Murdoch tabloid leads charge as big freeze persists – could the mayor please do something about the weather?
It snowed two weeks ago in New York. Since then, the temperature has barely risen above freezing – a temperature science naturally dictates is necessary to melt snow and ice.
But science isn’t enough for some US political critics, however, who have instead blamed Zohran Mamdani, New York’s new socialist mayor, for the snow not having melted and still clogging up some of the city’s streets.
The New York Post, the rightwing tabloid and a frequent Mamdani critic, has led the charge. This week the newspaper claimed that “slushy streets” were “ruining travel for everyone”.
Former NYC resident here. Growing up, NYC rarely got snow like the storm we just had the last week of January. Like maybe it happens Once every 2-5 years. On top of that, the city tends to warm up quickly because of the jet stream and being on the coast, so the snow tends to melt faster. (Specific heat of water keeps the temps there above freezing.) It’s been freakishly cold in the city, well below the freezing point of water, for an extended period of time, so it’s not melting as fast. It just gets pushed around. Also, the mayor took office 1 month ago. Like give the guy a break.
Thank you! Same thing happened in the South after the freak storm in January, we had snow/ice for like 10 days which is hugely abnormal, no snow removal was done, streets became sheets of ice. Mail delivery stopped for a week. Everything did. Schools shut down over a week. I worked from home for a week. Number of people blaming the mayor? 0
The south tends to budget far less for snow removal than norther states. So when a big storm hits, it shuts things down way way longer because it takes them even longer just to clear it. The actual Post article, uses three photos as reference images, and I am sure those were the worst they could find. However, you can see from those images that streets are mostly clear. The sidewalks are a different story, businesses are responsible for clearing the snow from the sidewalks in front of their stores. With respect to parking, parking in NYC has always been ass no matter what. If people still choose to drive in the city in this weather, and they aren’t planning accordingly to leave themselves more time to find parking, that’s on them. NYC has extensive public transportation, and it isn’t super expensive. I usually cycle to work up here in Albany, but with the cold and snow I am taking the bus. The public transit up here in Albany can’t hold a candle to what NYC has, and I have no problem making it to work on time or getting shopping done. (I’m 5 miles from work, and 3-10 miles from my preferred grocery stores.)