City Cutting Side Street Plowing

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 2, 2008 8:00PM

The same City Hall that's shelling out almost $60 million for new SUVs is now telling us they don't have enough money to plow and salt side streets in a timely fashion. Streets and Sanitation Cmdr. Mike Picardi said that less salt is being used and side streets may have to wait longer to be plowed in an effort to save money, citing yesterday's snow as an example: according to Picardi, it cost the city $500,000 to salt and plow the city's streets.

The Streets and San boss says that, to save money on overtime costs, he’ll delay sending salt trucks and plows onto side streets after a weekend snowfall, unless conditions on the side streets become dangerous.

Cmdr. Picardi says the city may be a victim of its own success. He says, “people expect our main streets to be clear of snow and they become extremely impatient when they don’t see their side streets cleaned immediately”.

Picardi continued to ask residents for their patience. Fortunately, for the city, they're in the middle of a deal that keeps salt priced at $40 per ton while other cities are paying $140 per ton. Here's a solution: take those new police SUVs and attach plow blades to the front of them so the police can patrol AND plow our streets! It's a win-win situation and nothing at all could go wrong.