If you can't be with your kids playing in a snowstorm, then you may as well be out in the middle of the night plowing it. Or at least that's how New Hyde Park employee Keith Feldman feels. He was one of those kids who always enjoyed snowfalls and now he gets a kick out of plowing it.
"I love being out there in the middle of the night plowing," Feldman said. "It's cool feeling high up and I like to plow."
It takes about five to six passes per block to get the street cleared from curb to curb, Feldman explained. The plows start from the middle and then works on each side of the street, he added.
When the members of the DPW go out to clear the roads, they always go with a partner, Feldman said, to help keep them awake, among other things. Between that, playing the radio loud, Red Bull and coffee, Feldman's good to go.
In the last blizzard, Feldman put in about 30 hours related to clearing the snow.
If there was one thing Feldman would want people to know about plowing the streets, it's that, "we don't mean to put the snow into the driveways. It's our job."
DPW Superintendent noted that residents should not try to plow their driveways until the street has been paved curb to curb. To be sure that that has happened, when you see sand on the street, the crew is done plowing, Gannon said. Also, when people are trying to dig out their driveways, the snow should go onto their properties rather than back in the street, he added.
Ray Bozymowski, a DPW employee who also is involved with plowing, said that he enjoys this type of work because "it helps people."
