St. Louis mayor orders side streets to be plowed

Source: St.儲存 Louis Post-DispatchJan. 10--ST. LOUIS --Mayor Francis Slay announced Thursday that crews had begun plowing side streets in response to heavy demands to clear them and criticism of the city's snow removal policies.Standing in the cold at Soldiers Memorial and flanked by staff, Slay said he ordered Streets Director Todd Waelterman to begin plowing all side streets at 1 p.m. Thursday and have the job finished before this morning's rush hour -- five days after a snow storm hit the city.The city has never plowed side streets in the past."That policy has not served us well this time," Slay said in a news conference. "A lot of our constituents have smaller, more efficient cars that are too light to get through a foot of snow. Too many people have been getting stuck on the side streets. Too many people can't get off their streets. They're angry. And I hear them."Slay has found himself in a tough situation since about a foot of snow fell Sunday and frigid air helped keep it there for days. Some residents complained about the city's snow removal policy that leaves side streets untouched by plows.The city made a decision to salt the side streets, but before the main thoroughfares had been completely cleared of snow. That spread out street crews and resulted in snow staying put for a longer period of time, much to the frustration of city residents.The city said it has received 510 individual calls asking for snow removal on residential streets.Maureen McCuen, of the Shaw neighborhood, said people she knew were excited about the plowing of side streets. Many neighbors had written about it on the neighborhood blog."All day, people have been saying, 'My street, my street has been plowed!'" McCuen said. "Neighbors are very appreciative."Slay, who has won four terms by campaigning on his management and "competence," is taking on an issue that has buried other mayors with trouble. Former Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic lost re-election after cleanup from a blizzard in 1979 became a symbol of incompetence. A Christmas Eve storm in 1982 ended the career of longtime Denver Mayor William H. McNichols Jr., whose 14 years in office was considered to have transformed the Western city into a booming metropolis."This is the first time that anyone can remember that the city will plow side street迷你倉 so we expect some people will be happy," Slay said. "We also expect some people will be unhappy."Slay thanked Waelterman for his work on the snow routes, saying, "I am now sending them into uncharted territory."Asked about the cost of plowing side streets, Slay said he didn't know, adding, "Frankly I don't care. We'll make it work. This is important."Waelterman said the move will spur the development of a new snow removal policy, as ordered by the mayor. Waelterman said the storm and subzero cold made plowing more difficult than after previous storms."It was a historic storm," Waelterman said. "I've been here 20 years. I've probably covered 250 snowstorms here. I haven't seen anything like this year. The cold temps really kicked us around."St. Louis has dispatched 40 plows to do the job. Waelterman said the city would use about 10 of the parks and forestry department's pickups equipped with plow blades on narrower streets. He said snow plows were being dispatched on the city's 96 street sweeper routes.He said he wasn't sure tackling side streets was the right approach and he hoped residents would provide feedback."We're not sure where we're gonna wind up," he said. "I'm the old guy. I can tell ya', there's gonna be headaches. I'm not sure it's the right thing to do, but we heard from the people, and we have to give it a shot."The city is asking for residents to leave comments through the city's website, stlouis-mo.gov. Residents can provide thoughts on snow removal policies on Twitter to @stlstreets or @stlcsb or call 314-622-4800.Snow plow driver Michael Alewal acknowledged that the side streets are "pretty rough" to do. "If you plow, you're going to make a berm on the sides and you can block in the cars," he said. "That's the whole issue."He was driving a one of the smaller plows in north city, trying to clear areas in a more precise way after a larger plow had moved through.His work did not go unappreciated.Keisha Washington, 19, was walking with friends along Penrose Avenue about 6 p.m. after the plows had cleared the streets."It's wonderful," Washington said.Margaret Gillerman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage