Winter hit us hard this last week. Two heavy days of snow had our street crew hustling to clear our main streets for travel. Along with our Street/Park crew we had men from the other departments driving trucks and front end loaders to help clear the snow away.
I took the opportunity on Saturday morning about 8 a.m. to drive around with Pat Malay to look at what had been done and what needed to be done. We had already had two days of heavy snow and the crews had been working for those two days beginning at midnight each night to open the main priority streets and were having to do then again as well as sand the hills and intersections. After the roads are plowed, the crews follow with the front-end loaders opening up the driveways and cleaning up the corners. It takes time for them to catch up with the plow so if your driveway gets plowed in, please be patient as the rest of the crew makes its way down the street clearing the driveways. If at all possible, use off street parking during this weather so your vehicles don’t get plowed in.
There are residents living on the side streets wondering why we don’t get their streets done faster and more often. If you live on one of these streets particularly on the west side, take a minute to look down your street and see how narrow and crowded they are. I was amazed in looking down W. Liberty and W. Court Streets at how many cars, trucks and trailers are parked along the streets. Some of the vehicles are parked quite a distance from the curb, some parked going the wrong direction and some with their tail ends almost in the middle of the street. There was no way to plow some streets and even on the streets with room, the cars would have had snow up to their roofs.
Our crews had people stand in the middle of the road complaining about the way their vehicles got plowed in or had people stand on the sidewalk glaring at them or worse swearing at them for plowing in their space. The crews have been working as quickly as they can to get the streets cleared before the melting and freezing cause slicker surfaces. With a limited crew and equipment, I appreciate the work they do and the time they take from family activities to provide service to our residents. The weatherman is predicting more snow this week so the crews will be out again as quickly as possible. Please be patient as we work as quickly as we can.
Freezing weather is expected over the next week so remember to leave a small stream of water running to prevent pipes from freezing up particularly in exposed pipe areas. If you do have frozen pipes, contact someone to help thaw them in a safe manner. Unfortunately, house fires have been started by residents thawing out their pipes. Be safe in this weather. If you have neighbors or family that need help, get that shovel out or call a scout troop or church for help.
There are more Christmas activities this weekend, check the coming events and get out to enjoy the season. Drive carefully and walk softly.
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