Villages cleaning up after 13-inch snow

More than 13 inches of snow fell on the Five Towns on Monday night and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, forcing schools to close and moving Gov. Andrew Cuomo to impose a travel ban due to hazardous conditions that also shut down Long Island Rail Road service and the New York City subways.
The Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence school districts were closed on Tuesday, as well as the Brandeis School and Rambam Mesivta High School, both in Lawrence, and all divisions of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, including David Renov Stahler High School for Boys in Woodmere and Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls in Hewlett Bay Park, and Lawrence Woodmere Academy.
In area villages, including Lawrence, Cedarhurst and Atlantic Beach, employees plowed, salted and shoveled continuously to keep roads and parking lots clear of snow. Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner declared a snow emergency on Monday at noon that remained in effect until Wednesday at 6 p.m. “Under the term of a snow emergency,” Oliner said, “parking is prohibited on all village streets.”
Village officials said they were fully staffed with heavy trucks and pickups equipped with plows. Lawrence budgets $50,000 a year for snow cleanup.
In Cedarhurst, which puts aside $60,000 annually to deal with snowstorms, a snow alert was declared on Monday, and eight plows, three small bulldozers and payloaders “did a superb job of plowing and carting away snow and salting road,” Mayor Andrew Parise said. “We’re on top of it. We have plenty of equipment and enough manpower.” He added that crews continued to work through Tuesday to clear the snow.
Mayor George Pappas said that Atlantic Beach was “very well prepared” for the storm, and that all available manpower and equipment was out plowing, under the direction of Steve Cherson, the village’s public works superintendent. Atlantic Beach budgets $22,000 for snow removal.
The storm also interrupted Sanitary District 1 service: All Tuesday pickups were suspended, as were Wednesday’s recycling pickups. Regular service was to resume on Thursday, said Pappas, who is also the district’s superintendent. S.D. 1 picks up the trash and recyclables in the Five Towns and portions of the unincorporated areas of Lynbrook and Green Acres. Pappas said that residents should either clear a path for district workers to get to the trash or place garbage cans by the street.