All Buses Delayed in NYC Thursday Night and Friday, Because of Winter Storm Pax

From the MTA:

All Local, Express and SBS Bus service in New York City is experiencing delays, due to weather related conditions.

All Brooklyn Limited Bus service is local due to weather related conditions in both directions.

Allow additional travel time.


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It's Not Over: More Snow Coming Thursday Night to Brooklyn, NYC

Brooklyn Heights and the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: MK Metz

 The National Weather Service predicts 3 - 5 more inches of snow in western Brooklyn Thursday night, probably starting around 10 p.m.

This will bring snow totals to 14 - 20 inches.

There will be rain or sleet before it changes to snow.

"Some thunder" and high winds will be a part of the show, so best to stay inside if you can.

NOAA: "IMPACTS...SNOWFALL WILL MAKE TRAVEL TREACHEROUS. HEAVY WET SNOW WILL LIKELY BRING DOWN SOME TREE LIMBS AND POWER LINES. WEAK...FLAT ROOF STRUCTURES MAY ALSO BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO COLLAPSE IF NOT CLEARED OF SNOW AND ICE."

This is the SIXTH big snow in the six weeks that de Blasio's been Mayor.  On Thursday, he defended himself from complaints that he should have canceled school today.


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Winter Storm Pax Brings Snow to Brooklyn -- UPDATE: Northwest Brooklyn Could Get 10 - 14 Inches of Snow

Cadman Plaza West, Jan. 22. Photo: MK Metz

(Check the bottom of this post for updates.)

The forecast for winter storm Pax started out calling for 5 inches of snow, then for 5 -8 inches but changing to rain Thursday afternoon.

Now, NYC OEM has issued a Hazardous Travel Advisory for Thursday and Friday.

The National Weather Service has forecast 8 to 12 inches of snow accumulation through Thursday evening, with 4 to 7 inches forecast for the Thursday morning commute. [As updated below, parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan could get up to 14 inches, as the Daily News earlier reported but we didn't believe...]

The snow is forecast to change to a wintry mix or all rain in the late afternoon -- before changing back to snow with an additional 2 to 5 inches of accumulation Thursday evening.

Those just west of the snow changeover line will get hit with a lot more snow, while those east of it (Long Island, possibly parts of Brooklyn) will get more rain. Forecasters don't yet know for sure where that line will fall.

Coastal areas may flood because the storm will hit during high tide.

Tomorrow night, the rain will freeze and turn slick, and strong winds could knock down tree limbs covered with heavy snow and ice.

Alternate side is canceled, but meter rules remain in effect.

Experts say don't drive, don't walk on ice or under trees, and don't even go outside if you don't have to.

Schools are OPEN, field trips are canceled.

UPDATE --1:30 a.m. Thursday:
The MTA says it has activated all its storm-fighting forces across New York City Transit subways and buses, Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road and MTA Bridges and Tunnels. "All MTA services are subject to being delayed, curtailed or suspended during a storm as significant as the one currently forecast. MTA personnel are preparing for the possibility of snow and ice building up overnight and possible high winds," and customers are urged to monitor the MTA alert page for service status before leaving home Thursday.

UPDATE 2 -- 1:42 a.m. Thursday:
To request that your street be replowed, the city has an online replow form here.

UPDATE 3 -- 2:00 a.m. Thursday:
The Department of Sanitation issued a ‘snow alert' at 1 a.m. DSNY personnel have begun their initial equipment readiness tasks, including loading salt spreaders, attaching plows when necessary, preparing tire chains and notifying supplementary personnel as needed.

UPDATE 4 -- 2:20 a.m. Thursday:
The latest National Weather Service precip map shows that northwestern Brooklyn and Manhattan could get hit with from 10 - 14 inches, while the usually harder-hit southeastern Brooklyn and Long Island could get "only" 8 - 10 inches, depending, again, on where the snow/rain changeover line falls.

UPDATE 5 -- 2:30 a.m. Thursday:
The weather Friday: Sunny and 40 degrees!
Goodnight all.

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Man Threatening People with Knife in Brooklyn Boro Hall Subwat Station

From the scanner: Shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday morning (Feb. 13) a call came in to NYPD that a man was waving a knife and threatening people on a southbound platform at the Borough Hall (Boro Hall) subway station.

According to dispatch, the man with the knife was then reported as heading towards the 4 and 5 train.

The entrance to the Boro Hall station is at the intersection of Court and Montague Streets in Broooklyn Heights.

UPDATE: Dispatch told cops to 'slow down' their response around 1:20 a.m.

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Poor, Sad Bed-Stuy Residents; Guy Stalks Brooklyn Woman ($100 Reward); and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Bed-Stuy residents are some of the least happy in the city. [BK Magazine]

- The latest guerrilla sign campaign in the subway helps you know where to stand in order to transfer. [NY Magazine]

- A wealthy Republican from California is trying to throw a wrench into New York’s $10 billion Medicaid waiver request, $1 billion of which is supposed to go to Brooklyn hospitals. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Or is he a stalker? Guy met the woman of his dreams in Downtown Brooklyn and now, in flyers across the borough, he is offering a $100 bounty to find her again. [NY Daily News]

- NYC Parks will offer 10-week training program designed to teach folks to become fitness instructors for Shape Up NYC.  [NYC Parks]

- If you make less than $50,000, the city will help you do your taxes for free. [NYC]

- Wire fox terrier named Westminster's Best of Show. [NY1]


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NYPD Checks Out Suspicious Package Near Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn

Brooklyn: Dekalb Ave & Carlton Ave ESU & NYPD on scene with a suspicious package, Bomb Squad being requested to the scene.
— NY Scanner (@NYScanner) February 12, 2014

From NY Scanner: A block away from Fort Greene Park, NYPD on the scene checking out a suspicious package.

Bomb Squad  requested. 12:32 a.m. early Wednesday.

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Brooklyn Sicko On a Train; Bushwick Gentrification; and More Brooklyn Briefs

So honored to witness the dynamic duo Mrs. & Mr. Brown get #RedHook Spirit Award tonight at Calvary Baptist Church pic.twitter.com/HP3jL9vT4j
— Carlos Menchaca (@cmenchaca) February 11, 2014

- As a Brooklyn Metro-North employee masterbated on a train, a woman's screams for help were ignored. [NBC]

- Bushwick gentrification tidal wave encounters splash of futile resistance. [Gothamist]

- Someone bid $16 million for a pair of Kanye West-designed sneakers on eBay. [NY Magazine]

- Brooklyn Democrats respond to GOP refusal to allow Mayor de Blasio's pre-K plan to come to a vote. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- The Brooklyn Free Clinic is having a dance/drinks/raffle fund-raiser.  [BFC]

- Car plunges off elevated expressway in the Bronx. Three hurt, but miraculously, no one died. [NBC]

- NYS may give high school kids more time to meet the new Common Core standards. [NY1] ... Reaction: Gov. Cuomo blasts that idea. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Clearly he is the problem: Olympic bobsledder who got stuck in a bathroom in Sochi also got stuck in an elevator.  [NY Magazine]

- Phones with Flappy Bird installed on them are selling for $1,000 (and also 99 cents) on Ebay. [WSJ]

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This Is Why We Needed Occupy Sandy: NY State's Emergency Services Too Devastated and Demoralized to Function

Sandy volunteers in Red Hook. Photo: MK Metz

A post-Sandy report obtained by the Albany Times-Union offers a scathing peak peek inside the operations of New York State's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services during and after Superstorm Sandy.

What it reveals is a demoralized agency operating out of a cold-war bunker in Albany using a computer system incapable of communicating with other systems, trying to cope after its most experienced and knowledgeable staff -- fully 50 percent of its personnel -- took early retirement after being labeled "non-essential" the year before the storm.

The report (posted below, click on the bottom right rectangle to expand) exists in two versions. The one below contains additional text in blue, bolded type meant only for the eyes of DHSES Commissioner Jerome Hauer.

While the report is couched in terms non-critical of Gov. Cuomo, it paints a clear picture how his demand to set up a "regional" OEM center for himself in Manhattan caused chaos, sucking the "A team" out of HQ in Albany, and leaving a resentful and understaffed "B team" trying to function without its most experienced leaders.

This may also explain why a study of Brooklyn's critical surge-capacity hospital and health needs has never been carried out.

Sandy "Notes" After-Action Report

Also mentioned in the Huffington Post.

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SUNY - LICH Contempt Hearing Put Off Until Thursday; Developers Must Have Major Questions...

The four developers still bidding for LICH must have a number of questions at the moment. SUNY's board of trustees and various SUNY Downstate notables are likely going to be compelled to testify before state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes in Brooklyn on Thursday for totally blowing off a half dozen of his orders to keep Long Island College Hospital (LICH) open.

LICH contempt hearing postponed again as SUNY talks in progress [Brooklyn Eagle]

UPDATE: Thursday's snowstorm pushed the hearing off till next Tuesday, February 18.

Though it's likely that one or two members of the board could claim they had no idea what the hell Dr. Williams was doing down in the wilds of Brooklyn, the board bears the ultimate responsibility for SUNY Downstate's actions: They hired Dr. Williams, they paid for all the lawyers and all the security guards, they approved the wildly illegitimate RFP (Request for Proposals) crafted for developers, they even sat through Friday's developer presentation as if it was legitimate.

Besides fines, jail time, etc., the trustees should have to make up the roughly $200 million dollars worth of paying customers SUNY turned away from LICH over the past year.

Whose idea was it to turn away all the patients, stop billing, fire the doctors and lock the doors to prevent LICH from making money -- even as Justice Baynes was calmly saying over and over, "You can't do that."

Hint: The only reason it makes sense to turn away paying customers and lose millions for SUNY is if a deal was made in advance with a developer to turn the property over empty.


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5-Year-Old Slips Out of School; Con Ed Bills 'Huge" and More Brooklyn Briefs

- A 5-year-old disabled boy slips out of his Brooklyn charter school and walked more than a half mile home with a stranger. [NY Daily News]

- Pier 6 is reviewed on Trip Advisor. They like it. [Trip Advisor]

- School bus and ambulance collide in Brooklyn -- at 9 p.m. on Sunday. [WSJ]

- Ridiculous fashionistas, doing nothing worthwhile anyway, whine about having to go to Brooklyn for a runway show. [NY Post]

- Wondering why your Con Ed Bill is so f%cking huge? [Gothamist]

- Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces $130,000 in grants -- for shooting ranges. [ News 10]

- Mom: Brooklyn dad killed baby, fed her to pit bull in 2006. [NY Daily News]

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