Make in the departments plans going forward. Plus its perhaps the wildest president ialelection cycle ever, and now increasing speculation about former new york mayor Michael Bloomberg maybe, perhaps, entering the race as a thirdparty candidate. So, what are his chances of winning, really . We ask the man bloomberg hired to do a poll to find out. Good morning, everyone. Im bill ritter, in for diana. Were gonna start with the blizzard of a week ago, snow now mostly melted. Sanitation commissioner of new york city is here to talk about that and a lot more. Kathryn garcia, welcome back. Thank you. You were here a year ago. You had been on the job less than a year, and now youre a veteran. Now im a veteran. Now i have a blizzard under my belt. Exactly. And how do you think we did . I think we did i think that the department did phenomenally well. People really attacked this storm, cause if you think about it, probably 80 of the city was open almost to blacktop six hours after the last flake fell. Almost. Almost. Almost. There were some problem spots. Well get to that in a second. So quickly . I mean, i know that on friday night, at 3 minutes to 11 00, lee goldberg right over there came to us and said 3 minutes before 11 00 i got to revise this. Were getting more than 18 inches of this thing. You had to do some quick manipulation, as well. Right. So, it wasnt only that we were gonna get more accumulation it was gonna come faster. And so i think that, initially, we thought wed see first snow 7 00 a. M. On saturday morning. But we had forces on starting at 7 00 p. M. On friday night, which thank goodness we did and had planned for that, because we saw first flakes around 9 00. And i think that really drove the accumulation. So, did you plan for the worstcase scenario, even if it didnt the forecasters didnt say it was gonna be the worstcase . We had planned for going up to 18, which is a pretty big snow, and thats really all hands on deck, all ready. I dont think anyone anticipated that we would see the accumulations that we did, and i on saturday, National Weather service just kept adding inches to the total. 12 inches and you plan for 18 inches or beyond, at what point does it not really matter . Once youre above 18 or 20 inches, youve got everything in the field, and so going to 30 just means that you just have to stay on task on those routes to keep ahead of it. Thats the key thing. So, as commissioner, tell us what you did. Tell our viewers what you did. Everyone its all hands on deck. All vacations are canceled. All vacations are canceled. All days off are canceled. We are going into 7 00to7 00 shifts. For those of us in more senior positions, it tends to be a little longer. Most people are staying at their offices who are managing the event. We are making sure that we have all of the routes which are critical ready to go. All the equipment is prepped, all the salt is filled up, and everyones sort of geared up. Of course, you didnt have to worry about all the salt being filled up. We didnt really have any snow until this blizzard, right . Oh, we had plenty of salt on hand. We have used a considerable amount of it, but we had plenty of salt on hand. We had over 318,000 tons on hand. And what if, you know, worker for Kathryn Garcia and i say, you know, commissioner, im in puerto rico. What do i do . You say to me. . We say to you that you need to get home if you can. I mean, if you are out of the country or on an island and many flights were canceled, that would be a different story. But if youre available, theyre a uniformed force, and the reason theyre a uniformed force is because of snow. Thats right. And thats why they call them new yorks strongest, because they get back, no matter how strong the storm is, right . And they take a great deal of pride in how well they fight snow, and the conditions were extraordinarily difficult, trying to imagine driving for 12 hours in whiteout conditions. It was very tough. It was a big thats why they call it a blizzard. Lets talk about i think that most new yorkers would say everything worked pretty well. Some new yorkers might not. There were some communities in queens that did not woodside, corona, sunnyside. What happened there . And i know its complicated, and i know Mother Nature has helped the situation, cause the snow has largely melted, but so, what happened in queens . I think that in queens, clearly, we saw some very intense snowfall more intense in some areas than the rest of the city. I know that Jackson Heights saw 34 inches of snow. It sort of becomes mindboggling that it could be that big, and some of our trucks got stuck, and as soon as we get stuck, then were not clearing the route and we get behind. And were looking at pictures right now of some of your trucks actually plowing the streets, and there is not much room on some of those small, outerborough streets. And theres not any parking garage, so people are parking in the streets. The mayor asked people not to, but they did anyway, and your trucks couldnt get through . Right. And so what youre seeing there in your footage is actually a frontend loader, which became the only piece of equipment that could clear 34 inches of snow or more down these streets, cause we also had a lot of drifting. Sometimes on those streets, when i was with them, the frontend loader wheels almost are touching either car. That is how narrow some of these right. And they move more slowly than one of your sanitation trucks hooked up with a plow. Yes. So, a sanitation truck in a bad storm is probably moving about 5 miles an hour. A frontend loader is literally going in, taking a scoop of snow, pulling it out, taking another scoop of snow and pulling it out, cause thats what we had to do in some of these very small streets. You couldnt even plow and push it. So, a normal block, if it just had a sanitation truck and a plow, lets say here on the Upper West Side at west 67th street, where its wide and you could just go down the street that would take how long to go a block . Maybe two minutes. Right. And it could take an hour. Oh, it took some blocks took us three hours to get down. For one block . For one block. And, also, they got stuck. I mean, like, if they moved a little bit, they would get stuck, cause otherwise they were gonna hit the cars. So, i know youre tough and youve been in this youve worked in the department for a long time, and now youre commissioner, so you have to be tough and all that, but when you hear people, you know, get on the air we had some of these sound bites on our air. Angry at you. Oh, theyre angry at us. Yeah. So, how do you take that . So, the way that i view snow is that doing 99 perfectly doesnt necessarily matter. Its the 1 you missed. And snow is very personal, and people really feel like they werent taken care of, and we respect that. We dont want people to feel like theyre not taken care of, and we want to address it and move quickly to address it. Isnt it interesting . All the important political, socioeconomic issues that plague this city and that challenge this city all go by the wayside because the snow event a big one is a levels the Playing Field for everybody. It is a great democratizer. Yes. Yeah. Were all affected by it. Yes. Absolutely. We are all affected by it. And everybody does feel that they and they do deserve to be plowed as quickly as possible. Now, you did have this plan, and i dont pretend to be a snowpickup expert. You went from a 3tiered system to a new one called critical and sector. Explain what that is for our lay so, in the primarysecondary tertiary system, blocks were designated as more or less important than each other. So, broadway is. Very important. You know, bus routes very important. But maybe 55th street not as important. And so you would do them in order. The reason that we switched to this new method, where we call it sectoring, is because in these very large snowstorms, if you wait to get to that side street, the plow cant get through. And so you need to stay on top of it and be plowing at 5 inches and then at 10 inches and then at 15 inches. Otherwise, youre gonna lose that street. So, how many times did a broadway, lets say, in that 24hour blizzard how many times would it get plowed under this scenario . So, under this scenario, broadways Still Critical critical street cause we also want to make sure people can get to the hospital and stuff like that. Good idea. Yeah. Its very important. So, i dont know exactly how many times, but it would have been multiple times during a shift. Compared to 55th street, which is a secondary . Oh, i mean, it would have know, two or three times more than a side street. Some of your trucks got stuck and had to be towed out. Had to be towed out. Had to be pulled out, usually. But that doesnt happen very often . No. That does not happen very often. Just the sheer depth of this blizzard . The sheer depth. The regular plows could not make it through and could not make it through in some of these tight, narrow streets, cause when youre pushing snow, its helpful to have somewhere to push it to, and there really was no room. Basic physics there. Basic physics. So, youre getting good you know, you get praised for what happened. I mean, youre getting a lot of kudos. Some people in queens werent very happy with you. Overall, though, when you sit up at night and stare at the ceiling, saying, what could i have done better . What are you thinking you could have done better and what will change the next time we get this . I think that in thinking about, when youre dealing with something 34 inches, its having our frontend loaders out with plowing immediately with the regular trucks and into those little small, small streets and taking snow out, because they cant handle it. I think thats a change that i time when youre talking about very large storms. You know, for queens, its always like, could we have moved faster to get their blocks reopened . Could we have moved more equipment . One of the challenges we moved in a huge number of frontend loaders from around the city there. Theyre very slow. They do. Its like a farm tractor on an old road, right . Its a farm tractor moving, so is there any way we could have gotten them to these sites more quickly . So much we didnt talk about. Next time youre on, id like to talk about organic recycling. Absolutely. Because im a believer. Im one of your experimentees 700,000 people now. Its your little baby, and id like to it is my baby. Id like to talk about it. Absolutely. Kathryn garcia, great to see you. Great to see you. Good luck in the next storm, cause well probably have a couple. I know. We still have a lot of winter left, but im hopeful for it being a little bit lighter than this particular storm. We all are. All right. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you. Coming up next, we take a closer look at a man with a familiar name. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg his possible run for president. How much time does he have to announce, and could he win . Thats next. And a little later, the author of a new book on governor christie. 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They even made sure all of our connections were up and running before they left. Why settle for less, when you can get more call now. Get free installation with a one hour arrival window. And ask how you could get a 300 reward card. Welcome back to upclose. Political outsiders play huge roles in this sometimes cockamamie president ialelection season, and now another potential candidate, known for his independence, another new yorker, another billionaire, talking of perhaps, maybe, running for president. Im talking about Michael Bloomberg. Yes, he was mayor of new york for 12 years, so in that way, hes not really a true outsider, but the democratturnedrepublican turnedindependent is inarguably a political maverick. Also inarguable hes worth about 37 billion, according to seventhrichest american. Donald trump, by the way, is the 133rdrichest american, worth about 10 of bloomberg. But lets not quibble about a few billion dollars. Lets quibble about what it all means. Joining us to talk about the president ial race and a possible bloomberg entrance two veterans of politics and campaigns, bloomberg consultant hank scehinkopf and analyst and pollster doug schoen, and, both of you, thank you for joining me. Pleased to be here. Lets talk before we get to bloomberg, lets talk about this last weeks debate. Sure. Sans the big elephant that wasnt in the room. What do you think . Who was the winner here . Well, i thought certainly it was going to be ted cruz, and that was my predebate judgment, bill, and i was dead wrong. I thought the winner was marco rubio in the debate. I thought cruz had a huge opportunity to take it to donald trump, and he didnt succeed. Despite the first quote, where he said, you know. It was a joke. It was not a straightforward, headon hit, and you know what . I just sat there and said, this was a real chance. You missed and lost. Vitriol, though, hank. Cruz looked stupid. I mean, he didnt look like he was in control. He wasnt tactical in any way, shape, or form. But the big winner here is the guy with the best strategy, and thats donald trump. Donald trump, right. No question. If he had had a press conference or done something or had i been him, i would have had a show outside the location of the convention excuse me, the debate. I would have had some kind of thing with veterans. I would have given somebody a million bucks, done something really wild to capture the rest of the attention. Thats what he did. Yeah. Thats the point. Thats the point. So, you think that it was a lot of people think a lot of analysts like you guys thought it was a big gamble. You did not think it was a big gamble . It was very smart. You know, i think trump should have shown up because i think he would have won every exchange, as he has in every other debate. Theres a but, bill. Every time ive thought and other analysts have thought that he was in trouble or was making a mistake, hes only gotten stronger, and theres no evidence yet now that hes been hurt by doing what he did. But, you see, the wonderful Mike Bloomberg hes the rational alternative to trump. He is an independent. He can capture the populism by coming up with Real Solutions so the people feel less frustrated. He can regionalize what he has to say. If you look at where this trump thing is coming from, you see a very clear delineation of who is feeling what. I mean, he fits the moment. This is the moment. Its kind of perfect if it lines up, you know . Its delineation. If you had to bet, at this point. . 5050. 5050 . I would agree with that. Look, ive worked, as has hank, for Mike Bloomberg for a number of years. What he offers thats unique is the ability to bring people together, to look for resultsoriented Solutions Based on realworld outcomes, bill, not ideology, not partisanship. And given what were seeing on the democratic and republican side, whatever happens, its a welcome antidote to have him in the debates. You did the polling. Just full disclosure you do the polling for mr. Bloomberg. Youre not at liberty to talk about what was found, but we know that hes a very smart guy, out as a trial balloon and putting out the word that hes maybe gonna possibly run if the poll numbers didnt look promising in some position. If you had to put odds on, what would you say . Well, hank said 5050. Yeah. You say. . I think we cant really sit here today and know how the next few weeks are gonna play out. We have two primaries and caucuses coming up on both sides. We have an investigation going on in the fbi of secretary clinton. So, who knows, bill . Just as a layperson and without violating anything, your overall impressions can you say anything about what youre finding about how the public views him . Well, i think its clear to say and every poll has shown this people reject and revile the kind of polarization were seeing. They want nonpartisan decisionmaking, outsiders from washington, and, certainly, on the most straightforward level, Mike Bloomberg has produced results, and he is not part of know, Lobbyist Group in washington. Hes the opposite. Only Mike Bloomberg and, again, hes the rational trump, i. E. He can come up with Real Solutions that are not vitriolic, that are regionally placed, and that can get the voters. I mean, its very serious. The argument, the problem in the midwest among large numbers of people where trump should normally do well is their changing economy. Mike bloomberg knows something about that. I mean, there are real things he can say. The others are talking fluff. If he gets in there, he can do something really extraordinary if he gets in. So, lets talk about one the other elephant in this room about mr. Bloomberg. In new york, home to the largest Jewish Population anywhere but in israel, he won reelection. He won election three times. Is this country ready . We have a black president. We might have a female president. Is the country ready for a jewish president . Im sure it is. We had a Vice President ial candidate, joe lieberman, who was jewish, whos an orthodox jew, and and he lost. Well, loss in an election i think many people felt. That he did win, and i think that Joe Liebermans an extraordinary guy. Obviously, i have great regard for Mike Bloomberg, but i dont think thats at all an issue. Lets be real. Popular culture is dictated by our politics and what is going on around us. If Mike Bloomberg cant win, then seinfeld isnt repeating and constantly being recycled and talked about. It is a new york s