Monday, November 22, 2004

In Snow Removal Terms We're Now Kentucky

If snow removal is cut as Luken is pushing, Cincinnati will then start acting like rural Northern Kentucky acts when it snows: they close everything down. If there is a forecast for a couple inches of snow, then many districts in NKY cancel school once it starts to flurry outside. It then takes them weeks to clear the streets.

Again, why are we trying to spend money on Airport Hangers when we can't clear snow from the streets? I am not knowledgeable enough on City or State law, but couldn't the Mayor declare an emergency and then get the money needed to clear the streets incase of a major storm? I would bet that small accumulations would be where the side streets never get plowed. When I lived over off of Delta Ave, we had a big storm back in 96 or 97 I think and our street did not get fully plowed for a week. The bottom of our street would get plowed by a private plow from a condo high-rise. If not for that we would have been sliding down the hill into Delta Traffic. I live on a major street now that I think would be plowed, but last winter it wasn't plowed hours after 6 inches fell.

Growing up an hour from Buffalo, I have no real concept of how decisions are made locally about snow removal. To us it was a big deal and they got the job done. I would bet the crew in Jamestown, NY, a town of 35,000 where I grew up, could plow Cincinnati better than the crew here. It may not be the crews, but rather the management of when and how they plow. I have seen trucks going around salting the roads, but without plowing them at the same time. I don't know how that is logical. There may be a plan that is supposed to work and it might have to do with not damaging the roads or parked cars, but I hope they can make their efforts more efficient.

What I don't get at all is how 71, 75, and 275 can be so poorly plowed. I can understand that they will be filled with slow moving traffic, but how can ODOT or the County or the City, who ever has responsibility, let those roads go unplowed? I was driving from Colerain to Beechmont last winter during a storm and I think I saw one set of plows and barely one lane had been touched on both 275 and 75. This was on a Sunday, so I guess they did not do much, but the major highways I would think would be the first priority. It snowed all afternoon, and at night nothing had been touched.

Here I have biases that prevent my objectivity, where I can't understand how snow slows down life around here as much as it does. In a town where you can't live without a car, life is even more difficult with people who just should not be driving in such weather. My commutes out to Mason this winter will not be good.

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