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So what went wrong and who is at fault?

 

Photo credit: Sarah Brown's facebook page
Photo credit: Sarah Brown’s facebook page

By Art Gallagher

 It snowed too much too fast.  That’s what went wrong in New Jersey this week.  New York too.

 

It wasn’t a personal snowstorm, yet naturally many, if not most, people relate to the aftermath of a storm out of their personal concerns.   The numb minded media, especially the Asbury Park Press editorial board, who is once again is living up to their Neptune Nudniks moniker, granted a full page in the print edition to selfish rants, 12 pages on their website, contributing to an online frenzy of wind-bagging. 

The Nudniks are contributing to directly to the frenzy with yet another editorial premised on inaccurate information and assumptions.  They say the storm was predicted days in advance.  Hogwash.  Forecasts as late as Saturday night were predicting snow falls in Central Jersey in the 12-18 inch range.  It wasn’t until just a few hours before the storm hit that any forecaster was talking about accumulations of 25-30 inches with 55 mph winds.   Folks in Buffalo or Syracuse might be expected to be prepared for the type of storm we got, but the truth of the matter is that New Jersey’s various governments don’t have the equipment or the personnell to handle the this type of weather quickly.   That is why the clean up is continuing now, 48 hours after the snow stopped falling.

The Nudniks started their editorial rant accusing road crews of “surrendering” to the storm.  

I was out Sunday night to plow my properties.  The DOT crews were out.  The visablity was terrible.  It was dangerous to be plowing.  It was snowing too hard too fast.

If they were not still out there cleaning up, I would suggest those crews dump truck loads of snow that they surrendered to at APP headquarters in Neptune.  Cancelled subscriptions should suffice for cooler heads. 

It snowed too much to fast.  That is what happened.  There have been lots of rumors and comments that there have been job actions and sick outs in some towns and maybe the state.  Given how well Monmouth County’s crews performed vis-a-vis many towns and the DOT, you have to wonder.  Investigations should take place and corrective action taken where appropriate.   However the APP should be tracking down the validity of those rumors rather than wind-bagging that road crews “seem to have” quit on the storm.

The media driven brouhaha over Governor Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno being out of state at the same time is as absurd and insulting as the Nudniks’ assumption that road crews quit.

As published elsewhere and confirmed by MMM, Guadagno and her brothers are spending what is most likely their last Christmas holiday with their father who is suffering from Stage 4 prostate cancer.  The trip was planned and booked months ago with Christie’s approval.  Shame on the pundits and politicians who have been trying to score points over Guadagno’s absence.

Once the news about why Guadagno is “on vacation” at the same time as the Governor gets around, watch he feeding frenzy on Christie step up.   I’m looking forward to his first press conference back.  I hope he shames the mindless numbskulls of the press.

There’s little going on in Trenton this week.  That’s why it was a good week for the Governor to take his family to Disney World.   Guadango’s situation made the decision to take a vacation delicate.  Senate President Steve Sweeney’s good character made the vacation doable.  But various pundits and political hacks won’t care.  Let the Christie kids give up one more thing because their Dad is tough to lay a political glove on.

Does anyone really doubt that Christie would have returned to New Jersey given the “state of emergency” if it was possible?  The airports were closed. They are just opening today.

Christie’s presence would not have made a difference in how the snow was cleaned up, or not cleaned up.   His leadership from the bully pulpit would have made a difference though.   He would have told the media the truth. It snowed too much too fast.  We’re doing the very best that we can and we’re working about the clock, he would have said.  He would have done a much better job than New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg did when he told NY that everything is OK and that they should go shopping.  Christie would have told people to remain calm and safe; to look out for the elderly and disabled.   And the media would have had something responsible to write about, rather than create a frenzy over the fact that it snowed too much too fast.

Posted: December 29th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Asbury Park Press, Chris Christie, Kim Guadagno, Neptune Nudniks, NJ Media | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments »