Enquirer: Unite to Defeat Snow Monster

The Enquirer included a lengthy editorial about how we need to plan better for the next snowstorm. Is it just us or is this weirdly late and overkill considering the huge set of editorials that ran on Friday?

This line from Friday struck us as particularly curious:

While it seems frankly silly in an urban area that has snowplows equipped with global positioning transmitters and grocery stores overflowing with food, the instinct itself has served mankind well down through the ages.

We don't know. Maybe it's entirely rational for people to hoard food so they don't have to go out for more later, considering that they may have spent five hours sitting in traffic in a relatively minor snowstorm.

Where to place the blame? Why not just blame everyone?

Commuters stuck in Thursday's rush-hour havoc wrote e-mails to The Enquirer blaming just about everyone for the traffic jams that stretched from Southwest Ohio suburbs south to downtown Cincinnati and into Northern Kentucky.

But there's no mention of Bart Giamatti? He has to be responsible, too, after what he did to Pete.

Actually, here's the interesting point:

After last year's record-breaking snowstorm, which dumped 15 inches on the city just before Christmas, the city of Cincinnati set realistic expectations: For an average storm of 3 inches and temperatures no lower than 25 degrees, residents should expect all primary routes cleared within 24 hours, and residential streets plowed within 36 hours.

So, what's the expected target with this storm? It's clear that this response time wasn't met.

Oh, no. We're complaining about the snow. We're such sterotypical Cincinnatians.