As a member of the media ....
"I cant stand news media. I dont watch the news as they basically say the same thing over and over and sensationalize everything. It really gets on my nerves."
Trust me, it's no picnic BEING the media, and being forced to sensationalize *snow* in *January* in the *Northeast*.
I don't know when exactly it happened, either, that any snow accumulation whatsoever had to be referred to as a "storm" (local media is the worst with this -- even if it's just your average, run of the mill 1-3 inch prediction).
I also don't know when exactly the NYC subway system became so f-ing FRAGILE, either. I've been here 20 years, and even that crazy 38" snowfall in January '96 didn't stop the subways (there were even actually FIVE FOOT TALL drifts on the subway platforms underground!!!!). Now, however, a moderately heavy rain is enough to shut the damn system down completely (as a "precaution"). And shutting down the subway is absolutely paralyzing to a city where 93% of its inhabitants depend upon it exclusively to get around. And usually, if the weather is bad enough to shut down the subway, that means surface transportation is utterly out of the question, as well; either the weather really is so bad that the roads are impassable, or the action of shutting down the subway has now SO overtaxed our bus system (a fraction of New Yorkers take buses -- they're really relegated mostly to the elderly who can no longer navigate the subway steps) that it's impossible to even find a bus that isn't now bursting at its seams. And regardless of how much money you have, forget about even trying to find a cab.
It was an absolute nightmare in the days after Hurricane Sandy, when the subways were still flooded, but the storm was over and the half of the city still with electricity was trying to get back to business. Imagine 8.6 million people trying to chase down the city's 8,000 cabs. And when they finally got the BUSES moving, it was an absolute joke: I was waiting in a crowd of TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE at one bus stop for a bus -- ANY bus -- going Uptown. And every bus that passed by was so absurdly overcrowded, the bus drivers couldn't even control the crowds; it was like clowns in a Volkswagen. There were actually people hanging on for dear life on the OUSIDE of the bus.
Anyway, 8 inches of snow in New York City is a lot, but it's certainly not "Snowmageddon", as the weather boys and girls like to call it. It was, however, enough to cancel my Mason meeting tonight, as it's still a problem for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd getting into and out of the city; when a governor declares a "state of emergency" (as Cuomo and Christie both did), a litany of unpleasantries kicks in, regardless of how bad the "emergency" really is, including, apparently, the automatic shutdown of New Jersey Transit into and out of New York City.
It's frightening, though, how we in the media can not only whip governors into a panic, but also everyone else. New Yorkers who've lived through much worse who are normally savvy and level-headed are now creating chaotic scenes one usually only sees at Walmarts in Flyover Country; emptying grocery store and bodega shelves of food and essentials. What's really scary about living on an island in a city of 8.6 million people is realizing how fragile our system of civilized society really is; even with 42,000 active duty NYPD officers, that's barely a drop in the bucket to hold back any kind of true city-wide panic that could easily turn into a riot. I also understand that even despite the city's 17,000 restaurants and some 10,000 grocery and convenience stores, at any given time the city really only has, at best, FIVE DAYS worth of food and other critical supplies. It really makes one realize that maybe those "preppers" are onto something.
But I find it's better not to think about things like that.