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Shelterview Drive residents in Stapleton say postal workers can’t access their mailboxes and they’re too old to carry groceries up the snow-covered hill.Courtsey of Tom Girardi<\/p>\nSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Dead ends and roads throughout Staten Island remained snow-clogged and slippery Wednesday afternoon, creating hazardous driving conditions for motorists \u2014 especially on those streets that reportedly had not been touched by a plow.<\/p>\n
In Stapleton, five households of senior citizens on Shelterview Drive remain effectively trapped in their homes as their street remains unplowed despite multiple requests for assistance from the city. <\/p>\n
The residents who live at the end of a dead-end street on a steep uphill block have been unable to receive mail or get groceries since Monday\u2019s snowfall.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody has been up here to plow,\u201d Tom Girardi, a block resident, told the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201cWe\u2019re all senior citizens up here and we can\u2019t get down the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Girardi, they have been trying for days to get the city Sanitation Department to plow their street to no avail. <\/p>\n
The residents, in their 70s, said they have filed multiple complaints with the city\u2019s 311 service since Monday, but have received no assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put in complaints, called 311 since Monday, and this is now Wednesday,\u201d Girardi said. \u201cWe still have nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation has also disrupted essential services. Mail delivery has been impossible since the snowfall because postal workers cannot access the street. This is particularly challenging for residents who rely exclusively on paper mail.<\/p>\n
Shelterview Drive residents in Stapleton say postal workers can’t access their mailboxes and they’re too old to carry groceries up the snow-covered hill.Courtsey of Tom Girardi<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t even get our mail,\u201d Girardi noted. \u201cThere\u2019s two parts of the hill. One part you come up, and that\u2019s where our mailboxes are. The mailman can\u2019t get up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the potential impact on bill payments, Girardi confirmed the severity of the situation: \u201cWe still get our mail. Everything is paper. We\u2019re not online. We don\u2019t pay our bills online.\u201d<\/p>\n
For these senior citizens, navigating the snow-covered hill presents significant dangers. While Girardi managed to get down the hill on Tuesday, he was unable to return with his vehicle and had to leave his truck parked on Van Duzer Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife can\u2019t get off the hill,\u2019’ he said. \u201dI got off the hill yesterday, but now I have to walk back up. I\u2019m not carrying groceries up; we\u2019re in our 70s.”<\/p>\n
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Shown is the location off of Van Duzer Street in Stapleton where Shelterview Drive residents are still snowed in.Google Maps<\/p>\n
The residents have even attempted to secure private snow removal services, but found the cost to be astronomical. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had somebody come up look at it yesterday privately. They wanted $3,000,\u201d Girardi said. \u201cWe\u2019re not paying $3000 to plow a hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
In previous years, the residents had their own solutions. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my neighbors has a quad with a plow on it, and he\u2019s been plowing it. He\u2019s been away now on vacation,\u201d Girardi explained. \u201cBefore that, I had a big snow blower and I was able to go up and down the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding to their frustration, the residents report that city plows clearing the main thoroughfare have actually made their situation worse. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they plow the street, they plow us in at the bottom on the street. Like we\u2019re a driveway and not a street,\u201d Girardi said.<\/p>\n
The residents have noticed a puzzling pattern in the city\u2019s snow removal priorities. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s other small streets like this that actually go through from Van Duzer all the way up to Howard Avenue. Those are all plowed. They\u2019re all plowed with a pickup truck, but the truck doesn\u2019t come up here,\u201d Girardi observed.<\/p>\n
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Five households of residents in their 70s on Shelterview Drive can’t get mail, groceries or emergency services after filing multiple 311 complaints since Monday.Courtsey of Tom Girardi<\/p>\n
The Department of Sanitation typically uses smaller vehicles equipped with plows to clear narrow streets like Girardi\u2019s. <\/p>\n
Girardi said Sanitation workers visited the area on Sunday night when everything was already clear.<\/p>\n
A video taken by Advance\/SILive.com<\/a>\u2018s opinion columnist, Tom Wrobleski<\/a>, showed the slushy mess left behind in Tompkinsville.<\/p>\n Motorists were traveling slowly along Austin Place Wednesday morning, as it appeared that no plow had touched that area in a while.<\/p>\n Click here to watch the full video on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n On Instagram, Advance\/SILive.com readers shared similar realities<\/a> about their snow removal experiences across the borough<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo days and still not all shoveled out because everything is ice,\u201d Social media user @shortcrs said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe a plow came down the street at all!\u201d<\/p>\n A Midland Beach resident identified only as Ralph said his street was never salted and gave the situation a thumb down emoji.<\/p>\n Early Wednesday morning, bus riders were forced to stand in the street at the intersection of Narrows Road and South Fingerboard Road in Arrochar because the stop had not been cleared.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing was cleared so that passengers could have a safe spot to wait,\u201d a witness said. <\/p>\n He noted that while a few areas like Van Briesen Park saw partial cleanup, many essential locations \u2014 including Bay Street bus stops and Sylvaton Terrace \u2014 remained inaccessible.<\/p>\n As of Wednesday afternoon, the Sanitation Department\u2019s Plow NYC map has been deactivated with the message that the website is not tracking vehicles \u201cat this time.\u201d Plow NYC tracks plow locations across the city. To use the service when it is back up and running, visit this link.<\/a> <\/p>\n The Sanitation Department did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.<\/p>\n![\"plow](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6COW7DLN3ZFE3OXCTKKFVVH44M.png\")
Residents across the borough are sharing videos and complaints about unplowed dead-end and slushy streets. Click on the picture to view the footage.Courtsey of anonymous reader<\/p>\n![\"snow](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AT3Z2ILB4FFZ5POVPCU7LTKR74.png\")
With the Narrows Road South and Fingerboard Road bus stop still buried and sidewalk uncleared, riders had no choice but to wait in the street on Wednesday Jan. 28, 2026.Courtsey of Dennis Rees<\/p>\n