Some NYC plow drivers admit slow response to storm cleanup was no accident

[Cutatious]

Source: Syracuse.com

Now, some city sanitation workers are saying their slow response was purposely orchestrated to punish Bloomberg for budget cuts.

City Councilman Dan Halloran, of Queens, told The New York Post he met with three plow drivers and two Department of Transportation supervisors on Wednesday, and they admitted to slowing down the snow removal process.

Read more: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/nyc_plow_drivers_admit_slow_re.html

---

Inexcusable. People died because they could not get help or to emergency services.

[NoPasaran]

1. From pictures I saw, it looked like Bloomberg's street was plowed

Most of the punishment must have been inflicted elsewhere.

[robcon]

2. It's always Queens.

For decades, the streets of Queens were the last ones to be plowed. I don't know why.

[aquart]

31. Not under Giuliani.

The city didn't stop for snow. He was well-versed in the Lindsay Lesson.

[ThomCat]

100. Staten Island too. Our neighborhood only got plowed

yesterday.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. He said, she said.

I reserve the right to be skeptical.

[Beavker]

12. I think they'd be smart enough to withhold plowing

on K street/Wall Street. Those bastards are the root for all of this mess. Plus, they'd have to know that with the re-pugs coming in all over the place, the cuts are just biggining...

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. Careful of spin here, folks. No political machine does it better.

Not sure of Halloran's track record. E.g. Did he vote for or against Bloomberg's term limit scam? Would be nice to know on which side his bread is buttered.

And check out the media sources: News ( Zuckerman), Post (Murdoch) ... i.e., the usual suspects.

Also this is an OLD tactic here. Lindsay's people blamed the 69' political snow-boggle on the unions also.

And, BTW, the sanit dept seems to have done just fine in plowing out the upper east side. That's where the folks who" count" live.

Context is everything.

[rurallib]

9. I live in the Midwest, but my bullshit radar went off immediately

Seems like this needs much more checking.
Sounds like Bloomy is trying to shift the blame.

[snagglepuss]

13. I must have the same radar. nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

18. Odd. The OP lives in Va.

Perhaps his/her radar is not as finely-tuned as your own.

Maybe with more experience......

Again: Bloomberg's PR machine is a thing to behold.

[aquart]

34. Well-financed.

[quakerboy]

89. Hell, even the title itself: "Some say"

[RobinA]

99. Slow Down

due to labor unrest, stupid management trying to save a nickel or just plain lack of funds, whatever. Stuff like this is going to have to happen in order for sanity to be restored. I'll be complaining along with everybody else when my street doesn't get plowed, but it's going to have to happen (apparently). People don't want to pay taxes they will have to reap the consequences. Things will get worse before they get better, but from what has been happening, the only fix for the current nonsense will be increasing chaos until people are ready for it to end. Taxes = plowed streets. You can pay the taxman to have the streets plowed, you can pay Snowplow Inc. to plow in front of your house but not the rest of your way to work, or you can pay no one and not leave the house 'til spring.

[Sanity Claws]

5. I'm skeptical

here's a link to a NY Daily News article that blames management decisions, http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/30/2010-12-30_blizzard_of_2010_forecasts_were_fuzzy_buses_were_bungled_plows_were_pathetic__ma.html

I am sick of how some people always blame the peons for the managers' blunders.

[bread_and_roses]

6. Oh, so reports of anonymous "guilt-ridden" workers make an ironclad case?

How convenient for this Republican Councilman and how convenient for all the public sector bashers and union busters.

[niyad]

7. welcome to DU--ALWAYs check the sources

[Newsjock]

8. 'told the New York Post'

That pretty much says it all right there.

[robcon]

10. Awful.

n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. I'm shocked, shocked to find that you took this innuendo at face value.

[aquart]

37. Innuendo, my ass.

It's a bald-faced lie.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

39. I stand corrected.

Sometimes my tendency to give people the benefit of doubt goes overboard.

[aquart]

36. Untruthful.

[Brickbat]

11. Says the councilman. Hearsay.

[Kokonoe]

14. Well, NYC has only three plow drivers

and two supervisors.:shrug:

[snagglepuss]

15. Do you honestly believe this is credible? This is pure BS. 400 sanitation

workers were laid off. This fiasco is the result of laying of that many workers.

[bdamomma]

28. I am not a New Yorker

but I totally agree with your comment. :thumbsup:

[boppers]

87. Is snow removal part of the sanitation department?

Less workers would mean slower work, no?

[snagglepuss]

92. Yes sanitation is responsible for snow removal. I believe it was a BBC

story about the fiasco that reported some pertinent facts about the city's response I haven't seen elsewhere, though I haven't followed the story too closely. Several points I recall are:

City officals utterly ignored weather warnings of the impending blizzard so it was slow to issue a snow emergency.
By delaying its response it delayed calls out to independent contractors which were essential given the large layoff.
People were abandoning car in the middle of streets. None of these are related to a union slowdown.

[timo]

17. ????

were ANY plows sitting unused? did any of the lay offs cause a plow to be driverless? I bet NOT.

[Sanity Claws]

19. A lot of plows got stuck in the snow

and were indeed left unused. Managers sent the plows out without chains.
The same happened with buses. The buses were sent out without chains and got stuck. Even after the first batch got stuck, they kept sending them out without chains and they got stuck in the same area. Some blocks had four buses stuck in it.

Plows can't get through when buses, cars and trucks are stuck in the middle of the street. If you lived here, you would have seen the debacle. Unbelievable fuck ups.

[Sanity Claws]

24. Also

Plows are usually put on front of garbage trucks. I didn't see one garbage truck with a plow attached.
So yes, a lot of equipment seemed to have been unused, due to lack of manpower or stupid managers.

[aquart]

35. They were not in proper position because BLOOMBERG screwed up.

He didn't call a snow emergency. Even Giuliani had the plows out at the first flake when a big storm was predicted. Bloomberg didn't send any out till after the snow STOPPED. That is WAY too late. By then it was impossible to travel. Civilian cars had only been requested to stay off the streets. They weren't ordered to. Emergency workers, sanitation workers, essential personnel who had not been put in place had to scramble to get to work. THAT's your slowdown. No available transportation.

[mascarax]

20. I read 20K sanitation workers 20 yrs ago...now it's 5800

And they are demoting people, cutting, and not replacing retirees or others who leave.
Do I know how many sanitation workers NYC needs? No. But that is a huge difference.
This looks like more union bashing. (Why stop at sanitation? Maybe the teachers' union should share some responsibility for the lack of snow plowing...or commercial food workers or...) :sarcasm:

[FSogol]

21. Unreced for union bashing. n/t

[TomClash]

22. Republican telling a Republican rag

Except the City already denied this accusation. In the NY Daily News: "Sanitation management and the union deny any shenanigans by workers, most of whom have been on brutal 12-hour shifts."

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/29/2010-12-29_mayor_bloomberg_apologizes_for_snow_screwups_during_blizzard_of_2010_defends_san.html#ixzz19c8aIBqZ

If so, Halloran should name the workers and they will be punished. He won't because he can't.

[aquart]

33. Halloran has no shield protection.

He should be hauled in front of a grand jury and required to name his sources.

[TomClash]

96. Agreed

I suspect he's lying. If he's not, we need to know that too.

[jumptheshadow]

23. Oh, come on!

This was probably a series of management decisions that started with a key question:

Do we want to pay humongous overtime to clean up snow during a holiday weekend when half the city is out of town and the other half is nested with family?

So the initial decision was made -- NO! -- and a gamble was taken that the snowfall wouldn't be so bad, that most people wouldn't mind extending the holiday weekend, that all would be semi-normal by Tuesday. So, yes, some money was saved on the front end, but the situation went FUBAR and a vast fortune was lost this week.

We are looking at the future, folks, when the local, state and federal government are so broke that fixable situations become dangerous and uncontrollable and disastrous.

[senseandsensibility]

25. unrec for suspect source and union bashing

x( Let's use some critical thinking skills, people.

[Cutatious]

26. Whatever the problem was, the Governor calls for an investigation

Paterson Calls for Investigation into Alleged Sanitation Dept. Work Slow-Down

http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/paterson-calls-investigation-alleged-sanitation-dept-work-slow-down

My opinion is that there was too much snow.

[Ikonoklast]

27. Paterson can go suck an egg.

The allegations will disappear as they are groundless.

The Ruling Class *always* blame those lowest on the pole for their own failures.

Bloomberg is just another empty suit with lots of money.

[musette_sf]

29. way to union-bash

but we do know that breaking the state unions is on the Gooper agenda for next year.

[rocktivity]

30. I saw the story on the cover of today's New York Post

and my first thought was "More stealth union busting?"

:headbang:
rocktivity

[aquart]

32. Wow. You sure are credulous.

Sweetie, tell me how the union could deploy its workers WITHOUT A SNOW EMERGENCY BEING CALLED? Do let me know.

[RamboLiberal]

38. City councilman Dan Halloran Says 5 Workers told him slowdown was ordered

City councilman Dan Halloran said three sanitation workers and two Department of Transportation supervisors came to his office saying their supervisors ordered the slowdown, telling workers "The mayor will see how much he needs us" and that "there will be plenty of overtime."

-----

The head of New York's sanitation workers' union, Harry Nespoli, said he was not aware of any slowdown and doubts there was a protest by workers.

Nespoli said "it was one of the biggest blizzards I've ever seen," with wind conditions that severely reduced drivers' visibility and hampered cleanup efforts.

He had earlier blamed harsh winds and budget cuts as reasons for the slow response.

"We were 400 people short," said Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association. "There are certain services that should not be affected. The people pay taxes for it."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/30/new.york.snow/index.html?hpt=T1

[alp227]

40. Some claim workers delayed NYC snow cleanup

Source: CNN

New York (CNN) -- Four days after a monster blizzard blanketed much of the northeastern United States, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he will investigate whether sanitation workers intentionally delayed cleanup efforts over frustrations regarding citywide budget cuts.

"It would be an outrage if it took place," Bloomberg said Thursday, stressing that his administration's primary focus is clearing streets in the city's outer boroughs. Some neighborhoods remained snowbound for days after the storm.

Rumors swirled across New York on Thursday that sanitation officers ordered rank-and-file workers to slow down cleanup efforts in retaliation for the city's belt-tightening measures.

City Councilman Dan Halloran said three sanitation workers and two Department of Transportation supervisors came to his office saying their supervisors ordered the slowdown, telling workers that "the mayor will see how much he needs us" and that "there will be plenty of overtime."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/30/new.york.snow/index.html

[howaboutme]

41. I agree with Bloomberg

"It would be an outrage if it took place," Bloomberg said Thursday, stressing that his administration's primary focus is clearing streets in the city's outer boroughs. Some neighborhoods remained snowbound for days after the storm.

Any public servant who would attempt to capitalize on the tribulations of others need to made into examples and fired. But it first needs proven.

[DJ13]

44. Any public servant who would attempt to capitalize on the tribulations of others

...need to made into examples and fired.



Or become politicians, where that behavior is normal.

[howaboutme]

64. Ain't that the truth

but it seems that the bigger the city the more corrupt are the politics, the more entrenched are the political machines, the more inefficient and the more common are abuses that take place. I wouldn't care to live in NYC or any city. I prefer to be self reliant where I can dig myself out and not depend upon others.

[ThomCat]

101. It would be outrageous that Bloomberg

gutted the department, demoted a bunch of remaining people, and then blamed them when service wasn't the same as before the slashing and cutting. He did it in order to save money by cutting services and to make unions take the hit.

Yes, when there is a huge problem, instead of the buck stopping with the guy in charge, always blame the workers who have no authority or power. That really makes a lot of sense. Participate in the scapegoating. :sarcasm:

[ProSense]

42. This guy

Daniel J. Halloran

Sounds more like he's out to give sanitation workers a bad name. Bloomberg admitted he screwed up.

[Sanity Claws]

43. This is at least the third thread repeating this RW propaganda.

Amazing how this gets repeated but no one seems to be emphasizing Bloomberg's failure to declare a snow emergency or MTA's failure to put chains on buses or send out the diesels to prevent the train tracks from freezing over. They also fail to talk about MTA's continuing to send out buses without chains after the first batch got stuck.

These stuck buses and trucks prevented plows from going down many streets. Lots of pictures are on the web. Why then are we repeating this RW shit?

[Peregrine Took]

45. Supposedly 5 "guilt ridden" employees turned themselves in a rethug

Councilman. Ugh. If its true I smell a rat.

[Dover]

46. Jay Leno showed a clip of a city worker in a truck pulling a plow up the street...

which kept hitting a parked car.
Witnesses were reporting that the plow continued to bang into parked cars as he went and yet the driver (who was getting an earful from passersby about the damage) continued to allow this to happen. And it went on for a very long time (nearly an hour if I remember correctly). Leno made fun of this crazy driver but it seemed pretty clear to me that it was an act of malice not incompetence. And the city would have to foot the bill for all the damage.

[Sanity Claws]

48. Bullshit

The video was posted on Youtube and was about 5 minutes. How can you intuit intent from the video? How do you know what the tow truck driver can see from his vantage point?

I suggest that you take a look at the plow in the video. It didn't have chains on it. Who the hell would send out plows without chains on them when there is 20 inches of snow? That was a management decision, not the workers.

Sending out unsuitable equipment (chainless and incapable of getting through the blizzard) was a major cause for the mess that resulted.

[Dover]

53. And besides your own 5 minute viewing of that video, what do you know about that incident?

I'm willing to accept that there was more to it, but that is indeed what I intuited. And according to Leno, reports were that it went on for some time and that despite obvious 'problems' the worker did not stop.

[Sanity Claws]

54. You made accusations

You are the one who should be able to back them up with more than your intuition and Jay Leno.

Aren't you embarrassed to say that your intuition and Jay Leno are the basis of your smears? You should be.

Don't foist your baseless speculations on us.

I am sick of hearing this RW propaganda.

[Dover]

57. Well it sounds like you are more than willing to make assumptions as well.

And that's my point. Unless you consider Jay Leno a rw propagandist, I don't get your point.

And BTW, I was not even aware of this whole Bloomberg/Unions problem with snow removal when I saw that clip, so was not viewing it within that political context. I only saw it as a city driver who looked reckless and angry, ignoring efforts to get him to stop.
It seemed malicious to me. And like I said, I'm open to the possibility that there's more to it, but I don't get that same willingness on your part.

[bullwinkle428]

58. Yes, Jay Leno IS pretty much of a RW propgandist, and this

has been documented on numerous occasions by DUers.

[Dover]

60. Well, before YOU rush to judgement, you might see if you can get a clip of his monologue

and see how it was presented.

I'm willing to accept that there are rw sources within the union who are undermining both the union AND Bloomberg by acts such as we saw in that clip.

[alp227]

81. Uhh how could you see it on Leno

if the show's on repeats all week and that happened during reruns week?

[Psephos]

62. A couple of things can be concluded easily from the video.

1) The vehicle being towed is not a plow. It is a loader. It is equipped with deep-lug tires. (Chains don't work with deep-lug tires. They need a flat tire surface.)

2) Any tow-truck driver who does not keep on eye on what s/he is towing is negligent and a public-safety risk.

3) In addition to the tow-truck driver, the loader driver was also on scene and aware of the serial collisions with the parked car.

I mistrust people who try to tell me not to trust my lyin' eyes. It always is in service to an agenda.

[Sanity Claws]

63. You can call it whatever you want

but that vehicle was used as a snow plow and it got stuck in the snow.

Who made the decision to send out a loader to do a plow's job? Management.
Sounds like a lot of management negligence to me.

Do you have a link to the video? I watched it over a day ago and do not recall seeing the driver of what you call the loader there.

As for the driver, visibility is impaired in snow and at night. This happened at night in the snow.

[Dover]

66. And how do you know that there aren't people within the union who are

working with the rw and undermining unions with acts of sabotage from within, like those in this clip.

I said I intuited it was malicious, but I didn't speculate on why or the driver's agenda.

[Sanity Claws]

68. I didn't say I knew anything

except that this sounded like a lot of RW propaganda. You jumped and made accusations against union members with nothing more than intuition and Jay Leno to support you. You should justify your jump to such an accusation. I do not have to justify my refusal to jump to accusations. It is known as keeping an open mind, particularly when I know that lots of video was shot and I have yet to see the alleged slowdowns. I also know that I saw a lot of stuck vehicles without chains and that management, not union members, made the decision to send out equipment without chains into 20 inches of snow.

[Dover]

70. Where are my accusations against union members?

You aren't saying you know anything? Yes you are. Admit you've made your own assumptions, including assumptions about me and my intentions and thoughts.

I reported what I saw on that clip and that it looked malicious. I was not aware of the issues with the union's snow removal. And I did not speculate on who the driver was, or what, if any,
agenda he might have. Chill out.

[Sanity Claws]

73. Here it is

And it went on for a very long time (nearly an hour if I remember correctly). Leno made fun of this crazy driver but it seemed pretty clear to me that it was an act of malice not incompetence.


As for not being aware of the alleged issue with the union's snow removal, that was what the opening post was about.

[Dover]

76. Yes, the opening post reminded me of that clip.

But suggesting that it appeared to be malicious is NOT the same thing as speculating on why, who was behind this act or their intentions/agenda. The reasons for his actions could be many - maybe he was drunk, or disgruntled worker, maybe he's working for the rw or ....

I do not assume, as you do, that it's necessarily rw propaganda, but I'm also not discounting it.

But relative to this whole political issue, as I also said, it's entirely
possible that there are people within the union who work for those who are trying to undermine them. In fact, I'd expect that to be the case.

And so I do hope we get some answers about that incident.

[howaboutme]

72. Videos are reality but they can be set up too.

Videos have a way of driving home reality. You see what you see. There is no doubt that the individuals involved could be plants, but they could also be worthless uncaring hacks.

I fully support union members although I don't support anyone who doesn't do their job conscientiously.

We need far more unions in the private sector. In the end it is always about individuals not groups of people. The individuals in the video need to be identified along with their actions explained by the individuals publicly and on you tube. If they don't have a good reason then they need need to lose their jobs.

[howaboutme]

67. What bothers me most

are people, cops, politicians, workers, CEOs regardless of their riches or political affiliation that just don't give a damn about other people or other people's property in the course of doing their job.

This isn't left or right, it is about doing the right thing and it needs to be investigated and the ones who are guilty need kicked out.

[AtheistCrusader]

71. The operator is in the loader. Both vehicles are running.

The tow truck and the loader are running. The loader is hitting the parked vehicle right next to the loader cab, and he does nothing.

I've performed many technical recoveries of vehicles stuck in snow, and this video is shocking to me. There is absolutely no defending it whatsoever.

[Sanity Claws]

78. I just rewatched the video

How do you know there was a driver in the loader? I didn't see one and no one came out when the tow truck stopped. The tow truck driver got out but no driver from the loader came out.

[Lorien]

103. You're kidding, right?

you just lost your entire argument.

[Lorien]

102. +1. The guy in the loader had a clear view of the vehicle they were crashing into

plus there were the people yelling at them, which could be heard over both vehicles. The morons stopped once the loader was out and the damage was done. They knew damn well what they were doing, they just hadn't counted on they commotion attracting so many witnesses.

[AtheistCrusader]

69. What kind of thundering moron would put chains on that sort of tyre?

That's not what that kind of tyre is FOR, it doesn't NEED chains to dig in snow.

[Sanity Claws]

74. It needed something

The tow truck was called out because it was stuck in the snow. That was how the problem started.

[AtheistCrusader]

75. Operator error never occurred to you?

How about winter versus summer compound tyres?

If it's sitting on hoar or glare ice under that snow, chains don't help. They make it worse.
I cannot tell, through the video, the precise conditions on that ground, can you?

You do not put chains on that type of tyre. If it's the incorrect compound for the temperature, you change the entire tyre to the correct compound.

How do you even know this loader was intended to clear snow? Perhaps it was parked for a standard construction job in the vicinity?

[Sanity Claws]

77. I saw the city use this type of vehicle to clear snow

that's how I know.

If it was there for a standard construction job, it wouldn't have been towed by the sanitation dept.

The fact is that the vehicle got stuck. If you think the problem was the wrong tire, that was a management decision, not the worker's decision.

As for the ground conditions, I can tell you that NYC had 20 inches of snow, with some places as deep as 24 inches of snow. I also know that it was below freezing, so whatever snow was heated up by car exhaust and heat froze over pretty fast. I also know that Mayor Bloomberg DID NOT call a snow emergency which would have kept a lot of cars off the road. That would have helped in that there wouldn't have been as many stuck vehicles.

[aquart]

47. Dan Halloran worships the white gods.

He's an Irishman who believes in all the white things. German, Viking, he's a proud heathen who loves all those old white deities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Halloran

He's Republican/Conservative and as anti-union as you can get. It's a real pleasure how all those union guys confessed to him. In secret, I assume?

[ProSense]

49. He's

a teabagger.

[denverbill]

59. Wow. Real libertarian nut-case.

My guess is (if it happened) the 5 guys are white teabagging government workers with a black boss.

Either way, if it happened, the bosses should be canned.

If it didn't, the teabaggers should be fired.

[howaboutme]

83. Irish are bad?

So now Irishmen are bad nasty racists? Bloomberg is white does that make him a racist too. If not why not?

The issue here is that we should not stake claims to positions before the investigation is completed. Yes we need an investigation. Can we ever have an honest one....hard to tell?

Some claim that NYC union workers can do no harm. Others blame them for everything. There are bad and good workers and the bad ones need fired. The good ones need recognized. Politics needs to be removed from the equation.

[quakerboy]

90. Do you have a suggestion

on how to remove politics from the equation?

[howaboutme]

93. Politics, and thus power, seems to drive every agenda

It has probably always been that way, and those most adept and shrewd at manipulating it to their advantage, are the least obvious about it.

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if we had leadership and a society that just did the "right thing" most of the time instead of positioning for advantage? The "right thing" is more obvious and not as illusive as some may think. The golden rule and not politics would work to appease most of us. Perhaps the GR needs taught more rather than the art of manipulation.

The "right thing" in this case would be for the supervisors and city workers to go out and work their butts off to get the city dug out ASAP so that police and ambulances and society can function. The right thing would also not be about politicians making false accusations about workers or supervisors if that occurred. Doing the right thing is the easiest and most rewarding way to operate and most of us do recognize good from bad.

[quakerboy]

97. But how do we get there?

I agree that the "right thing" is not all that hard to figure out. But how do we get there? That's the main missing link.

[aquart]

91. He doesn't worship Brigit or any other Irish or Celtic god.

He's gone off the reservation looking for a faith less inclusive than Christianity. Does that sound like the Irish you know??? He's rejected his own heritage looking for something whiter.

You wanna claim him, be my guest.

[Jennicut]

50. I do find it sort of hilarious that NYC seems to have any trouble cleaning up snow.

I live in a very small town in upper CT and we are lucky if they remember to plow the back roads here. At least wait a day and have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Bloomberg and co can't get this done in NYC with all those resources?

[boppers]

88. There's a difference in experience, vehicle types, and preparation.

Here in Portland (Oregon), when there's lots of snow, we tend to dig in and stay off the streets, and then start clearing ourselves out (many streets are too small, and packed with cars, to plow). Oh, and we get hammered every few years, so we're used to keeping food in the pantry, and just shutting everything down until temps get to a melting range.

[Sanity Claws]

51. "Some say" Are we really playing this stupid game?

One RW politician said it, claiming that union workers went to him and confessed.
Bullshit.

All of this time, all of the videos shot, and yet there is no video proof of this allegation.
It is bullshit.

[snagglepuss]

52. Why are you repeating unsubstaniated RW anti-union drivel?

[rocktivity]

55. I smell union busting via bad publicity

x(
rocktivity

[hedgehog]

56. Here in Upstate New York - overnight street parking is banned

in a lot of localities from November through April. Other places require all cars to be removed from the streets during a snow emergency. You can't plow a street that has cars parked on it.

[Jefferson23]

61. More RW bullshit. Bllomberg is planning on letting more sanitation

workers go,another 150 more or so. He is full of shit on this, and so are the other RW idiots like Staten Island's
borough president Molinaro. Speaking out his ass this morning suggesting that IF this were true...oh what a disgrace all
the while he has no evidence, but that did not stop him from repeating the suggestion every chance he could.

[valerief]

65. How dare the hoi polloi expect to get work from their government when that

government is busily turning over the Treasury to the global elite? Let them eat cake!

[AlbertCat]

84. How dare the hoi polloi expect to get work from their government when that

government is busily turning over the Treasury to the global elite?
**********

Exactly!

This is what happens when there's no money because no one wants to pay taxes.

Get use to it.

Or hire a private firm to plow your street. The Gov can't do anything right anyway, right?

[valerief]

85. Huh? The govt can do plenty right when not controlled by plutocrats or fascists. nt

[howaboutme]

95. Starving the beast

It is the tactic that the Repubs and politicians use to cut funding so that they can promote their agenda. It amounts to purposely breaking government so they have an excuse to either eliminate a function or even worse, privatize it to enrich their corrupt buddies.

[c14444c]

79. If management orders you to withold work...

If management orders you to withold work you can be fired for disobeying the orders.

It is true NYC supervisors have "unions", but this is common in the private sector as well (trade associations, the AMA, etc.).

I'm certain many of us have been quietly ordered by our supervisors to slow down a project in order to get budget for the coming year.

[stray cat]

80. I thought we uniformly encourage strikes and protests?

[Odin2005]

82. RW bullshit.

[Nye Bevan]

86. If this was an unsourced story in the NY Post I would be inclined to agree with you.

But how do you explain the several workers who have come forward to confirm that this happened?

[jumptheshadow]

94. Educate Yourself

Here's a link to the NY Times article that gives the timeline for this week's screw-up and in which city officials admit they didn't declare a snow emergency which would have vastly strengthened the response to the weather.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/nyregion/30response.html?scp=1&sq=SNOW%20EMERGENCY&st=cse

The Times also reports that city officials are discounting the reports of a sanitation worker slowdown.

>>Mr. Bloomberg said he was still unsure of the reasons behind the delays in cleanup and again promised there would be a “thorough review.” But he and the sanitation commissioner, John J. Doherty, dismissed widespread speculation of a slowdown by plowing crews upset about cutbacks in their department.

“As of now, I can’t confirm that, and I have no reason to,” Mr. Doherty said, standing next to the mayor in a recreation center in South Jamaica, Queens.<<

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/nyregion/31snow.html?ref=nyregion

It makes me furious that the city's working and middle classes were disproportionately impacted by this incompetently handled situation and now, outrageously and unjustifiably, they are taking the brunt of the criticism.

[freshwest]

98. Part of media demonization of public employees.