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| Mayor Bill de Blasio; photo credt: The office of Public Advocate for the City of New York |
After city and state officials took the maximum position to
protect the safety and well-being of citizens, the anticipated “Blizzard of the
Century” turned into more like the blizzard of the week. On Tuesday New York
City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he does not regret closing schools and
ordering all traffic off the streets beginning at 11pm, just ahead of the
storm. Closure of the subway, however, was not mandated by the mayor’s office.
"We found out just as it was being announced," the
mayor said, only 15 minutes before Governor Cuomo made the announcement on TV
on Monday afternoon that for the first time in the 110-year history of the
subway it would be closed for snow.
"I think it was a very big move, and certainly
something we would have liked to have had some more dialogue on," said de
Blasio. He did not say whether he agreed with the decision or not.
The Mayor explained that New Yorkers should consider
themselves lucky that we received only 10 to 12 inches of snow on Monday night,
a half to a third of what was forecast.
"Just 20, 30 miles east of the city's border, in Long Island, they got exactly what was originally projected for here," de Blasio said.
The traffic ban imposed by City Hall went into effect at
11pm and was lifted at 7:30am on Tuesday morning. The Mayor said, based on the
snow predictions at the time, the closing of schools and traffic for Tuesday
was a “no-brainer.”
"These were the right precautions to take. They worked," de Blasio said. "I will always err on the side of safety and caution," he said.
