Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Good afternoon, everyone. Early this morning, snow began to fall and while the sun had not yet risen, New York City's workers certainly had, including the DSNY workers that I had the privilege of thanking earlier today for all that they have done. Overnight and for the past several days, a vast coordinated citywide response has prepared New York City for one of the largest anticipated snowfalls and periods of sustained cold in recent years.
I just got out of a comprehensive NYCEM emergency planning meeting, where I was briefed on everything our city continues to do to respond to this storm. I'm grateful to our NYCEM leadership, our agency leadership, and every single city worker who has been working tirelessly in freezing conditions. Our city is in good stead thanks to them.
And while I will share details and updates from the briefing, before I do, I want to also speak directly to the parents and students of New York City. As we announced earlier this morning, due to extreme weather conditions, tomorrow will be a remote school day. There will be no in-person instruction, all after-school programs, adult education, and school-based programming has been canceled. For high schoolers and students in schools serving grades 6 through 12 with a previously scheduled professional learning day, tomorrow will remain a day off.
And as of 10:20 a.m. this morning, we saw that more than 162,000 students had already logged on in advance of tomorrow's remote school day, as well as 77,000 teachers. We say that because we want the city to know that our teachers, administrators, and students are prepared for this. We have stress-tested systems, sent students home with the materials and technology they need to learn virtually, and are working with vendors to ensure that our systems have the capacity that they need. And I know that this may disappoint some students, so if you do see me, feel free to throw a snowball at me.
In terms of the forecast, we are continuing to expect up to 11 inches of snow. We anticipate continued heavy snowfall this afternoon, with several hours of sustained 35 mile per hour wind gusts. Around 8 p.m. this evening, light freezing rain will begin to fall and continue overnight. This weather will taper off tomorrow, but New Yorkers can expect a mix of light snow, freezing drizzle, and wind gusts to continue until around noon. Now this storm is not only bringing snow with it, [but] it [also] carries temperatures colder than any sustained period this city has experienced for eight years. For those without shelter, the intense cold can be fatal.
Yesterday alone, before the snow had even begun to come down, at least five New Yorkers passed away and were found outside. I send my deepest condolences to their families and loved ones. While we do not yet know their causes of death, there is no more powerful reminder of the danger of extreme cold and how vulnerable many of our neighbors are, especially homeless New Yorkers. We have sufficient resources to shelter every New Yorker in this city, and our teams are scouring the streets, providing outreach.
Our administration has opened 10 warming centers in school buildings across this city, two in each borough, and they will be operational through at least tomorrow evening. Food will be provided at each of these sites. That is in addition to the 126 shelters, over 50 hospitals, and 35 safe havens, where people in need can come in and get warm. A Code Blue remains in effect, and DSS staff and partners are checking in on our most vulnerable residents every two hours.
But I also ask New Yorkers to help us in this moment of need. If you see anyone you believe might require help, please do not wait to call 311. In a Code Blue, as we are currently in, any one of your 311 calls on this issue will be rerouted directly to 911. And I want to be very clear, no one in this city will be denied shelter. All hospitals, Department of Homeless Services drop-in centers, and DHS shelters have a fully open-door policy, with enough shelter beds for every single New Yorker in need.
Should homeless New Yorkers require hospital services, DHS will connect with hospital emergency departments to assess needs and capacity. We want every single New Yorker to make it through this storm. As we contend with the snow and bracing cold, New Yorkers should rest assured, this is exactly what our City government has prepared for. DSNY pre-salted highways and major streets beginning Friday at 6 in the morning. Since last night, over 2,500 sanitation workers have been deployed on every single 12-hour shift laying down salt.
To give you an idea, the first snowfall landed at Staten Island this morning at 5 a.m. By 5:10 a.m., sanitation had already started spreading salt citywide. The public plow tracker is also live for New Yorkers to be able to follow along, and you can do so at nyc.gov/PlowNYC. What you will see, if you log in there, is the fact that these sanitation workers had already completed a full plow across the city by 8:30 a.m. This immense snow fighting operation, the largest in the entire country, is working across our city, every single minute.
We are speaking of more than 700 salt spreaders and 2,200 plow vehicles which are being monitored in real time by DSNY's BladeRunner system. Every agency across the whole of government is working in close coordination with each other and with NYCEM. DOT crews are tending to bridges, Parks Department workers are removing snow and downed trees from our parks, the NYPD is providing escorts to EMS and DSNY as needed, and the FDNY is maintaining its full emergency response capability. The MTA is continuing regular operations, although conditions may require service adjustments while the Long Island Railroad and Metro North are operating at reduced schedules.
Due to the declining visibility and snow of this weather emergency, NYC Ferry has suspended all service until further notice. Updates will be provided through the NYC Ferry app and ferry.nyc. The Staten Island Ferry is continuing to run at this time, but it has moved to hourly service. We also know that all bus service has been suspended at [the] Port Authority.
Additionally, all three public library systems will be closed today and tomorrow. Utilities are being monitored by Con Ed and National Grid teams, and they have representatives present in the NYCEM Emergency Operations Center. Ambulances will arrive at their destinations. This is the first major storm where 100 percent of FDNY ambulances are four-wheel drive. The FDNY has also added additional ambulances from voluntary hospital partners and NYCEM is actively tracking ambulances via their stuck ambulance dashboard. If an ambulance is stuck or unable to respond to a call, another will be deployed. Thus far, there have been no reports of stuck ambulances in New York City.
As we speak, city workers are working relentlessly across our city to keep our streets clear, to get people into shelter and to respond to those who need help. The single most helpful thing that New Yorkers can do is to stay at home and especially to stay off the roads. I cannot emphasize this enough. Please, if you can avoid it, do not drive. One of the reports we received earlier today from sanitation is there are still far too many New Yorkers out on the roads.
Conditions are dangerous and a hazardous travel advisory is in effect for today and for tomorrow. Now, if you are shoveling snow outside of your home, please pace yourself and do not try to clear everything at once. It is going to take multiple passes. Check in on seniors and help your neighbors who may need extra support. The snow is coming down heavily across our city and I can think of no better excuse for New Yorkers to stay home, take a long nap or take advantage of our public libraries offer of free access to Heated Rivalry on Ebook or audiobook for anyone with a library card.
I encourage New Yorkers to join the more than million who have already signed up for regular Notify NYC updates and you can do so by texting NOTIFYNYC to 692692. Finally, while I want to again express my gratitude to the incredible city workers who have kept our city running through this snowstorm, I also want to thank every single New Yorker who has been doing their part to help New Yorkers across the city.
I have heard countless stories of neighbors bringing meals to other neighbors, young people helping senior citizens navigate slippery conditions, friends grocery shopping for those who cannot shop for themselves. This is the compassionate, caring New York that we all know and love. The New York that always shows up in moments of challenge and adversity. Together we will clear the roads, teach our children, tend to the sick and keep our city running. Stay warm New York City, stay prepared, stay safe. Thank you very much and now our schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.
Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels, New York City Public Schools: Good afternoon. I hope you are staying warm and inside. As we continue to communicate, I wanted to make sure I said it again. We have decided that tomorrow we will pivot to a remote learning day. That would be January 26th. Preparation matters in moments like this. Over the last few days, teams across the entire agency and across schools have been getting ready for this moment.
Preparing lessons and making sure our students went home on Friday with the devices and supplies that they need for a successful remote learning day. Standing up [an] IT help desk to support any families who need it and preparing our buildings to weather the storm. And over the last several months, our educators have been setting up virtual classrooms and our IT team has been testing the system to ensure our students will be able to log in. Teachers and administrators, we've got this. We know you'll be able to prepare [and that] you'll be prepared to offer a great remote learning experience.
So, on Monday, here's what to expect. Students in grades K-8 will receive both real-time and asynchronous instruction. Students, don't worry. There are many hours in the day. You'll work hard, but there will be time to enjoy the snow too. High schoolers and students who attend schools serving grades 6 through 12 will already be off due to a previously scheduled professional learning day. Educators participating in those PDs will also be remote. Our facilities teams will be at our schools shoveling and de-icing so that our buildings can reopen on Tuesday.
I want to thank Mayor Mamdani's team and all our sister agencies standing up here and all the ones working across the city to ensure our city is ready for this storm and the journalists who are here helping spread these critical messages. Most importantly, I'd like to thank everyone across our school communities. I am deeply appreciative and grateful for all your flexibility and patience, and I look forward to reopening our doors as soon as we are able to.
Janno Lieber, CEO and Chair, MTA: Good afternoon. Snow is coming down, and folks at the MTA have been hard at work all weekend preparing us to power through this storm, and I have to deliver, as the mayor did, major kudos to the MTA workers who have been on the front lines. Last night, I visited bus depots around the system to see the preparations. This morning, I was at the Michael J. Quill bus depot in the middle of Manhattan and at the Rail Control Center where all the subway operations are monitored, and so far the preparations have really been paying off.
Things have been running smoothly. There are delays, there are adjustments to service, but all subway lines, ladies and gentlemen, are operating, and most of them are operating as locals. So the express trains: A, C, D, E, F, the N, and the Q are all operating local, partly because we stored a lot of trains on the local tracks to keep them out of harm's way of the outdoor snow.
We ran all the de-icing trains last night to protect the third rail. Snow throwers are on the move already, and the snow jets are operating in the yards with these big airplane engines that blow all the snow out of sight. Buses are running- some with delays. 18 routes out of approximately 265 have reroutes because of localized conditions, and all buses, that's the SBS, the rush routes, the limited routes, everything is running local, so we do not leave anybody on the street. So the folks who are standing at a bus stop are gonna get whatever bus comes by stopping for them.
The entire bus fleet has been outfitted with chains, and as I said, the snow fighting vehicles are on the move, supplementing the amazing work of the sanitation crews who are running the plows. Not a lot of demand for Paratransit Access-A-Ride for our mobility-impaired customers, but it is operating if you do need it under, as the mayor says, a very rare occasion where you really need to go somewhere. Both commuter railroads are operating under modified schedules, so I'm just gonna tick it off for folks.
On the Long Island Railroad service, every half hour on the Babylon Branch, hourly service on the Port Washington Branch, and on the Port Jefferson Branch between Huntington and the city. No service east of Ronkonkoma out to Greenport, and tomorrow we plan to run a regular Sunday schedule. Metro-North is operating a Sunday schedule today, and tomorrow we'll be operating a holiday schedule, the MLK schedule.
Otherwise, they're running hourly service on all three major main lines, Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven. Bridges and tunnels, all of our toll bridges and tunnels in the city are operating. Traffic is light, which is fortunate, and the facilities are in decent shape. Just reinforcing again with the point that the mayor made, which is, if you can stay home-I'm in the transit business, we love customers, but if you [can] stay home, please do so.
If you must travel, use extra caution, and check the customer service channels. New York City has great customer service channels, which will tell you stuff, but also the MTA has our MTA app, the TrainTime app, mta.info is our website, and you can sign up for a customized service alert that'll tell you about your train or your bus and how it's operating.
So with that, thank you to the mayor and the entire city team. I spoke to the governor and she is very focused on what's going downstate and going on downstate as well as upstate, and everybody should just stay safe, and if you can, stay indoors. Thank you.
Question: If you can talk about the five deaths. You know, what work happened before Saturday to interact with the homeless? What's working now with encampments and people who are out in the cold? [Are] homeless services out there looking for people in the cold?
Mayor Mamdani: So first and foremost, we mourn the loss of any and every New Yorker, and we are keeping those five New Yorkers in our thoughts as well as their friends and their family. At this time, it is still too early to say what the cause of death was for any of the five of them, and it seems at this moment that we do not think any of them were homeless. The Department of Homeless Services is conducting regular outreach to homeless New Yorkers across the five boroughs. We are speaking about outreach that is being conducted every two hours. Prior to Friday, we had already been in Code Blue. That's when we go below freezing temperatures, and what that means is it's a moment where we bypass the typical intake procedures that take place at a shelter.
At this moment, the focus is not on filling out forms, it's on filling our shelter beds. So, we were having city workers, incredible city workers, who are doing such important work right now, canvassing homeless New Yorkers across the city and connecting them with shelter, connecting them with services. If they are in need of immediate medical services, then doing so as well.
And I do also just have to both appreciate New Yorkers who have been calling 311 whenever they see a homeless New Yorker who's outside at this time, as well as ask New Yorkers to continue to do so, because those calls are rerouted to 911, and that is then another point of outreach that we can have to keep somebody indoors.
Question: Usually during these things, there's a lot of power outages in Brooklyn and also Queens. A little bit in Staten Island, too. What do you advise they do if there's such big power outages again?
Mayor Mamdani: I think the first thing you should do is call 311, so that the city is aware of it. I am heartened by the reports that we've received thus far that we have not seen such outages as yet, though a key part of our briefing was both anticipating and hearing the reports of what the current status is. Additionally, when I am telling New Yorkers to stay home and to stay safe and to avoid unnecessary travel, I would also remind every New Yorker that in a moment such as this, with this kind of immense cold, to also be very careful with the use of remote space heaters. We are speaking about the need to ensure that you always monitor the operation of a space heater, as well as keep it more than three feet away from anything that is flammable.
Question: Mayor, we know that commuters are going to need to come to work tomorrow. We know they come from outside of New York and New Jersey. What would you say to those commuters and have you been in contact with Governor Sherrill in New Jersey?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I haven't yet been in contact with Governor Sherrill over the course of this snowstorm. What I can tell you, however, is that I've been in close contact with Governor Hochul and Governor Hochul's team. We have all been in regular, constant communication as we know that these conditions pose a real danger to New Yorkers.
I am thankful for the incredible work of our sanitation workers, as well as the workers and the leadership at the MTA for ensuring that when we speak about service in our public transit, it is continuing at this time. If anything, there may be minimal service delays, but by and large, it is as expected. Now, the key part of this is not just how we meet the moment of the storm, but also how we recover from the storm.
And as you said, for tomorrow, we are still trying to take every precaution we can so that if a New Yorker does not have to come into work, that they actually do that work remotely. For those that do, we are trying to do everything we can to make it as least hazardous as possible. I don't know, Janno, if you want to add anything.
Lieber: No, you got it right.
Question: Going back to the fatalities yesterday, you said you don't believe they are homeless-
Mayor Mamdani: At this time, it doesn't appear that those New Yorkers were homeless.
Question: [Inaudible].
Mayor Mamdani: You know, there is a medical examiner's investigation that is currently ongoing. As soon as we have the results from that autopsy, we will be releasing that.
Question: And then on schools, it wasn't too long ago that you told Hell Gate that you were pro snow day. What changed your mind on that?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think there's always the tussle between the head and the heart. I can tell you as a New Yorker who loved snow days growing up and would sit and watch local news at 5 a.m. to see if my school was mentioned on the ticker at the bottom, I know what this means for students. It's why I've invited them to pelt me in the face with a snowball.
However, New York City also operates in accordance with state law where we have to have 180 days of instruction. And given the additions of holidays over the past few administrations, it reduces the flexibility that we can have to have an old-fashioned snow day.
Question: Mayor Mamdani, you said you have [inaudible] technology as students doing remote tomorrow. If there is, a chance [of a] hiccup. What do parents or children need to know in that case?
Mayor Mamdani: So, the first thing I would say is we've already increased our capacity at our help desks from about 90 to 140 people. If there is any kind of an issue that a parent or a student is facing, I would tell them that they should call our support desk. They can do so at 718-935-5100. That is a support desk that will be active from 6 a.m. tomorrow to 6 p.m.
And I also just want to acknowledge and appreciate the work of our chancellor [and] the work of our DOE, because what they've been doing is ensuring that we learn from the lessons of the past. That means stress testing the system such that it can handle [the] capacity of the entire school system logging on.
Now, we know that tomorrow it will not be the entire school system because high school students and students at schools that have grades 6 through 12 already have a previously scheduled day off as part of professional training day. And yet, what we know is that the system would be prepared even if that was the case.
So, for every student that will be logging on tomorrow, our principals are fully prepared. Thanks to the hard work of those at DOE, we will have staggered start times. Students have their tech, and it's going to be a good remote learning day.
