More than 30 hours after a record-setting snowfall in the state's largest city, secondary roads around the city have still yet to see a plow Watch video
NEWARK - The skies over Newark may be clear, but for Joe Valente and his neighbors on East Kinney Street, the weekend's snowstorm is alive and well.
More than 30 hours after the last flakes fell, the residents of the city's Ironbound District are still waiting for help with the nearly three feet of snow blanketing their block.
"We haven't really gotten any help from the city. They didn't come around spraying salt or anything," Valente said. "We have a woman here, eight and a half months pregnant. She goes into labor, it's going to be a problem."
The situation on East Kinney Street was far from unique around the state's largest city, which is still working to clear a record-setting 28 inches of snow from residential streets. Complaints have flooded social media since Sunday, complete with pictures of impassable streets and trucks hopelessly mired in snowdrifts.
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In an interview late Monday morning, Mayor Ras Baraka said officials were hard at work dealing with the aftermath of the unprecedented storm, but were being hamstrung by dozens of disabled vehicles and streets too narrow for normal plows.
A total of 48 bucket loaders, front loaders and plows have been deployed on the more than 4,000 miles of city roads, with more expected to be contracted, according to city officials. Baraka said he expects every block to be cleared by late Tuesday morning.
"We're going to come to get every street," he said. " We are in the command center, we've been here all night and night before. A lot of that depends on us trying to get cars out of the road."
The city's Department of Neighborhood and Recreational Services is charged with coordinating snow removal plans, though Baraka said all operations have since been turned over to the city's Office of Emergency Management.
Though sympathetic to residents' frustrations, he denied that the city had been lax in preparing for what turned out to be one of the most severe weather events in recent history.
"I think we were prepared as we should have been. Always in hindsight you wish you had more," he said. "I think how we're doing it is all right. I just think the amount of time that it's taking is more than anticipated."
Back on East Kinney, however, the city's assurances did little to calm residents' anxieties.
Valente said he was worried about being disciplined for failing to report to his job at Northern State Prison, where employees are required to report during states of emergency.
"These charges, we go up at our hearings and they stick," he said.
A neighbor, Alex Areias, questioned why multiple plows were seen at nearby City Hall Sunday night - hours after officials announced it would be closed the following day.
"If they're closed today, why were those resources being put to that instead of being put to cleaning the wards like they're supposed to?" he said. "We haven't seen a plow even before at any point during or before the storm."
City Communications Director Frank Baraff said the area had to be claered in order to allow police access to the municipal court next door, where prisoners were being processed around the clock.
Baraka, who was set to hold a press briefing with Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose early Monday afternoon, said emergency contractors would be brought on board to help clear streets. Primary roads took first priority, followed by those drawing complaints and streets where cars were impeding emergency vehicles.
Officials have also taken steps to house about 100 homeless people at the city's YMCA, and multiple dialysis patients have been taken to area treatment centers - all part of a process that, while lengthy, the mayor promised would soon be complete.
"It's not if we're going to come, it's when we're going to come," he said.
Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.