© ReutersA driver of a snow plow stopped to help a stuck ambulance in Brooklyn during Sunday’s snow storm.
New York City's response to the monster snow storm has been hampered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision to reduce the Sanitation Department's workforce as part of citywide budget cuts, the head of the sanitation workers' union said Monday.
Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association, said the department is currently down roughly 400 workers.
"We are undermanned - we need another 400," Nespoli said in a telephone interview with
The Wall Street Journal. "I mean this is a perfect example of why you need the man power in New York City. We're shorthanded here."
Nespoli praised the workforce, saying the workers are doing a yeoman's job given the weather conditions and the depleted troops. But he said the staff reductions have nevertheless taken a toll.
"Whenever you cut your workforce down, it's going to hurt services," Nespoli said. "Guys are retiring, and they have to replace these people. You can't allow a city like New York not to have the services that the public's used to," he said. "This is a major blizzard."