Here’s a little compilation of what people are saying about the streets of Peoria and the city’s efforts to remove snow:
The main reason [District 150 will be closed for the third day in a row] is that sidewalks are still buried in snow, district spokeswoman Stephanie Tate said Monday. Nobody wants kids walking on the street to get to school or the nearest bus stop.
“We don’t want them walking on icy streets while cars are driving on them,” Tate said.
It took me a over friggin’ HOUR to drive the length of University from Pioneer Parkway to Main Street. An HOUR! […] Why does Peoria always seem to screw things up? Can we stop being so progressive and actually spend some cash on things like PLOWS, SIDEWALKS, FIRESTATIONS, and POLICE?
City Street and Sewer Manager David Haste says the city was prepared for the snow, but not the ice.
“If we didn’t have any traffic, we wouldn’t have the snow pack and we wouldn’t have the conditions that we have,” says Peoria City & Sewer Manager David Haste. “It was just the amount of traffic that came out right away.”
Peo Proud on Peoria Pundit:
Like others, I’m always amazed that smaller “less professionally†run towns are able to provide better basic services with less resources than we have.
I wonder how well the new GPS systems that were to be installed on each of the plow units helped/would have helped the Department in fighting the snow/ice event.
The city street manager said the city was at the mercy of the storm.
“This was just a really tough snow. If it was a dry snow, the same amount we would have it cleared by now,†Haste said. “Everything cleared right down to the pavement, but it just wasn’t.”
Haste said they are going to look at how they can improve for future snow storms.
“justanobserver” on Peoria Chronicle:
Just heard an interview on WYZZ 9 p.m. news with a former city employee who said that salt was left in trucks on Friday, got wet, froze, and couldn’t be spread.
Peoria Journal Star (the whole article is good, so go read it, but here are just a couple quotes):
“The city manager sent out an e-mail saying, ‘Job well done.’ I admit I’m usually the first to agree, but not this time. I completely disagree that this was a job well done. I think it’s unacceptable,” said [Councilman John] Morris, who needed 45 minutes to get Downtown to work Monday from his home in Knollcrest. He also fielded 50 calls from upset constituents. […] And several [council members] said the issue will no doubt be discussed at today’s regular council meeting. […] As of Monday morning, [Councilman Gary] Sandberg said he had received 137 phone calls, only two of them with positive comments.
Every intersection at the traffic light is an ice rink. There are no lanes to speak of and people are just driving wherever they can fit. Where are the plows and salt crews? […] Either these guys don’t know how to operate a blade and understand the physics of salting after you blade or there simply isn’t enough staff to do our streets.
We’re still basically stuck in the house. I ventured out this morning for a doctor’s appointment, well over an hour before I had to be there. In 20 minutes I made it six blocks (the doctor is about six MILES away), got stuck three times (once leaving my own driveway), and lost traction completely twice.
Knight in Dragonland on Peoria Chronicle:
Court Street, the main drag through Pekin, is Illinois Route 9. It’s been nice and clear for two days now.
Conclusion: There are a lot of unhappy Peorians who think the city did a poor job of clearing the streets. Expect a protracted discussion on this at Tuesday’s council meeting. And don’t think Sandberg will miss his opportunity to ask why snow removal wasn’t done more efficiently in light of the new GPS tracking devices Public Works recently bought. He might even ask for a printed report on where all the plows have been the last three days.
Ironically, as I’m typing this, a city plow just went down my street. Hey, are they spying on me? Not that I’m paranoid, but seriously, who’s tapping my phone? 😉
http://www.pjstar.com/stories/120506/TRI_BBNER9B3.057.shtml
Fifth District Councilman Patrick Nichting agreed.
“There are things we can all learn from what happened.” 475 miles of roads to plow per Mayor Ardis — is that with or without all of the recent annexation?
Yes, we should learn to stop annexing more land in the fifth district when we are the paupers who cannot get the roads cleared.
Hamilton Blvd., going to and from North St., has been clear for at least a couple of days for four or five blocks, including the hill. Once you get to Perry, it’s snow packed again as of 7 a.m. Tuesday. I’d recommend the city take a look at what worked there, and replicate that everywhere else. Obviously something was effective. Overall streets were better today, Sheridan not bad at all from Glen to Main.
GPS sytems not installed on equipment until end of December. Convenient, huh?
Even, yesterday afternoon — roads in Peoria a mess where I traveled.
Truth — word of warning to all drivers —actual road hazard — the portion of the snow blade that is ‘flexible’ to prevent the entire blade from snapping when plowing — can break off in small strips and puncture your tires. With all the mush and slush, you may not see this hazard. Alas, two front tires gone. The towman said that this situation has been a very common occurrence this storm — including a lady with a 2007 Lexus who lost — count them — all four tires. So, I consider myself fortunate.
Was wondering where those sidewalks are in the Rolling Acres subdivision that District 150 officials want my kids to walk on during inclement weather?
I was patient for a couple days, but it’s embarrassing that Peoria schools are still closed 100 hours after the storm. Everyone has something to learn from this. Drivers should stay home unless absolutely necessary, and park on their driveways, to allow plows to clear streets curb to curb. The city should have been more aggressive with salting when they saw a forecast of freezing rain turning to 6-12 inches of snow. The city should also hold back on annexing more land to avoid further straining of our resources.
A councilman asking for special consideration from the street dept? I bet he wouldnt ask for special considerations from other depts concerning his busines either.
When I lived in Peoria, I remember the same sort of response, or lack thereof, on the city’s part to several major snowfalls in 2000 before GPS was ever installed on any vehicles. It seemes as if the problem then was that the city waited until it was behind the 8 ball to plow. GPS can certainly be used in conjunction with certain types of software to develop efficient routing plans for snowplows, but it’s no substitute for getting an early start treating the roads.
Returned to Peoria — Hum and those of us in older neighborhoods who have our garages on the alley with perhaps by now, one pass down the alley should park where? We parked our vehicles by our garage off the alley prior to the storm. An 4-wheel drive vehicle was stuck in the alley and we all helped to dig it out.
The streets should have already been cleared. Period. The storm was last Thursday/Friday.
I live on a secondary snow route — blue snow sign — and my street is still not clear (as well as the rest of my neighborhood and many many other streets in Peoria). I have heard that Councilmen Nichting and Jacob both have plowed streets – at least one a cul-de-sac — cleared curb to curb — ie: blacktop completely visible. Marty Palmer reports that Weaver Ridge was plowed out for a wedding ….. What makes their residential streets preferred over any other residential street? (A valid reason not because they are elected officials.)
Heaven forbid that there had been a fire in my neighborhood — five blocks from Fire Central and the crew probably would have had difficult or impossible time of getting through. For that matter any neighborhood.
Let’s get a plan — actually use the plan and stop giving preferrential treatment to the foodchain top feeders. Post signs — alternate days for parking so the streets can be plowed. Plow the alleys in older neighborhoods where alley access is critical for continued mobility and to keep the cars off the street. Educate and communicate about the plan. Then ENFORCE the plan. Set up the team — police, tow trucks, and start towing (perhaps even prior to the storm) and plow.
We start to see the flaws of on street parking where some properties are grandfathered in without enough off street parking spaces.
“The world we’ve made, as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking.” — Albert Einstein.
The budget will get approved tonight and the city council still has not had the tough conversations to make the tough decisions to provide basic city services and stop the bread and circus.
“Based on reports from the drivers, the whole city was plowed to the curb (by Sunday night), unless there was a miss we were unaware of,” Van Winkle said.
Not in my neighborhood — or is this a question of ‘What is …. a curb and where does the curb begin?”
And how much money was lost by small business owners because of this fiasco?
I happen to believe that we should not spend money on police and firestations and snow plowing, and we should invest that money to go private parking lots that we can’t even use for downtown.
Karrie, you are correct, I should have qualified my statement.
I hope the response to the snowstorm provides a jolt to our elected officials. The nuts and bolts of a city (education, crime, street maintenance including snowfall response) must be in reasonable condition before embarking on more major taxpayer-funded projects. If not, we will not have enough people remaining in Peoria to fund projects already undertaken.
I hope all the people doing all the bitching about snow removal are doing their part as well, if you have a sidewalk in front of your house shovel it the whole length of your property and perhaps the length of the the little old lady’s house next door as well. Give the kids someplace to walk. If you live in an older area and park on the street do not go out and shovel the snow from around your car into a 3 foot pile in the middle of the damn street. Slow the hell down, there is nowhere you have to be in a hurry, stay home if you have a small car until you are sure the roads are passable. This kind of storm does not happen often and is never a surprise when it does, don’t make your lack of planning become a huge pain in the ass for everyone else. Get a freakin sled, build a snowman, have a drink…… smoke em if you got em and just take it easy.