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Sanitation and Emergency Management outline winter readiness for Queens ahead of forecasted storm
Summary
DSNY and New York City Emergency Management briefed the Queens borough board on staffing, equipment, and public guidance for winter 2026: DSNY detailed thresholds for plowing, brining and salt use and said more GPS-tracked plows and spreaders are available; NYCEM emphasized personal preparedness and Notify NYC alerts.
Antonio Whitaker, assistant director in the Department of SanitationPublic Affairs unit, and Dustin (special projects administrator for New York City Emergency Management) told the Queens borough board that the city is prepared for likely winter weather this week and outlined how residents can monitor and respond.
Whitaker said DSNY clears more than 19,000 lane miles across New York City and can scale operations when needed. "We have over 2,000 vehicles with the ability to plow, ready to go," he said, adding that the department has "over 700 soft spreaders" and "over 700,000,000 pounds of salt, ready to be spread." DSNY described operational thresholds: spreaders are deployed for light accumulations below about 2 inches, plows are used at roughly 2 inches, full plow…
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