Mayor Rodriguez Says West New York Has Handled the Recent Snowstorms Very Well

As all of Hudson County and the surrounding region prepares for some additional snowfall, or a mixture of snow and rain throughout the remainder of this week, and for the rest of the winter months, Hudson TV reporter Jeff Henig spoke with West New York Mayor Gabriel Rodriguez about his municipality’s response to the recent storms.

Mayor Rodriguez has been especially pleased with the job being done this winter by the Department of Public Works, led by Commissioner Yoleisy Yanez, in keeping the municipality’s streets cleared of snow following the two, recent storms which dropped a combined total of approximately 25 to 30 inches on the ground.  After not getting any substantial accumulations in West New York over the previous three years, this winter has been a major challenge.

Mayor Rodriguez says the goal is to make sure all of the streets are passable as quickly as possible, right down to the blacktop.  Unlike in years gone by, the town is no longer allowed to cart the snow it collects from Bergenline Avenue and 60th Street, for example, down to the Hudson River for dumping.  Instead, the town has to haul the snow away, just like it does with garbage collection, to a proper disposal location.  And that costs money.

The good thing, however, is because of the lack of snow in the past couple of years, the town had a good stockpile of salt on hand when the winter season began, so it did not have to immediately budget for additional supply.  The major snowstorms the past two weeks, however, have taken a toll on that supply, so West New York is expected to receive a delivery of salt on Wednesday this week.

The region has already exceeded an average winter’s snowfall by about ten inches, and we are only in the second week of February.

For the most part, the Mayor says, residents have been very cooperative in terms of shoveling out their cars and clearing their sidewalks properly.  Particularly on sides streets, which tend to be more narrow than the main thoroughfares, residents by and large are not throwing lots of snow into the street.  And that makes Public Works’ job easier.

The bottom line…West New York is handling the cleanups post-snowfall very well according to Mayor Rodriguez.  He says everyone just needs to be mindful of the situation.  Clear properties and allow the DPW to do their job as best as they can and the community will make it out of the winter in good shape.