Thomas MacMillan
He had his wine-dipped Garcia y Vega lit, his trusty shovel in hand, and — most important — his rhythm. G‑Man was ready to take on the storm.
G‑Man — Gerard Gray — was one of 17 parks department workers who turned out to clear sidewalks all over town Wednesday. As they always do when it snows.
He was a shoveling machine. After 12 years on the job, G‑Man knew the secret to getting into the swing: finding the right beat.
He shoveled a line by the inside of the sidewalk. Then he proceeded down the sidewalk at a steady pace, scraping the snow into Whitney Avenue.
One step to the right. Repeat. One step to the right. Repeat.
“You’ve got to get into a rhythm,” he said around his stogie.
G‑Man, “Uncle Steve,” and the rest of the parks department crew showed up ready for action, although the snow didn’t quite live up to the snowmaggedon warnings on TV. There was still work to do.
While the Department of Public Works takes care of snow removal on city streets, it falls to the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Trees to clear the sidewalks on the Green and all other city parks. The parks department also clears snow from libraries, senior centers, and church parking lots.
Christy Hass, deputy director of the parks department, was expecting a blizzard on Wednesday. She had deployed her troops and shovels and mini snow plows around the city accordingly — only the storm wasn’t cooperating. Still, there was work to do.
“This is the storm that wasn’t,” Hass said. She sat in her SUV on the Green, shortly after a lunch break on Wednesday. The snow was predicted to accumulate an inch an hour, she said. But it wasn’t coming down hard yet.
As she drove to check on her workers at the corner of Whitney Avenue and Trumbull Street, Hass described her perfect storm. It should start at 7 a.m. and snow hard until about 3:30 p.m. That way the department can clear all the snow with a minimum of overtime, she said.
Of course, storms rarely land so neatly. They can drag on all day long. In the past, Hass used to keep a sleeping bag in her car so she could sleep on the floor of her office during big snowstorms. She’d catch a couple hours of rest and then get back up and battle the storm.
She hasn’t had to spend the night on her office floor in several years. Storms don’t hit as hard as they used to.
Hass stopped the car at Phelps Triangle, at the intersection of Whitney Avenue and Trumbull Street, where four guys, including G‑Man, were clearing off the sidewalk.
Dennis McCoy was working the other side of the triangle. He said he loves storm duty — that is, he loves the overtime that comes with it. “It brings more money to your pocket.”
Jumping back in the car, Hass went to check on Steve “Uncle Steve” Duncan. The 63-year-old was methodically shoveling an inch of snow off the the sidewalk in front of the Center Church on the Green.
Uncle Steve is retired; he works just a couple hours a week for the parks department, Hass said. He doesn’t work fast. He doesn’t work slow. But he doesn’t stop, she said approvingly.
“I like working, period,” Uncle Steve said.
From Temple Street, Hass headed across town to Ferry Street, where the parks department’s only female work crew member was clearing snow at the Ferry Street Triangles, by River and Chapel streets.
“I hate winter,” Carla Korrick said with a smile. “I’ve got nothing good to say about it.”
John Magliochetti was happy to have his picture taken with a shovel in his hand, so he can live down an undeserved reputation. “Everybody says I don’t work,” he said. “I’m the best worker in the parks department.”
Like a lot of his co-workers, Magliochetti has been with the department for 12 years. Most workers are in their 40s. With an older crew, the parks department tries to keep everyone in shape, Hass said. They get together three mornings a week to walk for an hour. Workers can also go to the weekly parks department yoga class, or get help quitting smoking.
In addition to being older, the crew is also predominately male.
“They need to hire more women,” Korrick said.
Hass, who joined the department 11 years ago, was the director of parks and recreation in Rocky Hill for 22 years. She was the first female parks director in the state. She said she was happy to step down from Rocky Hill director to New Haven deputy director. It means less time in meetings and more time in work boots.
Heading back downtown, Hass said, “This is not a snowstorm! Maybe it’ll come later.”
Working Through The Storm
The parks department wasn’t the only crew at work on Wednesday. Mail carrier Donna Rzasa was bundled up against the elements to deliver mail on Edgewood Avenue. “I love it,” she said. She said she’d take snow over heat any day.
Miguel Ocasio, a native of Ecuador, was shoveling sidewalks for Yale at the corner of Elm and Park Streets.
Workers cleared the sidewalk in front of the Connecticut Superior Court on Elm Street.
Pedestrians enjoyed snowy strolls through the New Haven Green.
