Tales of death at Queens Blizzard hearings

An emotional Michelle Orenstein told the panel of politicians that her mother was supposed to walk her down the aisle in April. Instead, she said, unplowed streets prevented her – and emergency services — from getting to her mom before it was too late.
At the fourth public hearing held by the City Council dealing with the Blizzard of 2010, Orenstein, of Whitestone, said that she couldn’t reach her mom by phone at her College Point home. A snow plow that became stuck also blocked Orenstein from driving away from her house to go to her mother’s, she claims.
The next day, she managed to get through the streets and discovered her mom lying dead on her kitchen floor. Helene Orenstein was 63. Her angry and broken-hearted daughter said that the unplowed streets prevented her from getting to her mom 24 hours earlier.
“If the streets had been plowed, who knows, she might still have been alive,” Orenstein said. “She was my best friend.”
Orenstein said it took the medical examiner’s office 16 hours to arrive and remove the body. After repeated calls to the office that went unanswered, she said she finally received this reply:
“I’m sorry ma’am but because of the snow we are still picking up bodies from last night.”
Orenstein’s story is similar to that of Laura Freeman.
Freeman’s testimony at Queens Borough Hall on Friday, January 21 preceded Orenstein’s and has been widely reported nationwide. Her 75-year-old mother, Yvonne, died of a heart attack while waiting for emergency workers to arrive.
“I did everything I could do,” said Freeman. “I did what they tell you to do in an emergency, call 9-1-1, and I called and I called and nobody answered,” she said. “I just kept getting a message. Why? I beg of all of you. Please, why, why?”
Freeman, of Corona, has filed a notice of claim, which is an intent to sue, against the city for $20 million for wrongful death.
“She [Yvonne] was in decent health when this happened,” said attorney Sanford Rubenstein. “It was impossible to get 9-1-1, then services were delayed three hours.
“The family feels it’s important that the city makes sure this never happens again. [They want to] shine a light on the failures of multiple city agencies.”
“This involves a tragic situation, and we’ll await the legal papers,” said Kate Ahlers, spokesperson for the New York City Law Department.
Other complaints shared by City Council and residents of Queens at the hearing consisted of emergency vehicles being unable to reach those in need, loss of pay from being unable to get to work, the inability to use buses and the overall handling of the storm by the mayor and the Department of Sanitation.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was not present at the hearing and only a spokesman for the Department of Sanitation was. The spokesman, who was greeted by “boo’s” from the local residents, read the same prepared statement that was heard at the prior hearings in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan.
He said that the department works hard every day and will continue to do so. He did not offer a reason as to why it took longer than usual to plow streets.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn referred to the handling of the blizzard as “unacceptable” and later said, “We want to make sure that this never happens again.”
In the meantime, Orenstein still struggles to explain to her son why he will be walking her down the aisle when she gets married instead of his grandmother.