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Whitestone, College Point residents gripe about unplowed snow

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Photo courtesy of Erica Goldenberg Babushkin

Residents in the narrowest streets of College Point and Whitestone took to social media on Monday to gripe about being left in the cold by plows unable to make their way through historic levels of snow.

Many in these areas report long waits for plows to pass through their immediate areas, with snow building up in the hours in between. Some say that there was so much snow that even the plows themselves became stuck in the trapped drifts, sometimes for hours.

College Point resident Gillian Hedden said she saw school buses stuck in the street after the storm and people deserting their own cars after being unable to make it down the block.

“Perhaps the sun today will help the mayor out and melt some of this stuff,” Hedden said. “I think that’s about the only hope we have.”

With many unable to dig their private vehicles out from under the snow, northeastern Queens residents on public transportation may have fared the worst of the lot as morning rush hour lines for MTA buses wrapped around local streets.

Jen Cacciatore says her son was unable to make it to school when drivers of the Q20a left them stranded, unable to accommodate passengers waiting at the bus stop.

Cacciatore says that commuters are forced wait for buses in the street or climb over unshoveled mounds of snow and ice to board the buses, as most of the stops in her area have not yet been cleared.

“You have to climb and hope you don’t get hit by a car,” Cacciatore said. “Children are doing this and that’s what concerns me most.”

Many residents wished that children had been given the day off from school for safety reasons even though buses were running, including Andrea Kotsay — who saw two children fall on the ice while walking to the bus stop.

“I do wish de Blasio had given the schools one more day,” Kotsay said.

Retired Sanitation worker Joseph Spinelli said children staying home from school would result in less cars in the street and a faster cleanup job.

“We haven’t had snow like this since 1969 … and there were less people, and far less cars,” Spinelli said.

But even through all the difficulty faced by the community in the aftermath of the storm, residents are thankful for the work done by the Department of Sanitation.

Anne Marie Kanable said she believed that sanitation workers were doing the best they could to make room in the streets despite the wrath rained down by Mother Nature.

“People have to remember that the Sanitation Department of NYC are not miracle workers,” Kanable said. “Let’s be real: 27 inches of snow is a heck of a lot of snow.”