[Deek]

The rich can just hire a private service to do it.

Guessing that is sarcasm. That said, the unfortunate reality is that the sanitation tucks, which double as snow plows, rule the city. They are not gonna let an non-city-union vehicles on the streets.

Background for those fortunate enough to not live in NY City: there are basically two types of surface streets in NY: uptown/downtown, and cross-town. Uptown/DT tend to be broad multiple lane roads. Cross-town tends to be narrow single lane roads. The sanitation drivers learned long ago that one or two trucks blocking a couple of cross-town roads brings traffic in and entire neighborhood to a standstill. Anytime they aren't getting their way, they just block a few cross-town roads and the city's traffic comes to a near complete stop.

[Paladin2]

I suspect that heavy snows need to be scooped up and dumped in the river. A private firm would need too many permits to be able to operate if the City didn’t want them to.