There was a lot of bluster about a blizzard that would make the record books bearing down on New York City, as well as other parts in the Northeastern United State. For the third time in history, the MTA was shut down. Roads were also closed to all but emergency and necessary personal. This shutdown occurred at 11 p.m., January 26th.
If you walked the North Brooklyn streets at 5 p.m. you’d see the traffic had dwindled to what would be normal for 3 a.m. Some folks were out shoveling the snow – they were in the minority even though, in spite of what would look like a futile gesture, this is a good strategy.
Some businesses had closed by this time, and others were preparing to close soon. Although, when passing by Uva wine store on Bedford Avenue business was booming, not sure when they were planning to close.
The bulk of the snow Juno was to drop on the metro area was to have happened between 11 p.m. and the following morning, estimated to fall at a rate of 2 inches per hour and measure anywhere from 2 to 3 feet when it was done. The Winter Storm Warning had been extended to midnight of the 27th from 6 p.m.
However, when the sun came up only 6 inches was the measurement in Central Park. It soon dawned on elected officials that the storm had shifted, and they began to get the wheels in motion to get the public’s wheels moving. The road ban was lifted and the okay was given to get the MTA up and running and NYC Transit began the gradual restoration of service that when up would run on a Sunday schedule.
As for neighborhood businesses opening on schedule that was an iffier prospect. However, one beacon of hope was Foodtown of Williamsburg opened its doors at 6:15 a.m., which is earlier than its usual 6:30 a.m. opening time. The manager on duty said he was fortunate many of his staff lived nearby. He is the night manager and was stranded when the store closed the previous night, but things weren’t so bad as he’d joined some of the staff of the Brooklyn Harvest Market on North 5th and Kent (also a Foodtown) and they spent the night playing cards. The rest of the staff seemed especially cheery to be working on what might turn out to be a sanctioned snow day for many.
There are those that will critique the Mayor and Governor for shutting down the city but the more rational would go along with Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo’s “better safe than sorry” strategy. “In the end we had to be prepared for what our neighbors just a little bit to the east are now actually experiencing,” said Mayor de Blasio, “You gotta keep people safe first. You can’t put a price on that.”
The Greenline 