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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,813 posts, read 34,657,307 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chromekitty
For me personally, I get sick of hearing it. I, and most people who are native don't care how it was done back north. With that said, my best half is a dayum yankee. LOL!!
We do have sufficient equipment here, for our area and our weather, it does the job nicely. That problem is that it isn't done for fast enough or to some peoples expectations. And again to that, I say get over it....
Couldn't agree more! That said, having worked in a job classified as essential services, I knew enough to pack a bag & plan to sleep in an office if the weather report called for something nasty. I always had company, too. We knew not to plan on instant road clearing, so you do what you have to do.
This storm was nasty. The timing of the ice was something that could not have been worse.
The complaints about this are silly. The problem was thick ice. There isn't much that can be done about it. I've never heard so much complaining. The City of Philadelphia has some old narrow colonial street that they could not plow & the residents used to shovel themslves out & the city would designate places for them to put snow to be picked up & removed (dump it in the Delaware). After it took those people a week to shovel out those streets in the aftermath of the blizzard of 96, it was companies that those people worked at who complained (not the residents) & the city figured out a way to get enough money to order a tiny little plow from Europe that was small enough.
Another thing to consider is that if the city cleared all the side streets then Medic would become busier. People not used to shoveling snow would have to learn and I'm thinking that would go badly.
Sure your street might be plowed but you're still responsible for getting out of the driveway. So you've got the expense but you'd also have more heart attacks, strokes, and falls.
What is it with the constant Yankee comments on these forums in the southeast. It isn't just the Charlotte one its all of them. Is it playful joking around or is it regional sarcasm and dislike for people that moved there? It would seem their moving there helps pump money into the local economy dispite the down times.
I can understand the area not having tons of snow removal equipment as say Boston does. I would think and don't know what Charlotte has, but having sufficient deicing equipment for the roads would be common sense. Since the area seems more prone to ice than snow storms.
I also agree about how this area is more prone to ice. The snow melted and went away fast, but the ice didnt. Isnt this the main reason why school and other places were closed for so long? A plow wont do much for ice, that is true, but im sure theres equipment out there that can get the job done for these ice prone areas.
If you look at previous threads about the snow, plenty of people said places like Lowes and Home Depot ran out of sand, salt, shovels, etc... and some didnt have anything. Thats why i brought it up.
I wasnt aware Meck County was also hurting in the road crew budget in addition to the schools budget issues. You say they cant afford it, but, on the other hand, the money is being spent somehow. Everytime a polcie officer has to responds to a spin out, everytime a medic needs to reply to a car crash, etc.... doesnt it cost them money?
Everyone just says "We dont have the equipment" so im simply trying to find out why. If its money and budgets, then I understand that. If its the fact they got money but didnt want to out any effort into it, then that would be a whole nother story.
I also agree about how this area is more prone to ice. The snow melted and went away fast, but the ice didnt. Isnt this the main reason why school and other places were closed for so long? A plow wont do much for ice, that is true, but im sure theres equipment out there that can get the job done for these ice prone areas.
If you look at previous threads about the snow, plenty of people said places like Lowes and Home Depot ran out of sand, salt, shovels, etc... and some didnt have anything. Thats why i brought it up.
I wasnt aware Meck County was also hurting in the road crew budget in addition to the schools budget issues. You say they cant afford it, but, on the other hand, the money is being spent somehow. Everytime a polcie officer has to responds to a spin out, everytime a medic needs to reply to a car crash, etc.... doesnt it cost them money?
Everyone just says "We dont have the equipment" so im simply trying to find out why. If its money and budgets, then I understand that. If its the fact they got money but didnt want to out any effort into it, then that would be a whole nother story.
I recall a TV interview with one of the senior employees at Char/Meck DOT that said we've already spent half of the winter season's budget for snow and ice. So, we really don't have a lot of money available for new gear and the people to operate it. And has already been said, we don't get enough snow or ice to warrant huge fleets of vehicles and the manpower necessary to maintain all the roads as some may be used to in northern states. For the very very few days where weather is an issue,we just have to suck it up past what DOT can manage.
I know that after the last big storm (~2007), they bought blades to put on the garbage trucks.
Ah, so thats why the only area in my Apartment complex that ever got cleared was a path to the trash compactor. I would say at least 50% of the streets in my complex still has a layer of ice, and that is because its in the shade. Hopefully the rain melts a lot of it, otherwise who knows how long its going to be there for.
We were in St. Louis during the Christmas snow storm, or actually driving there during that storm (Note to others, do not drive through Kentucky during a snow storm. I don't think they own a single snow plow or salt truck). My bf has lived his whole life in the South, so was amazed at how well MODOT had the roadway cleared even during the storm. The cul-de-sac that my parents live on even got plowed and salted the first night of the storm. It helps that they not only have the big snow plows but also a large amount of small pick up trucks with snow plows attached to the front. I never see the small pick up truck snow plows around Charlotte during the snow storms, and I don't see why they wouldn't have those. Doesn't NC DOT have pick up trucks they use other times of the year? Why not just slap a snow plow on them when a snow storm is approaching. I can understand the issue of not wanting the large snow plows, they're not really usefulness any other time of the year. But the pick up trucks are multi functional.
I know that the South will never be good at handling the snow, and I'm not trying to wish that things here are like they are back "North" (I've been told by a lot of people that being from the Midwest still makes me a Northern Yankee). I've actually come to enjoy the fact that the city just shuts down for a few days. Its almost like being a kid and having snow days again. Although my family back in St Louis are completely shocked by what happens when it snows. My parents were baffled by the fact that I didn't work for 2 days since my work was shut down, and that the University was closed for 2 days over "a little snow and ice".
I never see the small pick up truck snow plows around Charlotte during the snow storms, and I don't see why they wouldn't have those. Doesn't NC DOT have pick up trucks they use other times of the year? Why not just slap a snow plow on them when a snow storm is approaching. I can understand the issue of not wanting the large snow plows, they're not really usefulness any other time of the year. But the pick up trucks are multi functional.
Snow plows for late model pickup trucks start at $5000 apiece. Salt spreaders start at $1000. So you're looking at a minimum of $6000/truck for the units. Ten trucks would be $60,000, 100 trucks would be $600,000 & so on. For the rare times that it actually snows here I think its still overkill. Now there's nothing stopping a private citizen from outfitting their pickup with a plow/spreader & taking care of things.
I've observed that no matter where you live, there tends to be enough city snow-removing equipment to keep the number of school-closed snow days to around 5 per year on average. Spending more to decrease that range is not worth it. It's past the point of diminishing return on investment.
We would probably have to double what we currently spend on snow removal equipment/personnel to bring the average from 5 to 3. And it's simply not worth it for two days a year off.
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