Following two years of record snowfalls, the City of Spokane is rolling out a revised approach to snow removal as a pilot project for the 2009-10 snow season. It’s designed to improve safety for motorists and pedestrians, ensure emergency responders can reach citizens, and enhance movement for pedestrians and motorists.
As part of the plan, the City has purchased 11 additional truck plows and committed to enhancing snow removal efforts, including on sidewalks. In turn, citizens and business owners will be asked to follow parking restrictions and keep sidewalks, vehicles, hydrants, and storm drains clear of snow.
Some of the changes will require citizens to move parked cars off all arterials and STA fixed bus routes or require them to park on one side of the street in residential areas to allow plows to open up streets better. An enhanced approach to sidewalk snow removal would eventually require tickets for those who failed to comply.
So when is this plowing going to start? The main highways have been in great shape for days but every single side road is HELL! The school buses can't even get around. It's not even safe for the kids that walk to school. THE RAODS WEREN'T EVEN PLOWED AROUND THE SCHOOL!!!! EVERYONE IS PISSED IN SPOKANE. I CAN'T EVEN GET OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY!!!
GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR!
Sorry for your trouble Ladyfingers. One of our admin staff missed work yesterday because she also couldn't get out of her own driveway. The plows are coming though. The latest info from the City is below. It's from last night byt I expect another update any minute. They're sending updates at least twice a day:
• Work has begun in the residential areas. On-line map is up-to-date. We have crews working in routes 5 and 9 and we’ll move into 13 and 3 soon. (If people don’t have Internet access, plow route maps are available at community centers and library branches. It ran in the Spokesman’s Voice section today. It will be printed in the Inlander next Thursday. And if they have a November utility bill laying around, it was inserted in those bills.)
• Remind people to move the berms caused by plows as soon as possible. We’re pushing big, heavy slush. If that freezes solid, citizens will have a hard time moving that material!
The online maps referred to above can be found at http://www.spokanestreetdepartment.org/documents/snowroutemap.pdf. You can tell on them what's been plowed and where the plows are at so you know if they're headed your way.