Even though Hizzoner Joe and Company have praised the efforts of the streets department in clearing the snow from city streets after last weekend’s snowstorm, the general feeling seems to be that in fact, the snow ball was dropped–big time! Many ideas were posted, here and on Peter’s OutsideErie blog, that could help the city handle the snow much better. Now if we could just get city officials to at least look at some of the options. One plan suggested that instead of odd-even parking on each street, every other street would have no parking on either side, thus giving full access for the plows. As mentioned in this blog and several comments, there are many churches, school, and vacant lots throughout the city that could be utilized for emergency parking.

I am fortunate to live in North East Township, where there are no cars parked on most roads. My road was plowed at least 10 or 12 times starting almost before the first flake hit the ground. It took no more than 10 minutes each time to clear the entire 2 mile stretch.

That said, I believe the city really fell flat on their collective faces. At the same time, residents can’t avoid some of the blame if they can’t have enough brain power to see that the plows can’t get through a street that is blocked with cars that they are too lazy to move.