New New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood up for the city's sanitation crews amid weather-related delays, WABC reported.
The five boroughs have been encased in unmelting mountains of ice and muddy snow since Jan. 25, when the heaviest snow in nearly a decade blanketed the region.
On Jan. 24, Mayor Mamdani shared a Facebook reel about the then-coming storm, detailing the New York City Department of Sanitation's role in preparing for extreme weather.
In the clip, Mamdani explained that "thousands" of New York City's garbage trucks had been converted into snow plows to clear "19,000 lane miles" of municipal roadways and bike lanes.
More than a week after the last snowflakes settled on sidewalks, city residents complained of delayed pickups and trash piled on streets.
As The New York Times noted on Jan. 22, the then-looming snowstorm was "not an average winter storm." It's a part of a phenomenon known as extreme weather. As average temperatures rise, atmospheric evaporation supercharges weather patterns.
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As The Times pointed out, the winter storm in question affected roughly "half the U.S. population." Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Alex Lamers surmised that it would be in the "echelon of unusually impactful storms."
Extreme weather is more disruptive, more destructive, and deadlier than normal weather. During a Feb. 2 press conference, Mamdani acknowledged that 16 residents died during the storm. Hypothermia due to extreme cold was a likely factor in 13 of the fatalities.
According to WABC, some New Yorkers understood the logistical challenges the Sanitation Department faced.
"It is freezing out, give them a little grace, maybe prioritize it at some point," an unnamed resident told the outlet.
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$200 or more 💰 During the press conference, Mamdani confirmed there was a 24-hour delay in trash route pickups. The Sanitation Department addressed the issue in a Feb. 2 Instagram post.
"Trash IS getting collected. Snow IS getting moved and melted," it began, advising New Yorkers that crews were working non-stop to clear the backlog.
"We are still working round-the-clock — workers are working 24/7 — on both collection AND snow removal. We've got hundreds of collection trucks on every shift, 12 hours at a time, and we plan to keep it going until we are totally caught up," DSNY explained.
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