of New York City. It is still slippery across the city, so please walk carefully and watch for icy patches. Temperatures will only reach the upper 20s and lower 30s today, so we're likely to see areas of black ice, especially on untreated surfaces and even on some roads that are well plowed. Anyone out walking, driving, or cycling should use extra caution. Businesses and property owners should shovel and salt walkways to prevent slips and falls and clear a path of at least four-feet wide, where possible, so pedestrians, strollers, and mobility devices can pass safely.
If you're coming up or down steps outdoors, use handrails wherever possible. If you are driving, leave extra space between vehicles on the roadway and allow additional time to reach your destination. And for everyone's safety, remember to brush all snow and ice off your vehicle before driving. Snow and ice can slide onto your windshield or blow off your car and hit other vehicles, cyclists, or pedestrians, creating dangerous conditions for everyone on the road. And finally, we have a chance for more snow tomorrow, so please sign up for NotifyNYC for more winter weather updates. We received tens of thousands of signups [over] the past few days during this storm. NotifyNYC messages are available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language. Text Notify NYC to 692-692. Thank you.
Acting Commissioner Javier Lojan, Department of Sanitation: Good afternoon. The sun is shining following a historic storm. I've worked for the Department of Sanitation since 1999 through seven of the 10 largest snowstorms on record, and they all come with their own challenges. But we face this weather event with the years of preparation under our belts. We train for this all year, and I am proud of the men and women of this department who have been working around the clock to clear snow and ice from our roads. Since the first flakes started to fall, we have spread 144 million pounds of salt across the city, and that number will increase as our sanitation workers continue to plow and salt our roads today, tonight, tomorrow, and as long as we need to.
We continue to have 2,600 sanitation workers on 12-hour shifts, assisted by 1,500 snow shovelers and 428 pieces of equipment that we have hired from outside vendors. Regarding the emergency snow shovelers, we have tripled the size of this program in just the last week by increasing outreach, boosting the base pay to $30 an hour and streamlining the application process. This is hard work, and we very much appreciate the men and women who have signed up to ensure that our city can operate safely this week. If you are interested, you can find out more information at nyc.gov/snow.
This storm saw a very high level of localized variation. Each of our Staten Island districts measured 30 inches of snow, while districts in other parts of the city measured nearly half of that, and we are allocating our resources accordingly. The narrow, hilly streets and tight corners of Staten Island were some of the areas hit hardest by the storm, and the high winds have created snow drifts across the island. To address these areas, we have added extra sanitation personnel above the borough's largest snow plan, as well as more than hundreds of additional pieces of hired equipment from outside vendors to get these areas clear and open. We addressed many of these areas throughout the night across Staten Island, and we are continuing this work today and into tonight.
This is slow, difficult work, and some of these hilly and narrow streets will take hours to clear. It is a snow hauling operation that I've never seen in my 27-year career. That is why we are moving hundreds of additional pieces of equipment from all over the city to Staten Island this evening as well. New York's strongest are working on Staten Island and around the city all day today and tonight to continue to clear the snow, widen the lanes of travel, and address pedestrian infrastructure, as the mayor said. We are preparing to transition back to collection operations as well.
Soon, we will also begin to deploy our snow melters in every borough. This will ensure that the mounds of snow that the storm has left are removed as soon as possible. At the same time, we remind property owners to do your part by shoveling the required four-foot path on your sidewalk. We are issuing summonses for failure to clear snow and ice because we believe it is crucial that everyone who uses the sidewalks should be able to do so safely. Thank you and stay safe.
Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels, New York City Public Schools: Good afternoon. I'm glad to be back here with you again to share another update. This morning, I started my day at P.S. 29 in Staten Island, greeting students and families as they arrived for their first day back from break. It was great to see so many smiling faces at school breakfast this morning. I am proud we were able to reopen our doors this morning. When our schools are open, our kids are learning and growing. They're enjoying nutritious meals, they're interacting with their peers - their parents, working New Yorkers, are able to go to their jobs knowing their children are safe and cared for. In preparation for today, we had more than 8,000 facility staff on the ground removing snow and ice, checking generators, restoring power and making sure our buildings were safe and warm for arrival this morning.
[We] reached out to our pool of substitute teachers and power professionals to ensure our classrooms are well-staffed. As students returned from midwinter break on the hundredth day of school, it became clear that we would not be able to get every student what they needed for remote learning before today. As students returned from midwinter break, it became clear we would not be able to get every student what they needed to participate in remote learning. Thank you to our partners at NYSED, who granted us the waiver that made yesterday's snow day possible. While attendance data will not be finalized until tomorrow, I can say that 63.3 percent of students returned to school today.
In conclusion, I want to again thank all of our partners standing up here with me today. It takes a village and I am proud to work alongside you every day in support of our New Yorkers. Thank you to our partners at NYSED who granted us that waiver and made yesterday's snow day possible. And I want to thank all our school leaders and superintendents, teachers, facilities and school staff, families, and most importantly our wonderful students. Thank you for your patience and understanding, and I hope you get a great first day back at school. We are absolutely excited to see you tomorrow. Thank you.
Question: Do you agree with Commissioner Tisch that what happened in Washington Square Park with these snowballs was criminal, and how can you take steps to prevent something like this [so it] doesn't happen again?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I've seen videos of kids throwing snowballs at members of the NYPD in Washington Square Park, and first, I want to say that officers have been on the front line of helping our city respond to this blizzard. They have been keeping New Yorkers safe, and they have also been at the heart of our efforts of digging New Yorkers' cars out of these kinds of conditions and ensuring that our ambulances, our MTA buses can keep functioning across this city. They and our entire city workforce deserve to be treated with respect. The only person in our city's workforce who deserves to be treated with a snowball is me.
Question: Do you know for sure they're kids or they're adults? And a second question is what went wrong on Staten Island that you couldn't clear it out yesterday even with the snow hitting it hard on the hilly and narrow streets?
Mayor Mamdani: So, with Staten Island, what we saw is snowfall of 28 to 30 inches across the borough, and as you said, there are certain conditions on the island that make for snow response to be quite a difficult task. That is why we were taking an accurate, every-hour estimation of what the response was, what we needed to supplement. And I'm very thankful, frankly, in our Sanitation Department, the hard-working men and women of the DSNY, for their up-to-date changes and ensuring that we were sending enough personnel and equipment out there. I don't know, Commissioner, if you want to add anything.
Commissioner Farrell: Yeah, I just want to stress that all the areas we're having challenges are our narrow streets where there's very limited space for the snow to go. When we're plowing the streets, we're plowing it to the right. So, that snow has to go somewhere. If that snow has no room to go, it creates challenges. So, as we went plowing yesterday morning, we were finding a lot of those challenges became more apparent, and that's when we immediately made adjustments to bring extra personnel and equipment to the island, and we continued that last night from outer boroughs and including private contractors, as well as tonight we're going to bring everything we can in there.
Question: You said there were kids throwing snowballs. Do you know that for a fact, or is it possible these were adults?
Mayor Mamdani: I can just tell you from the video I saw it looked like kids at a snowball fight.
Question: I know the chancellor talked a little bit about the attendance. Were there bus delays, teacher no-shows? Can you give a little bit of a picture if you can? I have a second question. What do you think of the Working Families Party endorsing Antonio Reynoso after your team pushed for them to back Claire Valdez?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I'll start with the second question, then I'll go to the first question. I am heartened by the fact that WFP chapter members voted for Claire Valdez. She is an incredible Assembly member and someone that I'm so excited to be supporting, and I look forward to her being elected as the next Congressperson to represent that district. And I think that she possesses within her a unique ability of bringing forward the exact things that have been missing from our politics for far too long. Not just a fight for workers at the heart of our politics, but also an understanding of the importance of unions and what increased union density can mean in the fight against income inequality, especially as someone who rose through the ranks of UAW, which is also a union that she's been endorsed by.
About buses and teachers, yes, so right now I would say on an average day we have about 150,000 students who take the bus to school. As of now, we've only received about 78 students' complaints that [they've] not been able to access those buses. And of the 8,000 routes, about only 15 of them reported delays. And with teachers, we have a workforce of about 78,800 teachers. About 12,000 of those teachers called out today. We were able to have more than 5,000 substitute teachers fill in in their places.
Question: I want to ask you two questions. One about the snowball incident. So, you had the NYPD commissioner call them criminals. You had the governor weigh in and condemn it. You had a former governor weigh in and also tweet about it, demanding that you make a statement. How much of this is an overreaction, do you think? The second question is about the Hunter College professor who made a racist remark during that Zoom about the Upper West Side school relocation. Can you talk about what you think is the appropriate punishment for something like that? And what does it say about the underlying tensions that are going on in that debate over school relocation?
Mayor Mamdani: I'll just first start with the second question, and then I'll also let the chancellor share a few words. I think just before I pass it over, it was a reprehensible comment. And I think it is indicative of the exact kind of language that makes students feel as if they don't belong within our public school system. We are looking to build a public school system that is home for each and every person that calls this city home. And that's not what that language engenders. I'll just let the chancellor add a few words.
Chancellor Samuels: I agree. It was abhorrent to listen to. And our students deserve so much better. And so, we'll be working with the superintendent. As you know, I know that district quite intimately. And we'll be really leaning in and working with the school communities to make sure that we repair any harm that was done to our students and think through what our next step is regarding building the capacity of our teachers to deal with the underlying conditions that exist in our city when it comes to some of our concerns about schools.
Question: Do you think she should be fired?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that's part of what the chancellor said in terms of investigating the next steps that should be taken.
Question: Regarding the snowball incident-are people overreacting to it?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I'll leave it to others to share their opinions, but I've shared mine.
Question: I want to follow up on the snowball incident. The head of the PBA says the people who were involved in attacking the police officers should be charged criminally for with assault on a police officer. I wonder if you agree with that if the people can be identified.
Mayor Mamdani: I don't-from the videos that I've seen-it looks like a snowball fight.
Question: In terms of the Code Blue, how long do you plan to continue that, and also continue the extra numbers of outreach workers?
Mayor Mamdani: At this time, our Enhanced Code Blue is set to continue through tomorrow morning. Obviously, we will keep New Yorkers up to date if that's going to be extended. However, I do want to just take an opportunity, as you've alluded to, the outreach workers have been at the heart of our efforts. And I want to say thank you to them, because what they've been doing is no matter the conditions, they've been out there and reaching out to homeless New Yorkers, being able to make more than 250 placements. And their engagements with homeless New Yorkers have also helped to inform all of the steps we're taking to expedite our medium- and long-term policies.
I'll give you one example. In the response to the prior winter storm, we opened up additional shelters ahead of schedule. As we were learning of the scale of the need, we've been looking to expedite that across the board. So, one of those shelters we opened up in Upper Manhattan in the response to the last storm, we now just added an additional 100 beds to that shelter. The reason that's important is we need to be able to reach out to homeless New Yorkers and present them with a wide variety of options. There are some homeless New Yorkers for whom they want to go to an H + H mobile van. There are others for whom they want to go to a warming bus or a warming center in a DOE school or an H + H site that's been repurposed as a warming site. And there are others for whom it's a shelter setting. We want to make sure we have every single option available so we can get New Yorkers off the streets. And as of now, I'm thankful to report that there are no reported deaths outside or in public areas as a result of this blizzard.
Question: There's a massive three-story tree that's fallen in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It's crossing the street, blocking traffic, and it's cradled by a second tree dangling over cars and pedestrians. The tree fell yesterday. So, my question is, is there a website or something that residents can go to see an ETA for removal? And my follow-up is, does the city have a system in place to evaluate older, large trees to see if they're storm-worthy, et cetera, especially with climate change and everything else?
Mayor Mamdani: Do you have the cross streets of the tree that you're referring to?
Question: It's Park Place in Bedford and Franklin in Crown Heights.
Mayor Mamdani: I appreciate that. We'll follow up on that immediately. The first thing that I would say is for any New Yorker who sees a downed tree, of which we've seen many of them in the response to a historic blizzard, to call 311 to make sure that we have the information regarding that. That's how we've built this database of the many downed trees we've seen across the city. I'm going to pass it over to my Deputy Mayor for Operations, Julia Kerson, to just add a few words.
Julia Kerson, Deputy Mayor for Operations: Thank you. We have the Downed Tree Task Force that has been functioning for the last few days and is working now. We will absolutely go look into that situation and figure out how we can expedite the removal of that tree. And you should let - I don't know if the Parks Department Commissioner wants to speak at all?
Commissioner Tricia Shimamura, Department of Parks & Recreation: So just to confirm what the Deputy Mayor has said, we have a Downed Trees Task Force. We're very proud to convene that with [NYC] Emergency Management, [the] NYPD, FDNY. And to date, I believe we have 46 known locations where we have trees that are blocking streets. We are working very hard to address all of those locations, and we'll certainly take back that specific one to make sure that that's on our list. In total, as the mayor said, we have 1,800 requests for service that have come in to date. Every single one of those are being inspected right now. And then we are prioritizing, first, blocked streets, then any trees that are on top of private homes, and then we'll continue to take down all of the requests as they come in.
Question: I just wanted to ask about the Snowball Incident. Were any NYPD officers facing any injuries? And then secondly, do you have any hopes for the upcoming Rental Ripoff Hearings?
Mayor Mamdani: Yeah, I'll start with the second question and then go to the first. You know, our hope in these Rental Ripoff Hearings, one of which will be held in each borough, is to hear from New Yorkers as to the struggles they faced as tenants and dealing with the private market, especially with the kinds of junk fees that many of them have reported to the city and the ways in which those experiences should inform city policy. That is a key part of these hearings.
It's not simply an outlet for New Yorkers to share their own experiences. It's an opportunity for them to inform what city policy will look like going forward because accountability is a critical part of ensuring that each and every New Yorker has a safe and habitable home. And I think that for far too long, New Yorkers have not seen that, both in the policy that has been created and also in the actions that city government has then taken.
Question: On the Snowball Incident, did the NYPD officers face any injuries?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that there were two officers who were facing lacerations on their face.
Question: Will you call for prosecution of those who helped them?
Mayor Mamdani: Look, I've seen the videos of this snowball fight. I think that it was a snowball fight. Thank you.
