Streets and San Ready, Steady, Plow?

By Camela Furry in News on Nov 10, 2009 3:40PM

A mayoral aide says the city will be much better prepared for street plowing this winter than last. The aide even referred to last year's cost-cutting policy which entailed using less road salt, plowing side-streets only during normal working hours to reduce overtime, and skipping side-streets after minor snow storms, as "last year's mistakes," reports the Sun-Times. In a statement on Monday the aide said the city has 370,000 tons of salt "on the ground, covered and ready for the snow to hit."

Even Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne said of last year's cut backs, "the city's third-largest department won't make that mistake again." As for what he has in mind for this year, he told the Sun-Times:

We will be looking at trying to get off arterials sooner if we can to get into the side-streets, especially around schools, firehouses and different places that are critical facilities. It’s not a whole different plan from last year. But, we have some different objectives we want to try to accomplish by doing that. And we will be doing that as the snow comes down.

Two snowier-than-normal winters in a row in 2007 and 2008 had upped the money the city spent on overtime.