UPDATE: Where’s the Snowgate? (Feb 20, 2018) GP – Bruce

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To plow is one thing but being able to see snowgates is what we voted for.

Sioux Falls voted to have graders with snowgates clearing all the streets. in the wee hours of Tuesday, February 20, 2018 we had some more white stuff called snow. The stuff snowgates were made to keep from filling our driveways.

It has finally been added to the books;

96.127  SNOW GATES.

The City of Sioux Falls shall use snow gates or other devices to prevent snow, in an amount that prevents usual access, from being plowed or placed into driveways or their openings to public streets from and after November 1, 2013.  This section shall cover City employees and contract employees.  Snow gates are discretionary upon the declaration of a snow emergency on routes that have been declared snow emergency routes.

(Ord. IM01-14, approved by the voters on 4-8-2014)

It might seem petty but some of us worked hard a few years ago to see snowgates keeping the white stuff out of our driveways.

I heard the plow drive quickly past my house so I knew it was not the usual grader pair with a snowgate, so I sent the following email to Councilor Theresa Stehly:

Theresa,

I love snow gates. We worked hard to get them and I have been very happy with their use. The city employees have been very cooperative and friendly in helping the property owners. The work we did to promote them has paid off well for the entire town, until this week.

On Monday, February 20, 2018 at 7:01 am, a Sioux Falls snowplow truck drove through my west 9th street neighborhood between Valley View and LaMesa at about 30mph clearing the street. When I went out to get in my truck, there was chucks of ice and snow in the grill. Thrown there by the force combination of speed and the lack of snow gates. My truck’s headlights could have been broken with the way this truck zoomed past throwing up the debris mixed with ice and snow.

I have problems with this week’s street cleaning,

  1. the lack of snow gate use,
  2. the speed of the truck sent to clean our street,
  3. the fact my truck was pelted with street crap.

How do I know this truck was used and the speed? I have the video. The photo I have enclosed is from the video.

*********

I sent a photo and then decided to post this video do to the size and story.

While I’m at it, there is another issue I’d like addressed. Why are certain streets in Sioux Falls which never get snowgate service in the southeast section of town. How come? – Bruce

Dacola Note: While we are on the pissy parade, I will say this about the snowgate use; certain operators are picking and choosing when to use them. For example I hear from people in the SE part of town that ‘sometimes they are used, and sometimes they are not’. I live in central by Avera on a straight street, and that was the case last winter. This winter they have never missed, and in fact, have left next to nothing in my driveway. I think it is certain operators that choose not to use them.

I have liked Stehly’s idea of having a large display number on the back of snowplows so you can report drivers who are skirting their duties.

While I’m at it I have a personal message I would like to send to the maintenance crew at Avera (along Cliff Ave) and Lincoln HS. STOP THROWING SNOW INTO THE STREET! ESPECIALLY WHEN PEOPLE ARE DRIVING BY! YOU DIRT FOOLS! Not only is it against ordinance to throw it into a plowed street, you almost caused me to ram into the back of someone this morning because the city had the genius idea to put a crosswalk light at the bottom of a steep hill – you know – for the safety of the children.

UPDATE: Spot the Jesus Snowplow on Saturday!

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UPDATE: No Jesus Snowplows! I repeat NO Jesus Snowplows! At least the ones that were on display did not have any reference to Jesus. One of the Catholic schools had their logo on it, that is kind of a sacred heart in a flower, but that was about as close as it got. Even the Lutheran School refrained. They had the message ‘Choose Joy’ on their plow, which I thought was kind of cool. The big theme this year was Van Gogh. One of the plows was a combination of Starry Night with a silhouette of the Statue of David. I’m sure this probably stems from the killer movie coming out which is entirely made from animated paintings;

Now becoming a yearly holiday tradition for DaCola, see if you can find the unconstitutional snow plows;

The Eighth Annual Paint the Plows event will display 22 plows painted by area students this Saturday, October 21, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The plows will be on exhibit at the Empire Mall in the JCPenney east parking lot.

But, hey, when you want to go against constitutional law, all you need is a disclaimer;

The City of Sioux Falls does not censor the content or any viewpoints on the artwork. Any messages or views expressed are not those of the City or endorsed by the City.

It’s NOT censorship when it’s unconstitutional. But the mayor isn’t going to let some blogger tell him how to practice his fake Christianity.

If I don’t find any Jesus Snowplows this year, I think I will present the Mayor and City Council with a ‘Constitutional Achievement Merit Award’.

Actually, the Jesus snowplows actually got me in hot water at work when one of the cry baby candidates in the last municipal election called our sales manager and complained about my blog post about his relationship with the topic. Doubt he will run for office again anyway after he got his ass handed to him.

I guess the city snowplows have been moth-balled for the summer

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This morning, I was finally glad to merge on to the interstate on my way to work. It seemed the State DOT snow plow operators remembered to set their alarm clocks, I can’t say the same about the city.

Yes, I understand that the snow will probably be gone by 5 PM today, but would it have hurt anything to go out at about 5-6 AM this morning and plow the main arterials like Cliff, Minnesota, Marion and 41st Street with just one pass at least? The ridges down the middle of the road were so high, my car was hydro plaining at times, and the ridges were also holding back the water from flowing into storm gutters. A horrible mess that could have been corrected over a couple of hours by our Public Works Department.

I know money is tight, but it could not have cost that much to call in workers a couple of hours earlier to do a job they are already punched in to do on a normal Monday anyway.

Public Works Department; HUGE FAIL!

Seems our City Attorney Fiddle had to change his Faddle on Snow gates ordinance

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Isn’t it funny after a city councilor and the media point out the absence of an ordinance in our bylaws, they have a moment of pause;

City Attorney Dave Pfeifle said in an email Friday no formal action is required by the Council to meet Stehly’s request and the City Clerk would be submitting it for publication in in the coming weeks.

“The city has the option to codify it and it will be placed in the code book in the near future,” he wrote. “Again, the code book is for the court’s convenience for those ordinances that are most likely to be enforced against the public at large through the court system.”

They also should be put on the books for the courts to protect the public from it’s government when they are NOT doing their job. I will say that Councilor Stehly told me after this last snowfall she has gotten dozens of compliments about how the city used snow gates in the past couple of days. BRAVO. See, it’s really not that hard to push a button.