Page 5 - RR-2-26-26

City street plowing approach Thursday, February 26, 2026 • • 5

From page 1 Working toward a more pro- because we all want the same end
active, collaborative approach goal of life and safety, so let’s work
then we’ll use the 311s as, hey, a lot Based on the experiences and together on getting there. The last
of calls (came in) on this street, did thing we need is neighbors pointing
challenges this winter, Skipper al-
we miss something? And we’ll go ready is looking ahead to next win- fingers at each other. If we can be
check it out.” proactive and help each other before
ter to make changes and
Files made through 311 are not improvements. that situation occurs, that's just great
directly under the management of for everyone.”
“I think our goal going into next
Skipper’s office and are routed there season – I’ve already had coordina- Skipper did confirm that, during
by a different department, but can the course of
tion calls with
be useful in identifying problematic the mayor and this winter so
areas in need of snow and salt ser- far, about half of
the parking
vice, he says. commissioner the city’s fleet of
The frustration of people living trucks used for
– is to try to
on streets that don’t receive immedi- do more of an plowing and
ate attention or are missed is some- salting the
awareness
thing Skipper understands. “It just campaign. streets were tak-
takes one car not moved in that 9 en offline for re-
Let’s help
a.m. - 4 p.m. window, and some of each other. pair, with more
our plow pictures we’ve gotten from repairs needed
Let’s have this
this season tell the whole story, just be a team ef- after the season
how big our plows are compared to ends. “The ones
fort. But
a single car on the street,” which we’re going to where we can
makes it difficult to clean residential plow and throw
work to kind
streets within that 24-hour window of beef up that salt are bigger
at times. trucks (and) we
awareness of
There is a dedicated map at one the situation were down to
of the city’s DPW garages, on about 14 with
early in the
Broadway, which is used to identify season before that cold stretch
missed streets. “It’s unfortunate that for three to four weeks, going 24-7 BRICKS LITTERED a portion on Grant Street after a portion of
the snow flies next year,” he says.
if we can’t hit (a residential street) There are a few possible ap- in those types of conditions. Unfor- the facade fell off. The street was blocked off to traffic on Feb.
in that 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. window and tunately we lost some trucks during 20 while the debris was cleaned off. Photo by Nick Puchalski
proaches in mind, including going
another (few) inches of snow falls in door-to-door with pamphlets re- those weeks there, but they’ve since
a day, the next shot at that window been repaired and are now opera-
minding residents of the importance
there’s just that much more snow on of moving their vehicles to the prop- tional if we need them again.”
the ground. It’s tough to get back The city also learned from last
er side of the street to accommodate
sometimes because then people plows. “We’ve kicked around the year’s rock salt shortage and now
have even more of a challenge mov- has contracts with two suppliers to
option of having points of contacts
ing their cars.” avoid running into that scarcity
for different block clubs and having
people help us police the situation, again.
No matter how much more win-
ter weather might be in store, Skip-
per says he appreciates the patience
of residents who might have more
snow on their street than anticipated
and asks people to continue calling
311 to file reports if their residential
street remains untouched more than
24 hours after snow stops flying,
especially if it’s been a more signif-
icant snowfall.
“Let’s be more proactive” has
been a central theme of many con-
versations he’s had lately with the
mayor and other officials. “Let’s get
the messaging out there. How can
we work together with the residents
to have them feel comfortable that,
if they move their cars, they comply
with regulations, we will get down
their street. That’s the biggest thing
– trusting each other, that we’ll do
our job. If you’re able to move your
cars, we’ll be right behind it and do
our job. That trust level is a big
thing moving forward. We’re going
to be more proactive and have those
conversations, work with block
clubs, work with the council mem-
bers to make sure we’re connecting
the right people so that we can see a Coupon Expires 3/31/26
real difference in the future.”