After watching weather reports that broke into just about every television show last week, West New York residents expected anywhere between one to three feet of snow by Tuesday night. When no accumulation of snow hit the Hudson County area on Monday, the weather forecasts still predicted at least eight inches on Tuesday.
However, while New Jersey declared itself in a state of emergency, West New York’s municipal offices remained open all week.
With schools closed until Wednesday, and many businesses either shutting their doors or letting their employees go home early, the town’s residents were left to amuse themselves while waiting for the big storm to hit.
Preparing for the storm
While the town’s Department of Public Works made sure that the streets were clean and safe for drivers, the residents began stocking up on necessity food items.
According to the assistant manager at Mendoza Grocery Store on Broadway, the store picked up in business this week.
“When they said that the snowstorm was coming it got a little bit busy,” said Assistant Manager Raymond Almonte. “It got busy everywhere, not just here.”
Some of the items that flew off the shelves, according to Almonte, were water, milk, meat, canned items and bread.
However, with everyone waiting for the storm, pleasure shopping seemed to stay at a minimum.
Walking on Bergenline Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, one could still see a crowd, although the town’s Urban Enterprise Zone Coordinator Oscar Miqueli said that business was slow.
“Everybody was busy shoveling,” said Miqueli. “Business was kind of slow. Hopefully [now] we’ll be back to normal.”
But what were the residents doing while waiting for this storm to hit our area?
With new movie rentals out, such as Meet the Parents and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch Two, its no wonder many residents turned to Blockbuster Video on Bergenline Avenue in preparation for the storm.
One worker at the West New York Blockbuster Video store said that a lot of people were looking to the video store for something to do while in the house.
“We had a lot of business on Saturday, Sunday and Monday,” she said, adding that the business on those days was much greater than that of a normal weekend.
The storm was a dream come true for kids. Children managed to get two days off from school, and only enough snow to have snowball fights and stay outdoors.
Sixth grade students at Public School No. 6, Sean Viola and Naser Nassar, turned their snow days into profit.
Viola made $15 shoveling snow for his neighbors on Monday and recruited his friend Nassar to make more money the next day.