It’s easy to complain about the unusual amount of snow we have received during the last 2 weeks, but maybe we should take up that particular issue with God.

I remember 20 years ago we had a similar storm of long duration which made us wonder if we had moved to the right place -both town and hill. Thank goodness we don’t have these really severe weather events very often!
Of course if we did, the City would likely be better prepared.

If any one has tried to visit Seattle lately, they will really know the meaning of the word ‘zoo’!
Just trying to get to -and away from- the hospital area around Virginia Mason Medical Center was almost impossible, due to the lack of plowing, sand and salt.
I even thought of writing to Mayor Greg Nickels, but I suspect that mail might not get delivered, or read very quickly.

Better that we just cool it a little I think. But then, I don’t have a job I have to get to every day, or many errands to run, school, or meetings to attend as others do.

Sometime ago I remember reading something called the ‘Serenity Prayer’ which went something like this:

“God, grant us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”

Maybe this is still good advice.

I now have two weeks worth of garbage overflowing from my “toter”.  SSC told me a few hours ago that there will be no pickup this week just as there was none last week.  To make matters worse, normal pickup for my street is Thursday.  The alternate pickup day is the day following the holiday, in this case 26 Dec but the trucks, according to SSC, can’t make it up the hills, or down the hills, or something of that nature.  The trucks are heavy and they slide, I was told.  (Seems to me that snowplows are heavy too but they seem to be able to get around although there are not enough of them.)  Next week’s pickup also falls on a holiday, Thursday, Jan 1st.  Let’s see what happens the following day when people put out three weeks of refuse, not to mention the holiday detritus.

I received mail twice in the last week.  There has been no Fedex or UPS deliveries here in the last 10 days or more.  The Herald has not been seen here since last Saturday with the exception of today, when I called to complain and ask for a one week credit. 

A plow came through here this morning for the first time in 10 days. (I live on a cul-de-sac just off Consolidation near the top of Puget.)  They came out because I called Public Works, the emergency number, as the rest of the department is on holiday. 

Given the severity of this series of winter swipes at Bellingham, one would think that we would have heard from the Mayor or some responsible person.  Is there not a way to contract with local firms who have trucks to have them pressed into service during these unusual periods?  Maybe the city council can take this up but I see that things are heating up between Israel and Gaza not to mention the troop buildup by the Pakistanis on the Indian border.  Probably time for a few resolutions from the city council on those conflicts or things might really get out of control…

Tiddly pom…

Yes, Seattle also did a lousy job of clearing streets - and the citizens there are letting the mayor know.  Even the newspapers are pointing out the dismal job - unlike anything we might read in our Herald. 

While I respect John Watts and his perspective, this is something we can improve.  It is not out of line for us to expect our city to plan and prepare for emergencies - and snow over extended days is one of them.  We have gone through this before with city hall.

My article could have had the title “How our city could improve snow plowing” or some such positive and cheerful sentence.  But with city hall acting the victim during this mess, a pointed title is appropriate.  And is our mayor communicating with us?  Nada. 

Ahh but the howling sound of the warm south wind is outside tonight and by morning much of the snow will be gone. 

Something we residents can do is shovel clear the snow and ice from the storm drain grate along the street curb nearest our home.  If not tonight then first thing in the morning.  We probably each know where the drain is that water in front of our own home goes to - and can keep it clear of leaves in the fall and ice after a snowfall.  The city crews will take care of many drain grates on arterials, but we can easily clear the one nearest our home.

This is a good question on the difference between the level of service expected and that which our communities are actually prepared to deliver.  I would wager that many of us are blissfully unaware of what that planned LOS is for our community. Many are probably also unaware of what their own responsibilities are for any of the possible likely emergencies in our region (winter storms, flooding and earthquakes).  How many carry chains and a snow shovel in our cars, for example?  How many know where their booklet on emergency preparedness is, or more importantly, have read and implemented it. How many of us are vulnerable due to circumstances beyond our control.

As a society, is it too inconvenient, uncomfortable or expensive for us to consider these possibilities?  Isn’t denial and avoidance of the discussion easier. After all, shouldn’t we expect our government to bail us out?

Perhaps our little (by most standards) storm is a gentle reminder that we need to have a refresher discussion of what to expect from our government and ourselves (and what we are willing to do and pay for). 

And I agree with you John, I would rather know the reality of our capabilities and preparedness…no fictions….that is the only way we will ever be able to devise usable solutions.

I wonder what the outcry would have been last summer, or even just a few weeks ago during the budget struggle, if the city had suggested raising taxes to buy a half dozen more snow plows?

The Herald would have castigated the council and mayor for not only burdening tax payers during hard times, but would have questioned their very intelligence given ever causal global warming.  And the overwhelming majority of our fine citizenry would have agreed.

With the benefit of hindsight, everyone now seems smarter than our leaders.  But the fact remains, our electeds are really no smarter than the rest of us.

The measure of the quality and competence of city government is not taken in single if not unusual circumstances, but over many successes and setbacks.  And one year into it, the jury is still taking in the evidence.

My suggestion is get used to life in the Age of Less.  Shouldn’t we be more worried about building that dike around our new waterfront park to keep out the rising oceans?

Greg tells us to get used to it.  Easily written for him - as he is writing from southern California where he has been the entire time.

Greg, it was pretty bad up here.  Most folks do not have the option of just staying home.  Bosses ask why an employee did not leave home earlier.  The WTA bus service was a mess with busses running over an hour late - with temperatures below 20 degrees.  To compound that, dispatchers would not tell callers how late a bus was or when it would get to a bus stop.  People froze waiting outdide needlessly.

To buy sufficient plow blades, the city can vacate some of the useless high paying jobs in city hall intead of rasing taxes.  We expected this new mayor to take action and be pragmatic.  Instead he has continued to let department heads run their own little fiefdoms.  I disagree with you about citizens wanting things they are unwilling to pay for.  My experience is the citizens are aware of the tradeoffs.  But they would like honest talk from the elected leaders.  We don’t get honesty.  We get excuses.

I have to believe that most of those complaining have taken little or no personal responsibility for dealing with the snow & ice.  If you live in Bellingham/Whatcom County you need to be prepared for this kind of weather…..historically, it’s pretty common even if it doesn’t happen every winter.  Proper tires are the beginning point….and if you don’t have the right tires get the chains out of your trunk and put them on.  Learn more about winter driving techniques….it makes a huge difference.  I’ve been able to go up and down Elwood Avenue (one of the cities steepest streets) on a daily basis without incident, thanks to the right tires and a knowledge of how to drive in this stuff….and I wasn’t in a 4WD vehicle. A call to Public Works on Tuesday resulted in the deep snow on our dead end street being plowed within 7 hours.  I didn’t expect them to be there in the early days because I knew they were busy on major streets.  Probably the most important thing in dealing with this weather is patience…..whether driving or waiting for public services to respond.  That seems pretty reasonable to me.

While I may agree with John on issues of City leadership and Herald reporting, I disagree on the subject of snow removal.  Yes, it is inconvenient and economically irrational to allow the city to grind to a halt, but doesn’t it really just underscore how ridiculous cars are for getting around?

As for the plowing, who needs it? When the snow first arrived, folks got busy skiing, snowshoeing or just walking, pulling kids on sleds, even riding bikes.  I even used my car a bit and got around without too much difficulty.  Once the plowing started, intersections were suddenly blocked with large berms of snow upon which vehicles hi-centered, puddles formed and turned to ice, parked cars became hemmed in and simply crossing the street required post-holing through mushy mounds left by the plows. It may have made it easier for a few cars, but other modes of travel were seriously inconvenienced.

Cars are supposed to be a convenience.  When they cause inconvenience, shouldn’t we use the opportunity to imagine better solutions?

I’ve preached this before, but cars cost between 4 and 7 thousand dollars a year to own and operate.  Since there are more registered vehicles than people in most metropolitan areas, we can multiply our population by a conservative average vehicle budget to estimate our aggregate personal transportation expenditures.  Multiplying roughly 80,000 of us by $5,000 per car suggests our community uses about $400,000,000 yearly in a supposedly free market making supposedly rational decisions about transportation. That’s a lot of money.

We can do better than that.  Cars are definitely a superior option for getting places like Custer or Montana.  But designing cities that require car ownership as a prerequisite for economic viability is crazy.  If we were able to marshal our $400 million for just a few years, couldn’t we easily build a transportation system to get us where we need to go more quickly, less expensively, more safely, through rain, sleet snow and dark of night, etc?

If we did, how much of the roughly 30% of our personal income currently wasted on cars would be left available for more productive economic activity?  How much ecology would we get - for free?  According to the Puget Sound Partnership, our collective fleet of cars is the single biggest source of pollution that threatens the health of Puget Sound.

And let’s think of ourselves.  The average human breathes a half a liter fifteen times a minute.  Even smallest economy cars breathe a liter and a half 1,500 to 3,000 times a minute.  Given the fragile, thin scum of atmosphere separating this rock from the ravages of outer space, shouldn’t we seriously question the long-term survival value of this transportation strategy?  Can we really compete with internal combustion engines for air?

Even if we adopt cleaner power for cars, we still already cannot afford to build our way out of congestion problems in urban areas.  How much more of our personal income do we want to spend on these problems?

Vast infrastructural change doesn’t occur overnight, but instead of hewing to the past, we should use these times to look ahead for the ways and means of replacing an archaic, inefficient technology.

Today’s Bham Herald editorial disagrees with my complaint on city snow removal.  Scott Ayers, the writer of the editorials, says the city did a geat job and chastises those who “grumble”. 

However, Scott has a lot of supposed facts in his article to support his opinion - and these facts are distortions and misleading generalities. 

One example. Indirectly referring to Mayor Mark’s selling of all or most city plows in the 1990s, Scott writes:  “After that the city bought many of the plows it has today.”  However, he does not say - and the Herald has not reported - how many snowplows the city has.

So, how many full size plows does the city have?  Three.  That is the “many”.  Scott is vague and uses adjectives and generalities throughout his editorial - a common trick when the facts are against your argument.

Much more can be written about how our city could greatly improve snow removal and help city residents get around during big snows and other emergencies.  This comment is not the place - but I intend to address this later.