| | 
| | | Snow response garners a wintry mix of opinions | | February 19, 2010 | | | | Staff Writer | | After December's double-digit snowfall, many residents and city officials handed cleanup crews and Mayor Adrian Fenty high marks. But following the recent pair of record-setting blizzards, city leaders offered a more mixed response.
Some saw a strong effort in the face of the back-to-back storms, the likes of which even longtime D.C. residents have never seen. But others questioned why certain streets waited days for a plow and some lanes on major thoroughfares were still blocked Feb. 12, when the local government reopened.
"It was an unprecedented week of inclement weather and snowfall for the District with not one, but two blizzards in the span of five days," D.C. Department of Transportation spokesperson John Lisle wrote in an e-mail. "People need to have realistic expectations after back-to-back storms of this magnitude and I think our crews have done a fantastic job given what they were up against."
Ward 6 D.C. Council member Tommy Wells garnered plenty of responses when he asked people to send him complaints about their unplowed streets on Twitter.
“Dozens and dozens of e-mails came in very quickly. What we did is compile a list and worked through every single one with DDOT,” said Wells chief of staff Charles Allen. “In most cases, a couple hours later, we actually got thank-you notes from folks.”
Wells also tried to work with the National Park Service to get its crews to clear the many miles of Park Service land that includes sidewalks in Ward 6.
“In some cases, their crews had told them they had cleared the sidewalks when in fact they hadn’t,” Allen said.
But Wells wasn’t able to please everyone.
“We had neighbors who were frustrated … but overall, given that this is a once-in-a-century snowstorm, we’ve been fairly pleased with all the coordination,” Allen said.
Though Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh agreed that plow drivers and other cleanup workers merit praise for their efforts, she takes issue with the notion that historic amounts of snow free the city from criticism.
"It was quite an undertaking to clean up, but we can't just say that and let it go," Cheh said. "I think we really, really have to be completely open to find out what we did wrong. And we can do that, and it doesn't mean that we're demeaning people who put their hearts and souls into it."
Cheh said she hopes the city analyzes its overall strategy for digging out after a significant snowfall.
And Cheh and Wells co-introduced a bill last month to allow the city to ticket property owners who do not shovel the snow from their walks. It has been referred to Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham’s Committee on Public Works and Transportation, but he has not yet scheduled a hearing.
At-large Council member Phil Mendelson also found the condition of a number of streets unacceptable. "Some people on neighborhood streets waited almost a week for a snowplow," he said Monday. "And we lost many of the curb lanes to snow, which continues to be the case on many streets -- and big streets, too, like Wisconsin Avenue."
Mendelson also said he worries the city might have wasted money during the cleanup, pushing plows to work overnight in places that might not have needed them as much as others, such as elementary schools already closed for the week.
"I'm concerned about the budget impact, and while the snow removal has to occur regardless of the budget, we still need to be mindful of cost," Mendelson said. "I'm not convinced that cost was factored into some decisions."
The District had a 2010 snow removal budget of $6.2 million, which has been far exceeded, according to Lisle.
District officials expect the federal government to help cover the tab.
"The federal government is going to kick in," said Council member Graham, "and I hope they kick in very handsomely in the part that matters most, and that's reimbursement."
He gave a more favorable review of the cleanup than his council colleagues. "You can always do better, and there are always streets that you missed, but I'm very proud of DPW, DDOT and the mayor," he said. "I would describe it as a Herculean effort."
Graham complimented Fenty for contracting with private companies to employ heavy equipment, such as front-end loaders, to scrape away ice and snow stuck to many roads.
He plans to hold hearings on the performance of the transportation and public works departments. The first will take place next Friday.
Last week's storm pushed the winter's snowfall total for D.C. to 54.9 inches, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record, set in 1899, was 54.4 inches.
But just as some were irked by the snow cleanup, others complained about the record, or at least how it was determined. The National Weather Service measures snow totals for the District at Reagan Washington National Airport, which, on top of not being located in the city, tends to report lower snow totals than do nearby areas.
"The fact that the snow totals are being reported from outside the city, it sort of hurts city pride," said Clark Ray, former director of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation and a current at-large council candidate.
Weather buffs have speculated that the airport's proximity to water and low elevation have an impact on its snow measurements. | | | | | Log in to comment on this article |
| |
|
| | | |
|
