East Harlem.Com

East Harlem, January 19th, 2005. Bitter cold has gripped El Barrio this week. Spreading its icy grip throughout the community. It’s so cold that even the train tunnels on Park Avenue are dripping icicles. The icicles freeze in place and may be a potential hazard to anyone walking under them. As beautiful as they look, the icicles can pose a serious threat to pedestrians and motorist alike. With colder weather and snow on the way use precaution when walking the streets. Whatever you do, look overhead before traversing these icicle incubation chambers. Oh, and keep warm.

Update: January 21, 2005.  New York’s Finest came to the rescue.  They came with one of their bigger vehicles and began to swipe the icicles from the top of the tunnel ceilings.  This took a little while to do and remember, it’s dangerous work, but the police were up to the task.  And this happened just a day after writing the original article.  This writer does not claim credit for having the NYPD come out to clear the icicles.  It’s very likely that they would have done so anyway.  Very probably that it’s done all the time as soon as icicles form. But would like to thank them for getting rid of a hazardous situation.

It’s just one of the many things that the New York Police Department do which we citizens may not be aware of them doing.  East Harlem.com would like to thank the brave men who cleared the icicles at risk to themselves to ensure that we can travel savely through the Park Avenue train tunnels.

If you look closely at this second photo you can see a policeman standing on top of the small police truck with a think stick, clearing the icicles (he has white lettering on his coat.)  The icicles fall just a few inches from his body and down to the ground.  Some of these icicles are thick and therefore hard to remove without being hit a few times.  Remember, icicles can very easily fall onto the policeman.  But he handles the situation expertly ensuring that the icicles are cleared and that he does not get hurt.