Island-Sity

The rumor mill was also in full revolve with sniping from off-the-record sources who claimed to know for a fact that slowdowns and sickouts were under way. Deputy Mayor of Operations Stephen Goldsmith met yesterday with Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association, at City Hall to address the rumors of a slowdown.

Earlier this year, Goldsmith launched a plan to demote some Sanitation supervisors to work on Sanitation trucks to save money and to put more workers on the street.

Nespoli denied any concerted effort to sabotage the city's snow removal efforts, both to Goldsmith and the press.

"He assured that all his men were working as hard as they could," Bloomberg said at a press conference at the city Office of Emergency Management, where he was joined by Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty and others.

Doherty, a Great Kills resident, said there was "absolutely no evidence" of a slowdown. "There's all sorts of stories floating around," he said. "I have been through issues with unions and problems, I don't see that out there. Not from the men or the officers," he added. "There is no job action," union spokesman Jim Grossman told the Advance. "Somebody is making phone calls, stirring up trouble."

In September, Nespoli seemed almost prescient about what the Sanitation cuts would mean in a snow emergency, telling the Advance, "I don't know if we are prepared. We don't have the manpower. We've never rolled the dice with the snow before."

But the slowdown made sense to one Island political observer, who said, "The only time you get people's attention is when it hurts. They're teaching Bloomberg a great civics lesson. He wants to be remembered as the greatest mayor ever, now he has a snowstorm worse than Lindsay's."

That was a reference to the deadly 1969 snowstorm that nearly drove Mayor John Lindsay from office. Like Bloomberg, Lindsay also had his eye on the Oval Office, a dream that died when he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1972.Joseph Mannion, President of the Sanitation Officers Association, placed the blame squarely on Bloomberg, saying the mayor had "cut Sanitation employees without regard to safety and at the worst time."

"When you look around your neighborhood and wonder what the heck happened with the City's snow-fighting ability you don't have to look any further than City Hall," Mannion said in a statement released yesterday.

In one sign that the city may be losing the public relations war, a page demanding Doherty's resignation sprung up on Facebook yesterday.

Also shot down yesterday was a rumor that Goldsmith had changed response protocols so that workers no longer reported to the nearest Sanitation facility during an emergency.

One Advance caller said the new procedure meant that many workers were stranded trying to get to the facilities where they are ordinarily assigned instead of ones closer to their homes.

Grossman said the change "had nothing to do with Goldsmith" and "didn't have any negative effect" on storm response.

Doherty said there were 250 pieces of equipment out on the Island yesterday. Citywide, there were 2,400 workers, 1,700 plows and 365 spreaders on the streets.

Sanitation's strategy is to first clean the "arterial roads," such as Hylan Boulevard, then get to the secondary streets, which feed the arterial roads, followed by tertiary and residential streets. He said crews have been slowed by numerous vehicles stuck in the street, including 140 ambulances and 600 buses and that the priority has been to clear them.

Doherty also addressed rumors that Sanitation trucks could not get traction in the snow because they lacked chains on their tires or were using cheaper chains made in China. We have some new chains and we tested them for two years," he said. "We didn't find any problem with them."Often, chains on the tires break when they hit the blacktop, he explained, which is why some vehicles may have been missing them on the front or rear tires.

Bloomberg again defended City Hall's response to the storm.

"It's a bad a situation," he said. "We appreciate it. I have been to see it myself. Nobody suggests that this is easy. Nobody suggest that this is pleasurable. But I can tell you this: We are doing everything we can think of, working as hard as we can."Said Bloomberg, "We will pull together and get through this."That didn't wash for Island elected officials.

"For an administration that constantly talks about efficiency and effectiveness, I don't understand how this major failure occurred," said City Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore). Speaker Christine Quinn said that the Council would hold hearings on Jan. 10 about the city's response. "New Yorkers have serious questions about the City's snow emergency policy and response," she said. "We in the Council will seek forward-looking answers on behalf of our constituents."