Bronx elected officials, including Norwood Councilman Andrew Cohen, have signed a letter calling for a multi-committee hearing into what exactly led to the city’s handling of the Nov. 15 snowstorm that snarled traffic for hours.

“While the City is still assessing the emergency conditions and chaos caused by yesterday’s storm, there is very little doubt that despite forecasts and advance warnings of an approaching storm, the various City departments and agencies meant to protect New Yorkers did not perform their basic responsible and duties,” stated the letter.

The letter was sent to five New York City Council committees, including the recently formed Oversight Hearing and Investigations Committee chaired by Fordham Councilman Ritchie Torres. It was also sent to the Sanitation, Public Safety, Fire and Emergency Management, and Parks committees.

Bronx Council Members Mark Gjonaj, Ruben Diaz Sr., Fernando Cabrera, Vanessa Gibson, Rafael Salamanca Jr., and Andy King also signed on to the letter.

At a mid-day news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters that the closing of the George Washington Bridge during the rush hour created a ripple effect that impacted all highways that lead to the bridge.

The congestion spilled out to the local streets as rush hour gave way to a large volume of vehicles that became stuck. On East Gun Hill Road, buses were found stuck, causing several backups. On East Fordham Road, cars were bumper to bumper for hours. Drivers took to Twitter to express frustration over coming home hours after beginning their ride home.

The NYPD’s Chief Terence Monahan said there were 1,915 reported accidents during the storm.

De Blasio did not want to blame any city agencies. “I don’t think it’s fair to say that the city agencies could have stopped all this,” he said.

At the height of the storm in the Bronx, traffic stood at a standstill. Two traffic agents normally directing traffic around a construction project at Eastchester Road and Morris Park Avenue, were caught keeping dry under the awning of the Sahara Hookah Bar.

One driver reported, “I was stuck on the ice for two hours outside of Stop & Shop. Got it free and brought it home and I got stuck on the ice again and blocked traffic for another two hours.”

Another driver, now stuck behind an ambulance along Mosholu Parkway North, reported his trip from Lower Manhattan took him six hours.

That same driver watched in disbelief as a 4 X 4 drove up the embankment and in between two parked cars. He told the driver, “You were better off where you were,” pointing to the stopped ambulance in front and now another vehicle was stuck in the slush behind them.

One police officer risking life and limb as he directed traffic as best he could at the intersection of Webster Avenue and Bedford Park Boulevard. Problem being too many vehicles and not enough road.

Later in the evening, police shut down the Van Cortlandt Park exit of the Major Deegan Expressway after multiple cars stalled or broke down. A sea of tractor-trailers at West 230th Street were still at a standstill after midnight.

The Department of Sanitation initially deployed 700 salt spreaders and later added 300 additional trucks.

Sanitation spokesman Vito Turso deferred blame, telling reporters, “This afternoon’s snowfall was much heavier than had been forecast by all weather outlets.”

Frustration over the response was conveyed in the airwaves. On the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, where de Blasio was a guest Friday morning, a Bronx resident named George called to recount being stuck on East Gun Hill Road for four hours. He concluded that the city “dropped the ball.”

De Blasio countered that the storm’s handling was more complex. “I think this an example that is not as simple as people “dropping the ball” because I look at the track record of the Sanitation Department which handles the snow removal, I look what they’ve done in the series of storms in recent years including the biggest one in New York City history a few years ago and they have done an amazing job. Something was different here.”

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was unsympathetic, tweeting, “The city clearly didn’t properly prepare for tonight’s snowstorm– its a mess.” Stringer added. “My office will be following up with the Department of Sanitation to demand answers.”

Congressman Adriano Espaillat, representing Norwood, also tweeted, “Moms are stranded with their kids, people are running out of gas. We demand answers.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.