SANITATION SNOW REMOVAL IN BROAD CHANNEL-UPDATE

Just received the below email from Dan Mundy Jr., President of the Broad Channel Civic Association regarding his meeting earlier today with Councilman Ulrich and the Department of Sanitation regarding snow removal issues in Broad Channel.

SANITATION SNOW REMOVAL IN BROAD CHANNEL-UPDATE

I want to thank Councilman Ulrich for chairing a meeting today at his office to address the numerous complaints that arose from the snow removal operation in Broad Channel during the most recent snow storm .In attendance were civic members, members of the community, Dan Brown, representing Borough President Melinda Katz, as well as the local supervisor, borough chief and staff members of the Sanitation Department.

It was pointed it that the Broad Channel Civic Association is second to none it its appreciation of our sanitation department. From their daily operations to the tremendous effort that their members put forth after Hurricane Sandy they are the unsung heroes that this organization has incredible respect for. Having stated our overall perception of this agency we then moved on to the most recent snow storm and the dozens of complaints that we, and the councilman, heard of streets that were not plowed, or were plowed by small private companies that were ineffective, drains that were clogged after residents cleared them and snow placed in huge piles in front of residents homes.

 We presented our opinion that the change instituted to using private plows, that only took place last year, was the common theme in all of the complaints. These small pickup trucks were too small to be effective, seemed to have no supervision, pushed snow up in front of homes, were involved in at least two hit and runs to private vehicles, and overall provided no relief to the issue of removing snow from the side streets. We also stated that this community was quite content with the former protocol that saw the orange pay loaders hit all of the side streets and move the snow to the end of the block or to the boulevard. We put forth that we felt that the solution to this problem was to return to having our sanitation members, who are conscientious and who care, brought back with the pay loaders to address the clearing of the snow on the side streets.

Councilman Ulrich actually called the sanitation commissioner during the meeting and it is safe to say that the sanitation representatives got the message that this issue had to be resolved. We left the meeting feeling it was a very positive discussion and with assurances that the representative’s from sanitation would work hard to address the issues presented and that we took them at their word that the next storm would not see the same outcome. Councilman Ulrich was going to have a follow up conversation with the commissioner to confirm that the problems presented, particularly the issue of the private plows, was addressed and to ask that at the end of the year when the contract expires that this protocol no longer be used in Broad Channel given the unique lay out of our streets and the additional issue we face of tidal flooding. 

Dan Brown from Melinda Katz’s office was a great support and also told sanitation officials that this experience must not occur during the next snow storm and that he would be briefing the Borough President of the details of today’s meeting. Overall a very positive meeting and one that I believe will produce results and a big thanks to Councilman Ulrich and to Dan Brown and Borough President Melinda Katz.

Dan Mundy 

President Broad Channel Civic Association