XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans   
   From: j_d@invalid.org   
      
   Mountains of garbage crawling with rats have overtaken streets surrounding   
   Gracie Mansion, leaving nearby residents furious as the mayor’s immediate   
   block appears meticulously cleared, according to a report by the New York   
   Post.   
      
   In the Upper East Side neighborhood surrounding the mayor’s residence,   
   locals say they are navigating filthy sidewalks lined with trash bags and   
   scurrying rodents more than a week after Winter Storm Fern. Meanwhile, the   
   stretch outside Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home on East 88th Street has been   
   cleared with what residents described as extraordinary care.   
      
   “I couldn’t believe it when I saw yesterday — a whole army of sanitation   
   workers plowing and shoveling every bit of snow off of that side of the   
   street,” resident Nick Rivers told The NY Post on Sunday as he walked his   
   black Labrador past garbage-strewn sidewalks near the mayor’s residence.   
      
   “Clean as a whistle for the mayor,” Rivers said. “Look at this side.”   
      
   The contrast, he said, could not be sharper. Nearby blocks are dominated   
   by towering piles of trash reaching as high as six feet, which residents   
   say have been sitting for days and drawing rats. The scene unfolded even   
   as Mamdani publicly praised the city’s response late last week, asserting   
   that things were under control despite residents struggling through frigid   
   conditions.   
      
   On surrounding streets, some of the debris mounds are even worse, with   
   trash stacks reportedly climbing to nearly eight feet.   
      
   “I’m new to the job,” the mayor said Friday. “I know the burdens will get   
   heavier, but right now I struggle to imagine how it could be better.”   
      
   Residents say he need only step outside his immediate surroundings to see   
   otherwise.   
      
   “Don’t get me started,” said Attel, who lives on West 88th Street. “I   
   don’t even look when I come out of the building.   
      
   “It’s gross!” he added. “The rats are inside the recycling bags.”   
      
   Another neighbor described similar conditions, saying, “My street is lined   
   with bags, many of them opened … all over the street.   
      
   The spotless conditions outside Gracie Mansion stand in stark contrast not   
   only to nearby blocks but to other areas of the city, where uncollected   
   trash and rodent-infested snowbanks have become commonplace in the   
   aftermath of the storm.   
      
   In a statement issued Sunday, a spokesperson for the city’s Sanitation   
   Department said that clearing snow and ice from sidewalks is the   
   responsibility of property owners, not the city, though garbage collection   
   remains a municipal duty.   
      
   The spokesperson added that roughly 2,500 sanitation workers are currently   
   working 12-hour shifts to clear bus stops, crosswalks, and fire hydrants,   
   which has pushed garbage collection a day behind schedule.   
      
   “We are prioritizing trash and composting — stuff gets gross — over   
   recyclables,” the statement said. “But we are picking up all streams, all   
   across the city, just on slight delay.   
      
   “Most New Yorkers will recall that this is standard practice during and   
   after winter weather events.”   
      
   A representative from the city parks department echoed similar remarks,   
   saying crews are focused first on bus stops, crosswalks, wheelchair ramps,   
   and fire hydrants.   
      
   “Once that has been addressed we will be able to resume our standard   
   maintenance schedule.”   
      
   Those explanations offered little comfort to residents living amid the   
   mess.   
      
   “It’s the most vile thing,” said Josh Tepper, a lifelong New Yorker who   
   overlooks Gracie Mansion from his apartment.   
      
   “I think it’s the worst in New York history.   
      
   “His one strip is nice, but where all the ‘civilians’ live, it’s a   
   complete disaster,” Tepper said of Mamdani. “The socialist king gets to   
   have a clean driveway. It just makes me enraged.”   
      
   https://matzav.com/mayor-mamdanis-gracie-mansion-noticeably-trash-free-as-   
   ues-neighbors-drown-in-8-foot-piles-of-garbage/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)