Results tagged “plow”

Swamped by citizen complaints, cranky aldermen, and a whole lot of snow, Mayor Daley has finally relented and put the city back on its regular snow plow plan. His controversial plan to cut back on side street plowing and avoid overtime pay proved quite unpopular as it made driving hazardous and dangerous all over the city.

"Unfortunately, it didn't work out very well," Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi told aldermen at a Tuesday hearing on the subject. "Now that we are in the extreme winter months of January and February, we know that we are going to have to plow and spread salt as we always have and as we did last year. So, we should expect then a significant increase in service on side streets in future snows."

Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) told Picardi, "The calls I've been getting have not been nice, and the language they have been using has not been nice. The residents of Chicago expect the streets to be salted, and when they are not salted, they can cost an election. And you are starting to get back into the groove, and that's what we want to see." The cutback was an effort to save money on overtime as snowy winters the past few years cost the city $30 million in 2007 and $33.7 million in 2008 (including $8 million just in December). Ald. Tom Allen (36th) one of the most vocal critics of Daley's plan, said, "This was public safety, and we screwed up bad. I'm not criticizing the attempt to make a change, but the attempt was a big flop, and now we are back to reality."

In the wake of Ald. Tom Allen (38th) calling out Mayor Daley on the city's failure to properly plow and salt/sand side streets following last week's and this week's storms (both past and future), other aldermen are now getting antsy for answers from MayDay on exactly what's going on.

Ald. Billy Ocasio is the most outspoken critic of the most recent city snow removal effort, claiming that when he personally called for help for his ward last night, he was passed from department to department --- making him wonder aloud "who's in charge?"

Ocasio (26th), who is joining Allen's call for $3 million to be added to plowing and salting efforts, said, "I don't think the resources are out there. I think if you come into the Loop, you see the resources, but you don't see them out in the neighborhoods. Yesterday I had to call personally and just go off on everyone because there are mothers and grandparents trying to get their kids to and from school, and they can't make it. They can't make it down the street."

The reason there won't be any sand to put on streets Wednesday morning after the predicted snow tomorrow night is because Mayor Daley has kicked it all in our face. After last week, when inches of snow and ice piled up in Chicago and made things insanely treacherous for everyone and even had an alderman bitching and moaning about the lack of plowing, the city mobilized 184 plows early this morning for a minimal amount of ice. So four inches of snow and ice warrants nothing but a bit of sleet warrants half the fleet? We've known for a while things were ass-backwards at City Hall, but this season's handling of plowing is taking it to new heights.

Ald. Tom Allen (38) is on our good side (for now) after voicing what we (and you) have been complaining about for a while: that Mayor Daley's new plowing policy is a clusterfuck. Echoing comments that have been bouncing around these parts for a week, Allen said:

The new snow program is 'do nothing.' Irving Park Road was ice-packed. Traffic was crawling after a two- or three-inch snowfall. Cars near schools just slide through intersections, putting every kid who tries to cross the street in peril...I'm getting pounded by my constituents. We don't live in Honolulu. We live in Chicago. We've lost our compass. We have to provide the most fundamental city service. Are we gonna ride from December through March with people's lives in peril trying to cross the street?

A-freaking-men. Even better? Allen's solution: he's asked MayDay to set aside $1 million from the city's deals to privatize Midway and the city's parking meters to pay for the whole thing. We couldn't think of a better plan. After all, it's not like that city debt is really ever going to get paid off, so we might as well use some of that money to, you know, keep the city functional. We're just sayin'...

This morning as we arrived for work at the Chicagoist office, we couldn't help but notice most of the side-streets in the vicinity hadn't been touched by plow or salt in almost 10 days, causing most of the roads to become slick with ice from where drivers had repeatedly driven over the several inches of snow that have piled up in that time. We wondered if we were alone in our consternation and it looks like we are not. Daley insists the city is doing its best to remove side-street snow and ice without resorting to overtime. Meanwhile, both residents and aldermen say requests to 311 aren't being handled in a timely manner.

A day after Mayor Bilandic Daley admitted mistakes were made in plowing roads after last week's season-opening snow, a fleet of snow plows have hit the streets of Chicago this morning to clear and salt the streets of today's fresh snowfall. The city Dept. of Streets & Sanitation had 184 plows on the road by 4:30 a.m. Department spokesman Matt Smith said the priority would be keeping the main streets clear and then clear side streets based on complaints to 311.

We're double-checking for signs of the apocalypse as Mayor Daley has admitted mistakes were made in taking care of snow after this week's first snowstorm of the season. "There are some complaints. We're taking those complaints very seriously. Why is it the rest of the block is OK but that little corner is not? Like anything else, you try to find out, 'Did they skip it?' That's what we're trying to figure out, and we will." This on the heels of an announcement earlier this week that side streets will face delays in getting plowed.

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.

Continue reading "City Cutting Side Street Plowing"

We woke up this morning to another fresh coat of snow on the ground. While we're certainly among the ranks of those who just wished this winter would end already we have to concede that we have lived through worse.