Blizzard fizzles but locals glad city prepared for the worst

In the wake of what Mayor Bill de Blasio advised would be the “biggest blizzard” the city has seen in years, Ridgeites compared the reported six to eight inches that coated the five boroughs Monday night, January 26 into Tuesday morning, January 27 to more of a mediocre snowstorm than a state-of-emergency blizzard.

Even so, many said, they’re glad the city prepared for the worse.

“I am very glad the mayor heeded the forecast and closed schools, MTA and roads,” said Ridgeite, mother and schoolteacher Tammy Castellanos. “I am glad we didn’t get three feet, but what if we had? I’m definitely enjoying the day off.”

Winter Storm Juno dumped close to a foot of snow on parts of New York (by Tuesday morning, about eight inches of snow had fallen in Central Park, with just over 11 inches measured at LaGuardia Airport), Connecticut and Massachusetts and, while the travel ban for the New York City region was lifted Tuesday morning, the state’s Emergency Operations Center remains activated, and a cross-county state-of-emergency is still in effect.

If not for the traffic cutback, Castellanos said, someone might have been seriously injured Monday night.

Local resident Michael Rehberg, 25, agreed.

“I think the extra precautions were necessary,” he said. “Would people be enjoying their day off from work more if they had no power and were snowed in?”

“We obviously missed the worst of this storm, which is a blessing for New York City,” said de Blasio following the storm, thanking New Yorkers for adhering to the travel ban and allowing the Department of Sanitation to do its job. “We have an old saying that we live by around here – prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

“This storm was real, and it was as big as it was projected to be, but it moved eastward, and thank God for that,” he went on, stressing that a lot of other areas in the northeast are going through a tough time, many of them with over two feet of snow.

As for New York City, he said, it’s back to business.

Public schools will re-open on Wednesday, January 26, while alternate side parking rules remain suspended, and parking meters remain in effect.

By Wednesday, de Blasio said that the MTA – which had stopped all bus and train service as of Monday night and re-opened its lines on a Sunday schedule Tuesday afternoon – will also resume a regular, weekday schedule.