Mounds of garbage have piled up on NYC streets as the city struggles with freezing temperatures and piles of ever-more-disgusting snow.
Mayor Mamdani said garbage collection is running 24 hours behind schedule, despite 2,500 sanitation workers on 12-hour shifts and 1,500 additional workers from across different city agencies who are working to clear bus stops, sidewalks and crosswalks.
“What I’m thankful to see is that the pace of cleanup is increasing, and I am hopeful that that continues to be the case across the five boroughs,” Mamdani said.
The Department of Sanitation has a “Snow Alert,” posted to its site: “Collection is ongoing, but delays are possible due to the winter storm,”
The mayor added that, due to the persistent cold, extra work has fallen to city workers who can usually rely on slightly warmer temperatures melting snow and aiding their efforts.
“What that has meant is that the entirety of the city’s response is up to the city workers themselves, and what they’ve been doing is an incredible job,” the mayor said.
Michelle Walker, a 57-year-old health care worker from Gowanus, was less than pleased with the trash mountain piling up on the Brooklyn streets.
“For people coming home from work, it’s discouraging,” she said. “Already with this new administration, our streets are not clean. It is what it is.”
But some New Yorkers wanted to cut the city some slack.
“My recycling hasn’t been picked up either,“ said John Gill, 51, an IT worker from Windsor Terrace, also in Brooklyn. “I understand they have a hard job so, for me it’s no big deal.”
“Going forward, like next week – talk to me then,” he added.