Snow Overcomes Mayor

The lead story in today’s New York Times, “City Struggles as Storm Impact Chastens Mayor,” shows how mundane matters such as a heavy snowfall can bring the most sophisticated, urbane locale to a screeching halt. Mr. Bloomberg somehow failed to anticipate that many cars, buses and trucks would become stranded during  the blizzard and failed to deploy an adequate number of tow trucks to supplement the usual complement of snow plows typical for such inclement weather.

And when the streets are blocked by stranded cars, the snow plows can’t get through, and an entire neighborhood can become stranded. Even worse in  the city’s response was a failure to anticipate that 9-1-1 calls would continue to come through, and  when the roads are impassable, ambulances are affected as well. For the first time, police cars started responding to these calls for help in case the ambulance got stuck.

The overall result was basically one big mess, and the City Council is crying bloody murder about the lack of planning. Many say that a snow emergency should have  been declared  in advance, a step Mr. Bloomberg failed to take.  Meanwhile, the normally unflappable Mayor got testy in his most recent press conference and tried to downplay the difficulties.

One  wonders  whether his nascent independent campaign for President could become derailed by bad weather. An ironic development if it occurred.