By GARY McLENDON

Queens residents are notoriously tough, but when a snow-storm dumped 15 inches of snow on the borough on February 9, 1969, they were knocked for a loop. The unexpected snow-storm set off a series of events that rankled residents, pushing them to their limits.

The snow closed schools, railroads, highways, and retail stores. The snow emergency stranded 6,000 passengers at Kennedy Airport for two days. Thousands of New Yorkers’ were unable to get to their jobs. The stock and commodity exchanges were closed. Hundreds of car accidents occurred on the snow-packed area highways, and police rescued stranded motorists on the New Jersey Turnpike, the Tappan Zee Bridge, and all major New York roadways. Police initially reported 14 dead and 68 injured as a result of the storm. Three people were found dead in a Kennedy Airport parking lot.

Queens residents were furious with Mayor Lindsay (right, pictured with Donald Manes) in 1969, when the city neglected to plow much of the borough’s streets after a terrible snowstorm.

Part of the problem was that the storm occurred on a Sunday, which caught the city napping, because meteorologists inaccurately predicted the depth of the snow. But the bulk of the problem surrounded the lack of snow removal.

Mayor John Lindsay drew extreme criticism from Queens residents for failing to clear the streets. The NYC Sanitation Dept. cleared main thoroughfares with the aid of 1,000 citizen volunteers, but Queens residents on smaller streets waited weeks to get their streets plowed. The snow-storm was the worst the city had seen since 17.5 inches of snow fell on the city in 1961.

Two days after the storm, Mayor Lindsay, in response to complaints from Queens representatives, toured city neighborhoods. Starting out by limousine, he shifted to four-wheel drive vehicles before traveling Queens by foot to survey the snow piles. He was booed by Queens homeowners.

The New York Times reported that at 69th Road, near the Grand Central Parkway, the Mayor’s path was blocked by three Sanitation Department plows, stuck in snow drifts. Ordinary plows were inadequate to remove the snow.

"This part of Queens is the worst as far as snow cleaning is concerned," said Lindsay. "We’re commandeering bulldozers all over the place wherever we can find them."

But while snow sat on the ground, the political climate rose. "Just you try to get elected again," said one Queens resident to the mayor.

City Councilman Matthew Troy Jr. called for a grand jury probe into alleged "wanton disregard bordering on criminal neglect" concerning Queens’ conditions. Death tolls rose to 25 with 116 injured, and the Sanitation Dept. placed 7,500 people on the snow removal detail.

Unsatisfied, Troy demanded that Governor Rockefeller declare all areas outside of Manhattan ‘disaster areas’, and have the National Guard assist with snow removal. In response Lindsay increased the snow removal force to 10,000. The death toll rose again to 42 dead and 288 injured; more than half of which took place in Queens.

The snow storm closed businesses for days and while garbage piled up among the snow-drifts, delayed food deliveries caused panic in city supermarkets, and shop-owners were accused of price-gouging. Two NYC Sanitation workers were suspended for collecting $100 from Queens residents for removing snow from their streets.

Lindsay defended his administration, citing obsolete snow-removal equipment that he inhered from prior administrations. He added that there were additional difficulties in obtaining private snow-removal equipment in the Bronx and Queens, and that the administration would re-examine all major snow removal procedures and probe ‘misconduct’ linked with snow removal in Eastern Queens.