Good morning. It’s Wednesday. We’ve heard a lot about snow lately. Today we’ll find out about the rock salt that’s crunching underfoot. We’ll also get details on a guilty plea by a public defender who was accused of stealing public funds to pay for vacations and teeth whitening.
Unlike the snow — which traveled several thousand feet through the atmosphere to get here — the rock salt on city streets traveled several thousand miles from Chile, Mexico, Peru or possibly Egypt. Unlike the snow — which was white at first, then gray or black on the streets — the salt was pinkish at first, then white on the streets. The salt arrived on ships. It was unloaded in New Jersey or on Staten Island and ferried to 41 Department of Sanitation storage sites around the city. The quantities are staggering: The city had about 317,000 metric tons on hand when the winter began. It used 99,000 metric tons in the recent storm. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says that in all, 900,000 metric tons is imported in a typical year for New York City and for other local governments and agencies in the region. In 2026, some 369,000 metric tons have already gone out, but replenishment arrives regularly: Atlantic Salt, a bulk supplier, had two Chilean ships on the schedule for its Staten Island terminal in the last week. A third, loaded with 55,000 metric tons of salt, is due today. Joshua Goodman, a deputy commissioner of the Sanitation Department, said the storm 10 days ago had been unusually challenging because it was followed by extreme cold weather. “It’s rare that we get as much as 15 inches of snow and then it stays below freezing for a week,” he said. “We get a lot of storms where it snows, and the next day it’s 40 degrees. This wasn’t like that.” The prolonged cold foiled the salt, whose purpose is to lower the melting point of the snow. The salt is less potent when the temperature drops below 15 degrees, as it did repeatedly last week. There is an antidote: The city sprays the salt with calcium chloride — “basically another kind of salt,” Goodman said — creating a mixture that is effective in temperatures to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The city has used 195,000 gallons of calcium chloride so far this winter, he said. Getting itGoodman said the city had not had trouble getting salt, thanks to long-term wholesale contracts. But some local municipalities have worried about shortages, in part because recent winters have been relatively mild. “It’s been 11 or 12 years since we’ve had a winter like this,” said Shelagh Mahoney, the president of Atlantic Salt, adding that many municipalities had used half again as much as they had estimated for the year. “All of a sudden, every town and municipality was calling to say, ‘Oh, my God, there’s a foot of snow coming, and we don’t have enough salt. How quickly can you get it to us?” she said. The company had sent out as much as 15,000 tons a day, she said — enough to empty a shipload in four to five days. Salt is available closer to home, from upstate New York, Canada or the Midwest. But Port Authority officials say the fastest way is on ships. “The emissions, the traffic, the wear and tear on the roadways, just the wear and tear on the drivers moving from upstate New York to New Jersey, 25 tons at a time — it’s just not feasible,” said Bethann Rooney, the Port Authority’s port director. The agency figures that some 2,500 dump trucks would be needed to haul the amount of salt that one ship can handle, the agency says. Paying for itThe city’s snow budget is unique among city agencies, Goodman said: It is not subject to wrangling in the City Council. It is set by a formula spelled out in the City Charter, an average of the amount spent on what the department calls “snow fighting” over the last five years. Lately the total has been in the range of $90 million, Goodman he said. “This year’s actual spend will almost certainly be higher,” he said. “We spend what we have to spend to get the streets clear, and that goes into the formula for the next year.” WEATHER The sun will be out today, and temperatures will settle in the low to mid-30s. Expect a partly cloudy night with a low around 15. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING Suspended for snow removal. QUOTE OF THE DAY “I don’t come from the establishment or the democratic socialists club or whatever that organization is. But I support progressive priorities.” — City Councilwoman Julie Won, as she joined the race for the House seat held by Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, who is retiring. The latest Metro news
We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. A public defender pleads guilty to fraud
The former head of the Queens Defenders, a nonprofit that provides legal representation to poor defendants who cannot afford a lawyer, could face five years in prison after pleading guilty to a fraud charge. Prosecutors said that the former official, Lori Zeno, above, had been renting a penthouse apartment with polished stone countertops and stunning views of the city skyline. She and her romantic partner, Rashad Ruhani, spent more than $300,000 in Queens Defenders funds on a vacation in Bali, teeth whitening and repairs to a Mercedes-Benz. “It’s a very sad moment,” said Steven Legon, a lawyer for Zeno, whom he called a “very accomplished attorney,” after she had entered her guilty plea. Ruhani has maintained that he is innocent; a third defendant, Kimberly Osorio, was charged in October with lying to federal investigators. Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement that Zeno had “brazenly betrayed and abused her position of trust as the director of a nonprofit.” The Queens Defenders is one of a number of nonprofits that are paid through city, state and federal contracts to represent defendants who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. Zeno, who had helped found the organization in the 1990s, became its executive director in 2018, earning about $400,000 a year. She was fired last year after the organization said an independent forensic audit had revealed “several irregularities.” The city then reassigned the organization’s cases to another public defender group, the Brooklyn Defenders. METROPOLITAN DIARY Cash and carry
Dear Diary: In February 1997 I traveled to New York from Germany to spend a week with my friend Sophia, who lived in Forest Hills. As I prepared to head out for first day of exploring the city on my own, Sophia gave me lots of advice about being careful. Most importantly, she said, I should not carry my money all in one place. “Distribute it all over your body,” she said. So that’s what I did before going off on my adventure. Stepping out of Penn Station and onto 34th Street, I looked up at the glass and steel towers, and the Empire State Building peeking out over them. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder from behind. Oh, god, I thought. I am being mugged in broad daylight. I turned around and saw a tall man who was trying hard not to smile too openly. He looked toward my boots. “Your money’s sticking out,” he said. — Claudia Shapiro Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. Davaughnia Wilson and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
