NYC recuperates after snowstorm
NEW YORK — The city that supposedly never sleeps crept back to life Sunday after the massive snowstorm dumped nearly 27 inches of snow in Central Park, temporarily halted public transportation and left dozens without power.
Sunday evening, New York City Transit announced all subway service was restored and thanked their crews for getting the nation's busiest system up and running again.
Earlier in the day, Santiago Naulaguari and Freddy Albaracin, both of suburban Westchester, N.Y., shoveled snow from the walkway in front of the Crenshaw Christian Center East, even though the church had canceled services.
Naulaguari drove to Manhattan in his four-wheel-drive vehicle for his occasional custodial job at the church. He said the commute was not bad on the empty roads, but shoveling was a challenge.
"It's a little hard, but what are you going to do?" said Naulaguari, 43. "We have to do what we have to do."
In Central Park, people cured their cabin fever by sledding, cross-country skiing or running. One runner chugged up a hill as icicles grew from his beard. Normally hardened New Yorkers appeared in a good mood in the park, saying "hello" and "good morning" to one another with smiles.
"It's always really pretty the day after," Linda Kuo, 33, said as she walked along the reservoir.
Downtown, a few hardy shoppers made it to Macy's flagship store near Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.
Joy Ubay of the Philippines has worked in Paris the past two years and came to New York with her employer in November. Because she has not seen much snow in her life, she opted to come out Sunday and head to Macy's, she said.
Ubay described the weather as "really blistering" and not like the snow she saw during a trip to Austria. Still, she said, she was enjoying the experience of having survived a blizzard. "It's great here," Ubay said.
The scene was not as festive late Sunday afternoon in West Harlem, where pedestrians had to wade through unshoveled snow to cross intersections.
Resident Leslie Bartley complained that bus stops were full of snow and that seniors had to navigate mounds of snow that collected at street corners. People had to "walk like models" with one foot right in front of the other to make it along narrow pathways in the snow, she said.
She reprimanded city officials for ignoring her neighborhood and favoring neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan.
"Downtown is spic and span," said Bartley, 60. "Up here is full of crap."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the ban on road travel was lifted Sunday, but he urged New Yorkers to venture out only when necessary. Emergency responders worked around the clock, he said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio asked people to stay off the roads as much as possible to give sanitation crews a chance to clear the snow and ice.
LaGuardia and JFK International Airports were open Sunday, but about 85% of the flights in and out of LaGuardia were canceled, and about half of JFK flights were canceled, Cuomo said.
About 170 customers were without power early Sunday afternoon because of the storm, Cuomo said.
"This was a truly historic storm, and while we have made good progress, we are not done working yet," the governor said.
The snowfall was the second largest in New York City recorded history, de Blasio said.
Follow Melanie Eversley on Twitter: @OnDeadlineWMel