UPDATE II: I guess the street fleet was out at 7:30 AM on Wednesday, FILLING POTHOLES! The only spots they sanded were bridges and after they left at 3:30 PM they were CALLED back at 4:30 PM to sand, and only a handful of drivers responded to the request. But hey, if you drive a public works truck in the parade of lights you are getting $60 bones an hour. Priorities folks. Priorities. I also heard and still trying to verify there was almost 90 traffic accidents on Wednesday. Surprising? NOT.
UPDATE: I was told the sanders were out at 7:30 AM on Wednesday. I would be curious how many because when I drove to work at 4 PM on Cliff Avenue, parts of 41st street and Minnesota were pure ice and packed snow and I didn’t see one single sander out.
I know I have complained about this before, but today was literally a Sh!t show. With the weather today being what is was I decided to drive my car. Bad decision. While I do have studded snow tires on my bike, I try to avoid riding in the dark when conditions are very icy, but I would have probably been safer on my bike. Normally it takes me about 20 minutes to commute to work (5 miles) it took me 30 minutes today in my car, not just because of the terrible condition of the streets but because multiple streets were closed due to accidents.
I get it, there really wasn’t a forecast for this event, but it shouldn’t matter, it is the END OF NOVEMBER! Those sanders should be ready at ALL TIMES!
I did see them out tonight at 9 PM. Thanks . . . dumbasses.
So besides the personal expenditures of folks vehicles being damaged, we have the police and fire respond to these incidents. And now we are paying NIGHT differential to sand the streets. The pennies the city may have saved by not sanding this morning when the event started doesn’t even come close to the amount being spent on responding to these accidents.
Is our Mayor that stupid?
Maybe so, but it also falls back on his lack of leadership. Dave Munson would have been on the horn to Galen Huber at 6 am sending out those sanders. Why? Because public safety should never have a price tag, it is a requirement of municipal government to provide these services thru the taxes we pay. Makes you wonder if the city is in such dire straights that they can’t even send sanders out? We have around $80 million in reserves. We could sand every road in the state for a year and still not spend it all.
I suggested to a councilor that the council write an ordinance that takes control of street plowing and sanding. Basically it would require the street department to act on their own when there is an event and craft the ordinance in a way that pretty much requires them to act immediately to any winter weather event and take that control away from the mayor.
That house is still there at 33rd and Duluth, and you expect sanders? 🙂
we can’t afford new pools and convention centers if we can’t afford to clear the streets.
scott,
Not clearing streets of snow and ice.
Not properly maintaining streets [an annual Huether asphalt overlay does not constitute proper maintenance].
And (for VSG and ‘Woodstock”) not sweeping certain streets [we’ve got no complaints in Taupeville].
THIS is how we afford swimming pools, fitness centers and convention centers.
Neglect the basic functions of municipal government in order to afford the toys.
The sweepers came to my neighborhood 24 hours after I had taken 46 full-size paper leaf bags to the leaf dump near the fairgrounds.
Prior to Huether and Ten Taken, I could expect the sweepers to show up in my neighborhood during the latter part of the third week of April (usually Thursday), mid-July when I was on vacation (based on the gravel remnants, which would be left on my driveway approach), and usually the third Thursday of November, but now it appears to only be about twice a year and not real predictable.
I miss the days when local government was meant for the citizens and not the developers, but at least kids now have a ghost house at 33rd and Duluth to play in, huh?
( and Woodstock adds: “I still say that house at 33rd & Duluth was a missed opportunity for our local JayCees”…. #HauntedHouse )
Disregard for icy roads favoring lights on dump trucks is a major public safety issue. Emergency management deserves criticism and new policy. Perhaps forcing some retirements would make budget to centralize with one leader for potholes and weather.
At what point will the city designate that house at 33rd and Duluth as one of the new “Fun Palaces” in town?