Dear Zohran Mamdani (Mayor),
We have skated, waded, climbed and slid against our will. And that’s those of us able to do so. Others haven’t been as fortunate and are home and/or bruised due to City failure and negligence. This week solidified my belief that mobility training has never been more needed. In the words of Amanda McCants— we are training for life, sweetie.
Welcome to my letters to the Mayor, Mr. Mamdani. This is your very first one— congratulations. Welcome to the endless pile of ideas being graciously shared. Today, I write to you concerning the snow storm we received this past weekend. While olympians were doing backflips with snowboards in Central Park, broke college kids were using heavy duty trash bags as sleds, and you were telling people to stay home and “watch Heated Rivalry,” snow piled high throughout the five boroughs making life dangerous and hard for those over the age of 20 who hold actual responsibilities.
It’s midweek, and still, nothing is cleaned. People have abandoned their cars in the middle of main streets and avenues, and every day, on my way to work, I ruck through snow mountains taller than me, wade through slush pools at intersections and waddle through wet and slippery train platforms and stairs hoping not to end up on the tracks. Imagine how the elderly feel.
When you pass bus stops, they are inaccessible behind tall walls of snow leaving only the snow covered streets.
Gothamist said it all with its headline: “NYC asks for ‘patience’ clearing snow. For the elderly and disabled, it’s a problem now.”
Tax-paying New Yorkers, hard working New Yorkers, disabled New Yorkers, vulnerable New Yorkers, elderly New Yorkers are falling and navigating obstacle courses. Life is ten times harder in a city where we feel the crumble of the infrastructure every day. The trains fail, the streets fail— this is ghetto.
So while photographers photograph you shoveling snow, I am here to tell you to save us the theatrics unless you are going to hit every block of the city.
I thought for sure Manhattan would be better and was prioritized as it usually is, but no. It’s snowy and hard to traverse as well. So essentially only those who can do or afford private cleaning have ease. Isn’t that exactly what you stand against?
A snow storm came with a lot of warning. You had an assignment, and you have failed the assignment. You get an F- for the handling of the storm. (And we are still waiting— no one should have a one-hour commute turn into three hours). The disabled and elderly are homebound for the time being, and that is unacceptable.
Here is a free and simple idea to improve NYC today— clean the streets. That is what the City does. Take the plows we have, hire men—whatever. Make it happen. Make sure train platforms aren’t solid ice. Do something before it all freezes into something more impossible tonight.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 