I was very suprised when I got my Alexandria property assessment in the mail the other day. After years of double-digit growth, I was actually hoping it would go down, but it didn't.

A B or a B+ in snow removal? Are you kidding me?! I'd say more like a C-, maybe even a D. The article in the Post you cite mentions the poor snow removal on major arteries like 16th Street and Georgia Avenue; It talks about top officials having conflicting accounts of the city's strategy; and of a mayor who didn't even both addressing snow removal issues until around 3 in the afternoon. In my own neighborhood, 14th Street down the center of Columbia Heights didn't look like it was touched much of the day yesterday. This morning, there were still areas that clearly needed plowing. Yeah, I'd say Fenty blew it.

A winter butt pillow, if you will. Do they make those?
Long underwear, the thermal kind, provide lots of cushion. Also you learn early to walk in such a way that you can always land on all fours easily.

Sidewalks, not DC's fault, roads DC's fault. I saw far more sidewalk issues than I saw road issues. If people actually had proper tires, you won't have these problems, but no you drive with no tread. It's like the idiots in heels and loafers in the snow.

pedestrian walkways were WRETCHED! In a city that tries to be pedestrian friendly, it's a travesty that those walking have to step through 2 feet of crap piled up at the crosswalks by the plows. DOT should place at least some emphasis on clearing crosswalks too.

What I don't understand is why the Mayor needs to be personally involved in snow removal in the first place. It's not a political act, and it shouldn't need to be micromanaged. However, I suppose Fenty ran his campaign on micromanagement of minor issues, so it's only right to focus on it now.

This was a tricky storm and it seems like most jurisdictions blew it. I heard from people in VA that roads didn't seem to be plowed much. An official in NJ said they simply couldn't plow the roads because of the nature of the storm. According to them, plowing the roads would have removed the salt and likely resulted in black ice. Tangherlini says the same thing in the Post article.

[quote]WHERE ARE MY TAX DOLLARS GOING? Seriously, DC. This is rediculous[/quote] to Cheney's security detail, don't be ridiculous. Shaw was fine, Arlington County's Public Works Dept. is worthless.

Not to sound like an infomercial, but to keep from falling on your butt I'd suggest slipping a pair of YakTraxs (yaktrax.com) or a similar product over your shoes.

They're great for staying upright on icy surfaces!

Why do residents and businesses have to remove snow from the sidewalks in front of their buildings within 8 sunlit hours of a storm if they city doesn't hold itself accountable to the same standards? I'm grateful to those businesses and residences who made their sidewalks extremely walkable, but it seems like a doublestandard when you watch an old lady break a hip on an uncleared sidewalk abutting a city park.

I think people need to stop using the phrase "snow removal," because it's a total misnomer. The snow ain't going anywhere -- it's just being scooted off to the side. And on DC's narrow streets, that inevitably leads to problems with snow pile-ups on sidewalks and crosswalks. I'm not saying pedestrians (myself included) should just roll over (or fall over, as the case may be) and accept it, but the reality is the snow cleared from the roads has to go somewhere. Until the snow plows are replaced with snow dump trucks, that's something we all need to learn to deal with.

Seriously, people in dc need to grow up, this was a minor storm. Most everyone on this board acts like the world is ending simply because a few roads weren't plowed the day of. In Minneapolis, a major city that has a massive fleet of snow plows, sometimes side roads wouldn't be plowed for 3-4 days. You need to learn to deal with this. Just because there's a couple inchs of snow and ice on the road doesn't mean that the road is impossible to drive on. If you want to drive in the winter get snow tires on your car. Any good driver can manage the type of storm we had. Hell, I used to drive a station wagon with rear-wheel drive through crap like this. If you can't drive through a storm like this you really shouldn't have a license.

Seriously, this snow isn't bad. I'd venture to guess Marion Barry put more snow up his nose during his administration than what fell over the last few days.

Public Service Announcement: Please don't pile snow from your sidewalk ontop of stormdrains- it blocks the melt from the streets and contributes to icing on both streets and wheelchair ramps! That goes for city plow-drivers, too!

Remind me to be an absolute cock when it's 90 degrees outside and the minnesotans are acting like they'll melt into their loafers when they step outside. Are you people honestly so dense as to not understand that 1) it's just fucking stupid to buy snow tires in DC 2) you can drive in it because you have experience doing so and 3) it doesn't take "impossible to drive on" in order to make the risk not worth the reward- or has your brain frozen over? Not to mention the vast number of people (especially District residents) who rely on Metrobus for at least some part of their commute. When routes are shut down because the city hasn't bothered to plow, its just a little bit of an inconvenience for those folks. Seriously. If you like the snow, fine. But don't pretend that conditions this morning were safe just to prove what a winter stud you are.

Maybe you’re brain’s melted from to many summer’s in DC and you should go dunk it in the icy waters of lake Minnetonka, but you completely missed the point BradyV. It isn’t possible to plow every street and DC residents just have to learn to deal with that fact. I take the metrobus to work everyday of the week, and yeah yesterday my busline was canceled. Was it inconvenient? Yes. Was it a be-all end all? No. People in DC need to learn to cope with weather problems instead of panicking like a bunch of chicken little’s. People in other parts of the country can deal with walking over snow piles blocking the cross-walk and there is no reason, over than an over bloated sense of self-entitlement, that the residents of the district can’t cope similarly. The city has a limited number of resources to use when cleaning the streets complaining that the city didn’t clean my street is completely egotistical. Oh, and buying snow tires is perfectly economical, you can buy a set, put them on in Dec. and take them off in March and use them for 3-4 years. Also I don’t think “experience” driving in winter conditions has anything to do ability anybody can do it. All it takes is a little common sense to slow down, and not slam on the brakes, but slow to a gradual stop, that’s the big winter driving secret.

Minnesotan:

No doubt because you're a Northerner, you misunderstand the nature of our plight. We native DCers can surely become accustomed to our streets being glazed with ice, just as we can have become accustomed to them being flooded by water, as they often are.

The real tragedy is that our garden mint has also been covered by ice, and has frozen. It is impossible for a proper civilized society to survive without fresh mint juleps or, in a pinch, mojitos.

Ah, why do I bother trying to explain this to someone who, I have no doubt, can subsist for months on nothing but beer, cheese, and bratwurst?

Minnesotan, I think the prevalent attitude in DC has less to do with residents inability to handle inclement weather and more to do with the sense of entitlement that seems to run rampant throughout the region. Because many people have an inflated sense of self-importance, they feel it simply is unacceptable their street isn't plowed, dry, and preferrably warmed by the time they leave their houses in the morning. The rest of the city can go to hell in a handbasket, but THEIR taxes should guarantee THEM certain services. These are the same people who bitch about tourists on the Metro and cry, "Why should I be inconvenienced and miss my train because some fat tourist doesn't know to stand on the right and walk on the left." That attitude isn't going anywhere. It's best to just accept it and snicker when you encounter it.

Also, for the record:

This is probably not the case for the whole state, but summer temperatures in the Twin Cities can easily top 95 and it gets pretty humid there too. And when it does get that people don't complain near as much as they do hear because they're too nice.

Sample Minnesotan conversation when it's 95 with 8-% humidity:

"It sure is hot out there, eh."
"Sure is, right about that. It's a doozy."
"Ya, I was thinking of heading up North to the cabin."
"Oh ya, good fishin' on Mille Lacs this summer."

and so on...

Minnesotans--

I've never been, but from the sounds of it, I really like your state.

This Minnesota talk is all beside the point. Whether the storm was big or not (it wasn't) and whether Washingtonians are whimps when it comes to snow (they are) doesn't really matter. My complaint isn't about side streets, my complaint is about major arteries not being plowed - even the day after. That shouldn't happen here, and it certainly doesn't happen in Minneapolis.