Pretty amazing considering most residents have not experienced them in use;
More Sioux Falls residents are in favor of the city equipping its snowplows with snowgates than against it, but a high percentage also are undecided on the issue, according to a new poll.
By a margin of 39 percent to 33 percent, with 28 percent undecided, participants in an Argus Leader/KELO-TV poll this month said the city should use snowgates that prevent plows from heaping snow berms across driveways.
The 28 percent does not surprise me, like I said, most people have not seen them in use. But what I think is amazing is that 39 percent want them. I think the jury is out, and it is pretty clear. One more year of (FAIR) testing (USING PROPER EQUIPMENT AND NOT AN INFERIOR PRODUCT) and we are good to go. If the city council and mayor don’t implement this city wide by next year at this time, expect to see a ballot question on the November 2012 election about snowgates. We are getting them one way or another kids. We won’t let no stinking politicians or crabby newspaper publishers get in our way. Will we?
They got a high approval rating because we’re all a bunch of fat, lazy people who want to do as little as possible. Honestly, I couldn’t give two shits if we get these things or not. I live on an emergency snow route. My sidewalk is used by kids walking to school. I knew that going into the whole ‘home ownership” thing. People that complain about having to scoop the mountain of concrete at the end of their driveways the plows leave behind should either get out there sooner, hire someone to remove it or move into an apartment.
That being said, it would appear the city can piss a million dollars down it’s leg just researching ways to spend our money. I think I’d rather have them spend it on something to reduce the amount of weather related whining that happens in this city than spend it on conceptual drawings of Mayor McEgo’s Event Center.
Dude, there is days I wish I still lived in an apartment. But I try think of the little pleasures of home ownership, like sitting on my patio naked at 1 AM in the morning while drinking a vodka tonic and watching the fireflies. That being said, I want snowgates.
Waste of money.
Agree, complete waste of money.
I am in support of snowgates. Public roads are city’s responsibility and when snow falls on public roads, it belongs to the city… If we’re not allowed to scoop or blow snow back on roads, why should they push them on our sidewalks or driveway?
When it comes to the topic of snowgates…..I always wonder about responses like…waste of money…
Neither M2CW38 nor matt70 disclosed whether or not they were in one of the two test areas…
And, also, when I see the negative responses to the snowgates, it makes me think…are they in the snow removal business???
I’m guessing that there are both small snow removal businesses, and the larger private contractors who would be required to put the snowgates on their equipment who are aggressively lobbying against the snowgates!!!
I still say that if the Mayor and Council nix this, that it should go to a vote of the people!!!!!!!
Certainly if the river greenway is considered a “Quality of Life” issue, then the snowgates which would benefit many more citizens is also a “Quality of Life” issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Snowgates are a waste of money, hmmmm. These are things that the current and past councils did not think are a waste of money;
• Ampitheater with steps into the river
• A road to Falls Park
• Rock and wood thingies in McKennan Park
• Heated floors for Rhinos
• Millions on EC studies
• Jr Football fields (mostly used by out-of-towners)
• Electric scooters for meter maids
• 1 million for council chambers
• Over 40 million to refurbish Washington High (and they still are not done)
I could go on and on. Snowgates are about customer service. If the city is going to remove snow, do it right. We are paying for the service.
So because in the past we have thrown money at questionable projects and complete boondoggles we should continue to do so? I don’t live in an area that tested snowgates and I don’t do snow removal for a living. I simply get out and shovel/snowblow when needed. My feeling is spending money on snowgates is a luxury we really don’t need, much the same as spending $120 million on an events center is, or having heated floors for rhinos, or segways for meter maids.
To those people who say it is no big effort to go out and shovel the mountain of snow that snowplows leave at the end of your driveway—–not everybody is able to do that kind of shoveling, nor can they afford to hire somebody to do it for them. My suggestion is if you live in an area where they might be used, and don’t like them, move to an area where they won’t be used.
I live in the test area. I hope I am still in the test area this year. So much better to have to scoop less than a foot of snow from the driveway than three feet.
People want less government and less spending but heaven forbid not my little pet projects. Homeowners have been shoveling out their driveways forever in the winter wonderland. We have been cursing the street plowers all our lives for throwing that pile of snow in our driveways. So what. It’s a fact of life in the winter. Does government have to wipe your butt too. Can you guess I am not in favor of spending the money on this. And by the way, I know no street plowers, I do not work for the city and I don’t have a snow plow business. I just don’t think we should expect government to do everything for us. I know people who have elderly neighbors and there are still some people out there who help out others without being asked or paid. Maybe we need more of that in our society.
First off, this service benefits everyone. Not only are snowgates great at not leaving snow at the end of a driveway, they are also great at cleaning out intersections (public safety). This isn’t a home owner issue, this helps everyone, just like road maintenance. As for Matt’s comments on ‘questionable’ spending. That’s just it, the council didn’t think that list I provided was ‘questionable’ yet they think snowgates are. It’s about f’ed up priorities. Would you trust some who told you that taxpayer money is better spent on monkey crappers instead of proper snow removal? Pretty laughable, huh? But that is what current councilors are telling you. As for the comments about being lazy, etc. It’s not about that. As a homeowner or property owner, we already trim the city’s trees for them, clean the sidewalks for them (and repair them) maintain the blvd. for them and ultimately clean out the end of our driveways for them (which they own also) would it be too much to ask for all the taxes we pay (for services) that they provide this one itsy-bitsy service? God forbid our tax dollars get spent on something that actually benefits us! The city squanders 4-5x as much on private consultants a year compared to what this would cost us as taxpayers. This won’t cost us extra, it will just force the city reorganize their spending.
Thank you l3wis.
If a snowplow with a gate can now avoid “plowing in” a stray car parked on the street, will there still be a mandate for towing it?
Fuckers towed my car on a plowed street DT a few years back, because they were ‘still picking up snow on the ends of the blocks’ I was parked in the middle of the block.
Got pulled over for a brake light on Saturday morning. I told the officer that it was ‘always out’ because of the model of my car, it was a design flaw. Which is true. I literally had it changed like a month ago.
He took my reg, ins, and dl and told me he would write me a warning. He sat in his car for 10 minutes, finally when he came back he handed me my stuff (and no ticket) and says. “Please have that taken care of.”
Here’s the deal. If you are going to your car to do a ‘priors’ or ‘background check’ on me, cool. Just tell me that. Don’t ‘pretend’ you are writing a ticket for 10 minutes, then have something short to say to me afterwards.
. . . which makes me kinda laff, because if you were to type in my middle name (My Dad’s first name) for my first name, you would have a lot of stuff come up.
sorry pam you are right. let’s take it a step further, and save even more of the tax dollars that you worked much harder for than anyone else. if anyone wants to go anywhere in the winter time, we should all get a shovel and shovel our own way there. that’s what my grandparents and their neighbors did back in the 20’s and 30’s out in the country. same with paved streets. gravel will do just fine and is easier and cheaper to maintain.
🙂
We need to get rid of those damn busses too. Do it like they did in the old days, horse or walk motherf’ers. Ain’t no need for public transportation, waste of taxpayers dollars. Right Pam? Right!
And while we are at it, make cabs and bicycles illegal in SF.
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