no snow emergency. And we wonder why people can’t figure out when to move their cars . . . perhaps all this inconsistency is part of the problem. Tow, not tow. Plow, not plow. Snow emergency, no snow emergency. It all seems rather random.
SNOW PLOWING UPDATES
by Alan Schumacher, Streets Superintendent
posted January 12, 2011 5:55 AM
As I am writing this today, we have officially received 3.4″ of snowfall from the long lasting light snow that fell from Monday evening and continued all day on Tuesday and is still falling now.The salt routes are being salted again this morning. The snow did come to a stop for awhile late last evening and then started up again this morning around 4:00 am. We hope to have all the salt routes resalted by the morning rush hour but there will definitely be some slippery conditions on them during the morning drive.
We are also currently in the process of plowing all residential streets in the City. We started that process during the overnight hours and the process will continue throughout the day until all streets, cul de sacs and alleys are plowed. We will have approximately 175 pieces of equipment out performing the combination of plowing the residential streets and salting the main arterials and salt routes. It may take a little longer to plow all the residential streets as we have to take 30 of our plow trucks away from plowing the residential streets to salt our main arterials. We hope to have all the residential streets plowed by 3:00 pm this afternoon or soon after.
There has not been a Snow Emergency declaration and we are not expecting to declare one for this storm. However, we ask that if possible, park your vehicles off the street at least until the plows come through so the plows can be more efficient and your cars don’t get plowed in.
And of course, don’t forget . . .
The snow that started to fall on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 continued into Wednesday morning. All snow and ice shall be removed from the public sidewalks by 12:00 noon on Thursday, January 13, 2011.
Is it really inconsistent? Have you been tracking at what snow threat level (I couldn’t come up with anything better than “snow threat level”) the city has called snow emergencies? If so, I’m curious to see the data from this winter thus far. Might be helpful to show the city “hey, you called a snow emergency under the threat of one-inch on this date, a threat of two-inches on this date, but not for a threat of three-inches on January 12. What’s up?”
Yes, typically if there are more than 3 inches of snow, that is when they call a snow emergency. This is the first time I saw them not do it. But beyond that, when they tow and ticket, or threaten to, is also inconsistent.
12/21 3.1″ of snow, snow emergency called. More snow today (3.4″), not called. There’s just one example for you. I didn’t have to look too far. Here’s another 12/4/10 “About 3″ of snow” and snow emergency called.
The difference with this “storm,” – and I feel I have to put that in quotes, since I wouldn’t call what we’ve had a storm – is that we didn’t get 3 inches in a short period of time. I think it’s taken over 24 hours to get this accumulation. Perhaps the city figured, “Why bother people to move their cars, since they bitch whenever we make them do it, when the slow accumulation isn’t a huge hassle in most areas?”
I guess I’ve never seen the problem with looking at the city’s web page to see if I have to deal with my car over night. And if that is too much of a hassle, I can sign up to get a text or email to remind me. If it’s a snow emergency night, just assume that they will be towing.
It’s sort of like parking illegally. If you DON’T get a ticket, be happy, but don’t be surprised if you do get a ticket.
Want to be really outraged? How about those areas outside the downtown, where you always get a ticket when there’s no snow, but they never ticket (or tow) during “snow emergencies,” because they are too busy with the people on the Isthmus. Does that make sense? Ticket when there’s no need to move the car, because there’s no plowing. But cars parked illegally, when there IS a need to move, just sit for days in the way, sans ticket.
I don’t know about you, but I get the text and email updates, but when I’m driving home, I sometimes don’t remember if I got one or not, and I don’t stop to look at the website on my phone. I agree there are other issues, this “system” is not perfect and needs work. My point is, tho, that the city staff complain that people on the Isthmus just won’t move their cars, and its more complicated than that. Trying to jam 700 cars (with RP3 stickers) into 200+ spaces doesn’t work and the inconsistent message from teh city makes it so people do gamble . . . and then we all lose cuz the city doesn’t tow and we lose the few parking spots we have left. I’ve lived downtown for 20 years . . . and it seems to be getting worse instead of better.
I’m trying to understand this issue. Seems to me that the city is being cautious with the snow-emergency business. Makes sense. If you can deal with a snowfall… even if it is over 3″, why call out the plows (and spend the $$$) and also make everyone nuts moving cars?
There’s a few things Madison gov. does poorly: TIFs are my #1 sore point. But this business with calling snow emergencies is managed pretty well. You do get texted and emailed. Really, what more can they do? Consistency, I agree, is good, but the difference between 3″ and 3.1″ is operationally insignificant.
Our alder goes the extra step to post the city’s communiques to our community list-serv… so it’s hard to be uninformed.
You have a lot of wonderful qualities Brenda. I enjoy your determination and dedication… but this emergency declaration business isn’t such-a-much.
giggle . . . do you have any idea how many words I write in a month? I dedicated very, very few to this issue. Pointed out they aren’t consistent and it seems random to the casual observer, that’s it, moved on hours ago. Should I not share the snow information? Not allowed to point out inconsistencies? Dave defenders being over-sensitive about a little criticism? I don’t get what people choose to pay attention to and comment on about what I write, and why they don’t pay attention to others things. I have several posts a day usually about many, many, many things. Don’t like my snow posts, don’t read them. I don’t know what else to say. Maybe people who don’t park on the street, often blocks from their house, don’t understand why its a minor pain about living downtown.
Brenda, your Cieslewicz Derangement Syndrome is reaching dangerous levels. You think the city practice is “random”? The city is consistent — it issues a snow emergency when there is one, it doesn’t when there isn’t. You think that 3.1″ in 2-4 hours has the same impact as 3.4″ in 24 hours? Well, I guess it’s a good thing you’re not Streets Superintendent. You want an arbitrary and automatic designation? I refer you to Mr. Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
Let’s try some binary q&A:
Do you think the situation on 12/21 constituted a snow emergency?
Do you think the situation on 1/11-12 constituted a snow emergency?
If you answered “yes” to the first question, and “no” to the second, I think you need to re-examine your analysis.
a) I never mentioned Cieslewicz
b) The city has a policy, 3 inches of snow is a snow emergency.
c) Staff consistently complain that people don’t pay attention to when there is a snow emergency . . . I contend, its not obvious. Its not consistent. There is a reason people don’t understand.
But really, its not that big of a deal, why does everyone want to make this into a fight. I just said, its random. It is, isn’t it, despite the policy.
Maybe Mr. Levitan has Brenda Derangement Syndrome 🙂