BREAKING VIDEO – EXCLUSIVE: Mayor Miller and Committeman Lichtenstien Blast DPW over Plowing Failure

BREAKING VIDEO:

mayor and lichtenstein blast dpw

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126 COMMENTS

  3. We the residents wanna thank all those you haven’t stopped working to get this crisis resolved literally24/7 on the other hand as a resident of Lakewood all my life it seems that part of the storm clean up in Lakewood is investigating what went wrong and quite frankly were sick of this it’s time to get some better planning at Dpw !

  7. Weren’t these two shown on the Scoop at the OEM coordinating and directing emergency snow removal before the outcry and failure. Didn’t they attend the OEM planning meeting also covered in the Scoop prior to the storm. How much extra will it cost to hire private plows now when the entire state likely had them under contract a long time ago?

    Solution: Scapegoat DPW

  9. Watching the video, I do believe the Mayor and Mr Lichtenstein are genuinely upset and frustrated. At the same time, I believe it to be the responsibility of the Mayor and the township comitee to make sure that the people in the public works department are competent and do their job. This isn’t the first time that the Lakewood Public works has completely failed at the plowing job. I feel it is on the higher ups to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen. At the same time I do appreciate what he’s doing even it comes very late.

  10. Tractor just came thru cleared the block in 45 seconds, freed town truck that had been stuck for 3 hours. Thanks!! Menashe and Meir!!

  13. Did it ever occur to anyone that the so called employees that “shirked” their duties by not going to work couldn’t get there. Why weren’t they picked up? If they were mandated to stay on Friday and Saturday nights people would be complaining of the overtime pay.

  15. I sincerely believe Menashe & Meir are truly upset at the DPW. I think they’re in effect asking the town to stand behind them as they try to institute tough changes at the DPW. It’s not easy to bring significant change to a department that’s been running the same way for years. I believe the true change to emergency services during a storm is not a centralized OEM office, but rather a total overhaul of the plowing.

  27. I like to know how many of these un-=plowed streets have all the cars parked in the way. Storm just ended 12 hours hard to do every street first. hope all the complainers move their cars before the plows get their.

  30. We thank the mayor and the committeeman for your hardwork may Hashem repay you for your hardest effort in our community next you need blast the BOE for their failure of busing

  31. Just think how many people will not be able to get to work or school tomorrow because of this. And god help anyone who has an emergency and needs to get medical treatment. They are in big trouble.

  33. Belvedere Lane still not plowed once.

    The failure here is compounded by (1) multiple years of never getting this right, (2) total lack of communication as to plowing schedule and (3) no ability to reach anyone in public works by phone or email.

  34. I second what “just saying” said – where can we call or post the streets that weren’t touched even once yet? We are here on New York ave, which is NORMALLY impassable as it is narrow and busy, but now with the snow it really is … All of us residents are stuck here, and most of us have work tomorrow! This little street gives the township revenue WELL in excess of $200k, is it too much to ask to clear it?? how about we hire our own contractor and deduct the cost from our RE tax?

  37. Show a little respect and appreciation to our elected officials. First of all OEM and Public Works are not the same and weren’t situated in the same office. So the video shown did not include DPW. Secondly, while i don’t know for sure I would think that Mayor Miller and Committeeman Lichtenstein allow the DPW the leeway to run the plowing portion of the storm preparedness with their own judgement. That was a major blunder, and that is what will be addressed. The DPW video showed 2 men sitting at a map, is that adequate for a town the size of Lakewood? Absolutely not! Perhaps 30 years ago it was. DPW needs to keep up with the times, not just to buy equipment and park it in their lot. Streamline, Progress and Accountability is what DPW needs.

  38. Part of the problem is letting Twp. workers go home. How are they supposed to get back to work in a snow storm? There should be a plan in place where employees can eat, and stay the night. I’d rather my tax dollars go to cots, blankets and hot meals for the DWP.

  40. Many people dug out their driveway; please do not block them in when cleaning the streets. Please note!!! They tell us not to block the hydrants or cover them. Why did they do that? Brook and Engleberg Terrace has no hydrant in sight. Plowed in between both plows, County and township.

  54. I was thrilled not to have to go out today. Thank you DPW for not plowing me out!! We baked cookies, made projects and enjoyed each other’s company!!

  55. Attn Meir Lichterstein and Mayor Miller:
    We appreciate you finally realizing that the way this storm was handled, and if I may add, many previous storms as well is absolutely unacceptable. It’s time for a major overhaul at the DPW. These photos of OEM pre-storm, mid-storm and post-storm “meetings” are nice photo-ops, but nothing more. It makes you wonder what was actually discussed and accomplished by those meetings. After the dust of this storm settles, please look over the comments posted here on TLS and elsewhere, and listen to your voice messages, there may be some suggestions from the taxpayers which may make sense to seriously consider. Obviously the status quo cannot continue.
    Here are some of my own suggestions:
    1) The DPW should have operators available to answer the phone 24 hours during a major storm. Why when we called the number last night was there a message that the offices are closed ?
    2) They should equip all plow trucks with GPS tracking devices and create a website which can be viewed by all, which shows the location of all trucks, so everyone can see where all the plows are in real time. This will accomplish 2 things. A) people will know in advance when they are expected to get plowed. B) If the DPW is slow in having sufficient plows out timely, or they are not coordinating the cleanup properly, it will be seen by everyone and they will be held accountable. They will not be able to say anymore “trust us we are doing everything we can”. Sorry they lost everyone’s trust.
    3) The township or the DPW should outsource the clearing of developments and perhaps other areas to private companies in advance of a major storm, at competitive prices, if they assess that an impending storm is more than they can handle efficiently. If they have to scramble for private contractors out of desperation, they will be forced to pay much higher rates.
    4) The plows should start plowing when the first flakes start to come down. If crews would’ve crisscrossed all streets (in alternating shifts)non-stop from Friday night and on, I’m sure we would’ve never gotten to the point that the roads are covered with 2 feet making it close to impossible for the smaller equipment to work.

  56. Sterling Place still not plowed. Incompetent plow came by, got stuck, and left. We have 140 families under lock down unable to get in or out.

  59. Why does this always happen in Lakewood not in surrounding towns

    We the tax payers need to wake up
    Where is our hard earned money is going

  63. I wasn’t home for Shabbos, so B”H am not stuck inside my driveway. I took a shovel with me when I went away and just parked in front of my house when I came home (B”H my street was plowed) and I shoveled my walkway into my house. Why couldn’t the plows start plowing before the snow got so deep and keep plowing periodically while it was still snowing, to keep om top of the situation?

  67. To snowed in and loving it how do you expect buses to get your kids to school with unplowed roads? And medina court needs to be plowed as well

  68. Ashley Avenue between Wynatt and Lincoln still not plowed. Treacherous icy road literally asking for someone to get hurt. Not to mention that the residents have been stuck waiting and waiting.

  69. It is hours since the storm has ended and as usual ASHLEY AVE has not been plowed…… DPW get some lessons from other states how to deal with a real snow storm……..

  71. last week we had ice on a couple intersections i called dpw and police nothing was done about it

    pot holes were not taken care of last couple of months and we had no snow to deal with

    this is not a new problem its there all the time no one dealt with it

  72. Another thing we should understand is that DPW is mainly there, yr-round, for garbage removal, with which they do a great job. We out them in charge of snow but its really not their thing. Its a different skill set. The twsp should make a new division for snow removal that’s skilled in route delegation.

  73. I think that the township/DPW’s reasoning is that if G-d put the snow there, let G-d take it away! Nothing that a few warm days and some rain won’t accomplish!

  74. Chestnut estates still not plowed and we had an ambulance call on our street (Mackenzie Ct) and the ambulance got stuck. The EMTs had to walk an entire block with equipment and sick child. That is inexcusable.

  75. Pretty pathetic that school is cancelled bec DPW couldn’t get their act together. Maybe they should cover the missed workday tomorrow, 2 days after a storm ended. Unacceptable.

  80. I was just wondering if it would be possible to get some updates about the plowing. We all know it wasn’t plowed until now. What can we expect from here on ?Feedback as to the plans of dpw would be appreciated

  82. i saw shabbos morning 2 plows and 2 tractors plowing the public school on somerset if someone can tell me why they are plowing the whole parking lot for 4 hours at least when school is closed for sure till monday shouldn’t they be out on the streets first

  89. 6 years or so ago there was a major storm and I remember it taking 3 days to clean up the mess. I think we came a long way….now most of lakewood got cleaned within 1 day!!! It’s all how you look at it…

  90. It’s not 8:30 PM and leak nard street still has not been touched by a plow. We listened to the DPW and all parks on one side. There was no pint in that because the plows never even came! We have a dr in the block who cannot get out. Why are we paying out property taxes?????????

  93. We have been stuck in our house the entire day! Please plow by us as soon as possible! For some reason we are always the last to be plowed! We live on Esti circle off Faraday.
    Thank you-
    Looking forward to be plowed out.

  94. Vine and cedar bridge block was skipped over. All of the surrounding blocks: Melville, Arlington etc. were done. Hopefully we’ll be able to leave our driveways tomorrow!

  98. The high school parking lot was plowed at least 3 times today! And there is no school tomorrow !
    Go figure??? Who makes the decisions?
    Happens every single storm!
    What’s the point of plowing the parking lot if kids can’t get to school?

  100. Finally, something came to plow snow, but lo and behold it is not a snow plow, it is a construction tractor, which is not built to plow snow. What would ordinarily be a 10 minute endeavor, at most, for a snow plow is now carrying on for about 90 minutes and the fellow is not even 60% done. This is amazingly inefficient.

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