Snow removal rant

[ducrider45]

Im in Severn MD, about 5iles south of BWI. We got 36" with the first storm and 19" with the second. We had a backhoe with a front loader on it clearing the streets during both storms. Of course Im in Stowe VT on Vacation missing all of the fun down there. We almost got snowed in, but my Dakoda made it out.

[angler]

Fenty can suck it!  I made the mistake of trying to take the GF out to dinner in the district on Friday night and the city is a mess.  We spent more than 3 hours round trip in the car to get to Dupont Circle.  Nothing was plowed except for some of the major streets, and those were missing lanes.  Most normal 6 lane thoroughfares were down to two lanes.  All side streets were icy messes.  Are bobcats illegal in DC?  Do they understand the principle of snow removal? Obviously not.....

It was like driving in Mexico - nobody was paying attention to lights or one way signs or anything.  Total free for all.  Seriously, Fenty should be fired for this.  He had almost a week with no gov't or university traffic downtown and could never get in front of the snow while most Montgomery county roads are plowed curb to curb. 

[ducatiz]

Our subdiv was plowed well EXCEPT for our street.  They plowed once and then everyone with 4x4s drove on it and packed it down -- and it turned to ice.  It was murder.  


of course, we left for LA yesterday and it's 75 degrees and sunny here.  Goddam California.

[Popeye the Sailor]

Our subdiv was plowed well EXCEPT for our street.  They plowed once and then everyone with 4x4s drove on it and packed it down -- and it turned to ice.  It was murder.  


of course, we left for LA yesterday and it's 75 degrees and sunny here.  Goddam California.

[sbrguy]

what i hate is in my townhouse complex the visitor spots, people park their cars there, usually homewoners and withe the storm then move their cars to a visitor spot that is shoveled out and don't even shovel out their old spots well, so basically they do minimal work to get their car out and leave that visitior spot like crap.

lazy ass peop0le, i hate them, then i have to shovel out a spot for a visitior of mine so that someone gets an easy spot later on.  people are so lazy isn't even funny and these are townhome owners that do this all the time.

[twolanefun]

Yep bunch of lazy folks out there, would understand it if they were elderly. I am just amazed at the attitude of some poeple, not the America I grew up in for sure. I'm also amazed at how people younger than me complain about the hurst and pains from shoveling, geez I mean I'm - never mind let's just say I creeping up there, anyway I don't have those issues maye a little sore but you'd think these people had soveled a city street or something. - Gene

[jetpuff716]

I live in the district now and had little or no problem getting around.   I think Mayor Fenty and the VA / MD state and local governments should get a bit of a pass.  They deployed all of the resources available and worked around the clock with the priority placed on public safety.  Consider the fact that no deaths occured on local roadways that can be directly attributed to the conditions.  

Some would argue DC, MD and VA should invest in more resources to be better prepared (okay then we would have another topic to rant about - higher and higher taxes).  Others might argue the weather was forecasted well in advance and our government officials should have borrowed resources from other states.   The problem is just about the entire region had to deal with record snowfall too and didn't have resources to share.

I've spent time living in the mid-west (St. Louis, Chicago, etc.) and those cities are much better equipped /resourced for large snowfall events.  From my experience the streets and sidewalks were in no better condition for several days to a week after getting similar amounts snowfall as we received the last couple weeks.  In fact, I remember driving on snow packed roads for weeks upon weeks after such major snow events.   My problem is not with the government's handling of the situation, rather how we, the citizens, handled it (hoarding groceries, not shoveling sidewalks in front of homes, complaining and blaming others for mother nature's recent acts).  I would argue we need to have reasonable expectations given the unusual circumstances of record snowfall.

Finally, I'm thankful my family and friends, including fellow CAM members, successfully weathered the storm(s) and are safe.  Peace.

//tb

[rgramjet]

It thoroughly amazed me at how unprepared people are.  I had neighbors, with gas fireplaces abandoning their homes after the first day of no power........the stores were horrible.

And

Next street over from me is a dead end.  Only way to get out is uphill.  A douchebag that lives 1/2way up the street did a great job of shoveling out his car but mounded all the snow in the middle of the street! 

Somehow the plow on my atv malfunctioned and pushed the majority of the snow up tight against his car.  oopsy..

[angler]

I live in the district now and had little or no problem getting around.   I think Mayor Fenty and the VA / MD state and local governments should get a bit of a pass.  
//tb

Montgomery County, at least the parts I've driven, look great and looked great a couple of days after the storm.  There are still places in the district that are a complete mess - like never plowed.  I am willing to give MC major props - fastest plowed street I have ever seen, power only off for 36 hours, etc.

I'll reiterate that Fenty can suck it.  He did a horrible job all while talking about how good of a job he was doing.  Bullshit.  

I've live many places that handled snow better because they got more snow.  Unless this type of winter becomes a more regular occurrence, I don't think DC needs to invest in better equipment, they just need to learn how to run a freakin' plow and take advantage of almost a week of gov't shut down to get rid of snow and cars.  Their first mistake was not staying on top of towing on snow emergency routes.  That led to sloppy plowing and major loss of lanes on all main thoroughfares.  Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose - armchair governing and all that.  I would be willing to bet that DC businesses lost more Valentines Day revenue, particularly restaurants, because of the lack of plowing and the subsequent traffic disaster than Fenty would have spent to do a better job of snow removal.  VD is one the restaurant sectors biggest days and with it falling on a weekend it should have been a huge weekend.  It was not because nobody was going to drive into the district for anything.  

I'll also add the USPS can suck it.  I haven't had mail delivery since the 5th......

[sbrguy]

Yep bunch of lazy folks out there, would understand it if they were elderly. I am just amazed at the attitude of some poeple, not the America I grew up in for sure. I'm also amazed at how people younger than me complain about the hurst and pains from shoveling, geez I mean I'm - never mind let's just say I creeping up there, anyway I don't have those issues maye a little sore but you'd think these people had soveled a city street or something. - Gene

exactly, but the funny thing is these aren't handicapped/elderly/frail people doing this.  these are all able bodied male and female 20-45 year olds, why do i know they are fit and able bodied? because they just shoveled out 30 inches of snow from their own driveways and walkways just like i did.

I would uderstand if they were handicapped/elderly/physically unable to do this, but they just proved to me that they can do it.  if they would ask for help i would actually help them out if they needed it.  wtf?

yeah shoveling snow sucks, i hate it more than anyone but this may be one of the only reasons why you want to keep an active lifestyle and fit throughout the year so that stuff like this literally and figuratively doesn't kill you.

rant over, i'm going to go shovel out a space tomorrow to let off some steam.  amazingly, i actually do that and it helps.   

[sbrguy]

It thoroughly amazed me at how unprepared people are.  I had neighbors, with gas fireplaces abandoning their homes after the first day of no power........the stores were horrible.

And

Next street over from me is a dead end.  Only way to get out is uphill.  A douchebag that lives 1/2way up the street did a great job of shoveling out his car but mounded all the snow in the middle of the street! 

Somehow the plow on my atv malfunctioned and pushed the majority of the snow up tight against his car.  oopsy..

don't even get me started on the people that pile the snow from their driveways up in teh middle of the street.. wtf?

what are they thinking? the magic snow shovel fairy will magically make the snow go away? how the heck do you drive up the street when people literlally throw all their snow in it so that now you have a nice icy hard packed slippery surface that you put there because you were lazy with shoveling your own driveway? 

but that was funny, i like how the atv malfunctioned.

geez.. ok my rant is over. lol.

[angler]

In the spirit of all the idiots around here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/16/AR2010021605666.html?wprss=rss_metro/va

Some guy assaults a good samaritan with his vehicle........