New York Today: Chasing Garbage

John Moore/Getty Images Everything must go.

Updated 10:03 a.m.

Good Thursday morning to you.

The warming weather has brought back something we’ve all been missing.

That bumping, wheezing sound outside the window, more welcome than Santa’s sleigh bells.

It’s the garbage trucks, making their triumphal post-snow return.

Many New Yorkers complained it took far too long.

But the Department of Sanitation’s resident anthropologist, Robin Nagle, counseled patience.

“It’s an expected stage in a snowstorm,” she said. “The snow is the first half. The second half is ‘chasing garbage,’ ” she said.

That’s what the rank and file call catching up on backlogged trash.

About 24 million pounds are picked up in the city on a normal day.

A backlog of 10 days â€" it’s been more in some parts of the city, less in others â€" would mean 240 million pounds.

Dr. Nagle has chased garbage with workers after snowstorms before.

“Each pile was snowed on, frozen and shot through with dog waste,” she said. “The bags on the bottom, you had to kick them to loosen them because they were frozen to the ground.”

Dr. Nagle urged New Yorkers not to expect perfection. “It will be hard to do a ‘Tiffany,’” she said.

That’s when workers leave a curb spotless, as if swept and tidied.

She offered practical tips to help speed the chase.

Sweep snow off the bags.

Move trash to where workers can more easily get to it.

And curb your dog. A crowded pile is no excuse for an improper pee.

Here’s what else you need to know.

WEATHER

Another mild, increasingly sunny day, with a high of 49. No daytime rain, though it may drizzle tonight.

But streets are slushy. So may we suggest pairing your lighter coat with the same old salty boots.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended through Saturday.

COMING UP TODAY

- Michelle Obama is in town. She attends a private Democratic National Committee fund-raiser and tapes “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

- The first lady will also check out the New Museum‘s “Taking Back the Streets” exhibit. That’s the indoor version of a street art show sponsored by the bottled water brand WAT-AAH! that sends kids “new messages about healthy hydration.”

- Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey travels to Middletown for his first town hall meeting - postponed twice because of snowstorms - since the scandal over lane closings broke out. The subject: Hurricane Sandy relief aid. 11 a.m.

- If your child was born in 2009, today is the deadline to register for kindergarten.

- How is the Bronx doing? Find out when Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. delivers his State of the Borough address at 11:30 a.m.

- Mayor de Blasio makes an announcement at a street corner in Middle Village, Queens, at 11:30 a.m.

- Never too late for love. Stymied by snow last week, United War Veterans Council volunteers load Valentine’s Day cards and gifts outside 50 Lafayette Street for delivery to a military hospital in Maryland. 11 a.m.

- The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus opens at Barclays Center. 7 p.m. [$24.20 and up] …

- … While animal rights groups protest outside at 5:30 p.m.

- A panel discussion at Columbia on the topic “Methamphetamine: Fact vs. Fiction and Lessons from the Crack Hysteria.” 6 p.m. [Free]

- Fort Tryon Park rocks: Hear a lecture on the geology and history of the park at a recreation center in Washington Heights. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts presents a trivia night at Le Poisson Rouge in NoHo, hosted by the identical twin performers Le Brothers Balliett. 7:30 p.m. [Free, bring your own team]

- And our daily offering for the winter-break child-burdened: 10 things to do while school is out, courtesy of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- New York State has agreed to prison reforms meant to curtail solitary confinement, including prohibiting its use in disciplining minors. [New York Times]

- Junior’s, Brooklyn’s cathedral of cheesecake, is selling its space but hopes to move back in as a tenant. [Daily News]

- Income inequality is sharply higher in economically vibrant big cities, like New York, than in more moribund ones, like Columbus, Ohio, a study found. [New York Times]

- The former corrections officer who had a child with a death-row murderer she was supervising was sentenced to a year in prison. The child is named Justus. [New York Times]

- It’s illegal to pay a surrogate to carry your child in New York. But a new law seeks to change that. [New York Times]

- Snow collapsed the roof of a CVS pharmacy in the Bronx. [New York Post]

- Watch local gentrification in GIF action. [Gothamist]

- What to do when you see someone you know on the subway â€" or worse, when they see you first. [Gothamist]

- Meet Mike Kaback, a New York tour guide seeped in the city’s history and known for “pointing out everything on every street.” [Narratively]

- Scoreboard: Knicks outmuscle Pelicans, 98-91. Nets mute Jazz, 105-99.

AND FINALLY …

Goodbye, Toy Fair.

As you go about your Thursday, employees from more than a thousand toy companies will be packing up their wares at the Javits Center.

The annual expo drew some 30,000 toy professionals this week â€" and covered a record 412,000 square feet.

Large toys were trending, which may have helped.

So were zombies.

“Thanks to a rise in popularity of zombie-themed movies, television shows and video games, zombie-themed products were also extremely popular at the Toy Fair,” Crain’s reported.

May the march of the zombie action figures transpire without incident.

Joseph Burgess and Andy Newman contributed reporting.

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