Island Park recovers from blizzard

The blizzard on Dec. 26 may have shut down Long Island for a day, but according to Island Park Mayor Jim Ruzicka, the village fared the storm rather well.

According to Ruzicka, workers from the village’s Department of Public Works were out plowing the streets Sunday afternoon around 3 p.m. They took a break, and were back out at 2 a.m. Monday, making sure the village’s roads were clean.

“We had some of the usual problems: cars stuck in the road, can’t get down the road to plow, questions about the alternate side street parking,” Ruzicka said. The village suspended tickets for alternate side-street parking rules for the beginning of the week, giving time for the snow to clear before enforcing the law again.

“I’m proud of our Department of Public Works,” Ruzicka said. “We have a group of veterans. They get out there and they know how to plow, and they teach some of the younger employees how to do it. And they do a good job.”

Clearing the storm cost the village slightly more than normal (it started on a Sunday, so the village had to pay more in overtime expenses), but everything was budgeted.

“For this storm, we had it covered in the budget,” said Ruzicka. “I’d say we’ll have it covered in the budget for the next storm. After that, it gets iffy.”

But the storm was so bad that not even the mail was able to be delivered on Monday.

“Mail delivery was simply not possible in all Long Island areas on Dec. 27,” said Krista Riemma, a communications specialist for the United States Postal Service, in an e-mail. “The Long Island District had many obstacles to overcome including power issues that affected our Mid-Island Processing and Distribution Center located in Melville as well as many local Post Offices. Snow was also a real concern – at our Mid-Island plant, one trailer buckled from the snow load on top of it. We were able to retrieve all the mail still on board that parked truck but that shows the types of obstacles we faced.”

Delivery was getting back on track during the week, with the main obstacle being people not clearing a path to their mailboxes, Riemma said.

It’s a similar problem that the DPW faces when plowing.

“We tell people to try not to shovel the snow into the street, because we’re just going to plow it right back, and it’s going to go back in the driveway anyway,” Ruzicka explained. “People get mad at us, but we have to keep the roads open. Mother Nature is cruel at times.”