City transportation and sanitation officials slid off the hot seat Monday when a City Council hearing on the much-maligned response to a January winter storm was postponed — by another major snowfall that dropped close to 20 inches of snow across the five boroughs.
But the prospect of a second postponement for Friday’s rescheduled oversight hearing at City Hall was scratched Wednesday, after New Yorkers with disabilities who plan to testify about accessibility shortcomings during the dual storms had requested for it to be pushed back again.
Advocates sent a letter to the City Council asking for a two-week delay, noting that still-limited access to sidewalks, curb cuts and bus stops could keep some people with disabilities from attending or testifying in-person.
“We still had problems getting around last week and that was four weeks after the last storm,” said Jean Ryan, a motorized wheelchair user and head of Disabled In Action of Metropolitan New York. “And just the fact that there were 16 to 20 inches of snow in the city after the blizzard means there’s going to be a lot of snowpiles, even if the temperature is a little bit higher.”
Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-Brooklyn), who chairs the committee on disabilities, called for the hearing on accessibility and snow removal after criticizing snow-clearing efforts in the wake of the January storm, which left sections of sidewalks off-limits to people with disabilities and mounds of snow at bus shelters and bus stops.
“Since the first snowstorm, I haven’t been able to travel too much,” said Dustin Jones, a wheelchair user who lives in Manhattan. “Then, just when I just started getting comfortable, Mother Nature takes a dump on us all over again.”
The January storm belted the city with more than 10 inches of snow. It was followed by a long run of sub-freezing temperatures that continued to make getting around treacherous for people with disabilities, as some property owners failed to clear areas near bus stops or make four-feet-wide sidewalk paths that could fit wheelchairs and strollers.
“If they do it, it’s exactly the width of the shovel and that’s not wide enough for the wheelchair to go through,” Susan Scheer, who uses a motorized wheelchair, told THE CITY. “They just don’t think about it.”
Then came the city’s first blizzard since 2016 from Sunday night into Monday afternoon, extending the unwanted lockdown for New Yorkers with disabilities.
“I’m going completely stir crazy,” Scheer said. “It’s been weeks of this.”
The fresh piles of snow barred Scheer, who has spina bifida, from being able to travel by bus from her Lower East Side home to a mandatory every-four-weeks infusion treatment on the Upper East Side.
“My husband, who is ambulatory, went out and came back and said, ‘No, it’s not going to happen,’” she said.
Scheer said she was able to travel to her infusion-treatment appointment after the January storm — but not without a series of obstacles.
“It was bitterly cold and I couldn’t get [the wheelchair] on the sidewalk,” she said. “So I was riding in the street in the very narrow space where the cars were between the snowbanks.”
Scheer, who was central to establishing the MTA’s Access-A-Ride service for people with disabilities more than three decades ago, said she has long been flustered by sidewalks and ramps on street corners not being cleared of snow or slush.
“I brought up this problem in 1986, ‘87, ‘88 and I’ve brought it up every year since then,” she said. “And it’s like a surprise every year that it snows and that everybody has to think all over again about how they’re going to do this.”
In briefings and social media posts prior to the blizzard that started Sunday evening, city officials repeatedly emphasized the responsibility of property owners to clear sidewalks, fire hydrants and unsheltered bus stops.
Advocates credited City Hall for the shift.
“Before the other storm, the four-feet width on the sidewalk was kind of buried,” Ryan said. “I only saw that once before the [January] storm, but before this blizzard, it was there in all the messaging.”
A City Hall spokesperson said that DSNY has issued close to 18,500 summonses this snow season for failure to clear snow and ice.
But Scheer said it’s clear some property owners do not grasp the extent of their required snow-clearing duties.
“It wouldn’t occur to me to necessarily go over to the bus stop and start shoveling it out, unless it’s made clear to people by their landlord when they sign their lease,” she said.
Janno Lieber, chairperson and chief executive of the MTA, said Wednesday that transit officials were “very appreciative” of Mayor Zohran Mamdani for getting the word out to property owners about their role in clearing bus stops.
“He has a big microphone and he used it and we appreciated that,” Lieber said.
The MTA also used some of its buses to move sanitation workers and emergency snow shovelers to problem spots at blocked bus stops.
“Progress was made, but there’s always a lot of room to make it better,” Lieber said. “We’re still looking at some bus stops that are tough to navigate.”
As for the Friday hearing, people with disabilities will have the opportunity to testify remotely.
Advocates contend that is a non-starter and that they would much prefer to be at City Hall in person.
“The disability and senior communities have people who want to testify, but can’t remotely,” Ryan said. “So their voices will not be heard.”
