As the New York area’s airports finally begin to open and city dwellers complain about unplowed streets, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the city's response to the storm as competent and sufficient. "The world has not come to an end," he said. "The city's going on. Many people are taking the day off. Most stores are open. There's no reason for anybody to panic." The Sanitation Department said most of the city's major avenues had been cleared, but side streets remained a challenge in part because of stranded cars. City officials say they don't expect New York's mass transit to be operating normally on Tuesday, though hopefully most of the streets will be cleared. "On balance I think you'll find we kept the city safe and we're cleaning it up," Bloomberg said.