Aide: Snow emergency key to NYC snow woes

A key Bloomberg administration aide said Monday that City Hall's failure to call a snow emergency during the Christmas weekend blizzard was a major failing that prevented the city from mounting an adequate attack on the snowfall.

Testifying before a special City Council hearing, Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith said while the decision to hold back on declaring an emergency was based on "sound reasoning," he admitted that it was a ruling that hobbled city agencies by keeping too many drivers on the road who later got stuck in more than 20 inches of snow.

"We believe that declaring an emergency could have provided a triggering event for those city agencies and other entities that utilize such a declaration as a catalyst for action," said Goldsmith.

Had the public heard the words "emergency," people would have limited their driving, added Goldsmith.

Testimony by Goldsmith and other officials comes as the city again braces for another storm, and indicated communication and decision-making flaws for an administration that prides itself on good management skills and tech savvy.

"There was no leadership," said Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Astoria).

Both sanitation Commissioner John Doherty and transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan refrained from making an emergency declaration and didn't share that information with Bloomberg or himself, explained Goldsmith.

Bloomberg wasn't at the hearing, but several Council members assumed that he was out of town during the early stages of the blizzard, an impression neither Goldsmith nor other mayoral aides did anything to change. Bloomberg has refused to say where he was.

Under testy questioning from Council members from the outer boroughs, which were crippled by unplowed streets, Goldsmith also said city emergency services were getting poor intelligence from the field. Many sanitation trucks didn't have two-way radios, Doherty testified.

"Folks on the ground had much better information than we did at City Hall," said Goldsmith, whose testimony came as Bloomberg released a 15-point plan to improve declarations of emergencies, snow plow deployment and communications.

A number of union officials blasted the city's response, saying that calling for a snow emergency, which would have kept cars off the road so plows could move, was an easy decision. "We lost the storm; when you lose the storm, you can't keep moving," said Harry Nespoli head of the sanitation workers' union.