Post Your Photos of the Valentine's Day Blizzard of '07! (Allentown: school, live in)

[greentown]

SWB: Sounds like the problem isn't your employer or your vehicles, but the lack of services in your area. Maybe your best bet would be to find out who is responsible for plowing your street and have all of the neighbors start calling every hour on the hour to complain. It might be more productive than posting pictures and complaining about your boss on this board, because I'm quite sure your township isn't checking here for problems. Sorry if you don't like my lack of compassion for your sitution, but when you are out of college you will find that if you don't show up for work, it's not just your wallet that is affected.

[momix5]

Where in Scranton is this your block or subdivision is so nice, it is really what i am looking for to relocate to, what school distict? We are from LI and all we got from the storm was a big long Island sized block of ice covering the whole Island.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by greentown

SWB: Sounds like the problem isn't your employer or your vehicles, but the lack of services in your area. Maybe your best bet would be to find out who is responsible for plowing your street and have all of the neighbors start calling every hour on the hour to complain. It might be more productive than posting pictures and complaining about your boss on this board, because I'm quite sure your township isn't checking here for problems. Sorry if you don't like my lack of compassion for your sitution, but when you are out of college you will find that if you don't show up for work, it's not just your wallet that is affected.

What do you think we've BEEN doing? My mother called five times yesterday, I called twice yesterday, the neighbors called, and now today, here it is going for noon and the roads STILL haven't been plowed once yet! I had to skip school today too, which means not only will I be fighting the township at Monday's meeting, but I'll also have to fight the professors at King's College to get the "cuts" off of my class records. This is why I've taken the photos; I plan to show them to my employer, to the officials at King's to ask why they opened today, to my professors to let me off the hook for skipping school, to the township officials themselves for their negligence, and to various residents, both in person and online, to succeed in EMBARRASSING the township officials so they won't be so "caught off guard" again! We've contacted the municipal building, the township secretary, a township supervisor, a zoning officer, and even the police chief to ask about what's going on, and still I look out my window at a foot-and-a-half of ice-laden slop on the roads. I'm sorry to sound like a "whiner", but if you were in our situation of already having to miss three days of work and/or class and not seeing even ONE plow come by yet for the taxes we pay, wouldn't you likewise be frustrated? My mother couldn't even leave this morning with her Forester! I have a feeling you're going to see a HUGE outcry around here after the storm now admonishing our leaders for the slow response to "digging out." If your road has already seen at least one plow make a swing by, then you truly don't know where we're coming from with our complaints.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by momix5

Where in Scranton is this your block or subdivision is so nice, it is really what i am looking for to relocate to, what school distict? We are from LI and all we got from the storm was a big long Island sized block of ice covering the whole Island.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're about eight miles south of Scranton in a community called "Pittston." It's a blend of older neighborhoods and a heaping ton of newer subdivisions. The school district, Pittston Area, quite honestly was a pretty good public school district, but the municipal services, as you can see, are horrible. I've been on another local forum as well, and nearly a dozen others from throughout the Greater Pittston area have similar complaints of STILL not seeing a single plow come by since Tuesday. This is why the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area is still largely shut down while the surrounding outlying areas are back to normal.

[greentown]

SWB: Sorry for sounding harsh earlier. I really can understand your frustration and I do feel bad for you and your neighbors. Having lived in a rural area my whole life, I've seen plenty of big snowstorms and unplowed roads. When my husband and I first moved into our current home, there were many times that for the first day or so of a big snowfall, the only vehicles we saw on the main road were snowmobiles! Maybe we can take up a collection and get you one!!

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by greentown

SWB: Sorry for sounding harsh earlier. I really can understand your frustration and I do feel bad for you and your neighbors. Having lived in a rural area my whole life, I've seen plenty of big snowstorms and unplowed roads. When my husband and I first moved into our current home, there were many times that for the first day or so of a big snowfall, the only vehicles we saw on the main road were snowmobiles! Maybe we can take up a collection and get you one!!

HA! Thanks! I'm sorry if I sounded a bit rude to with my tone; I wasn't "yelling" or anything; I'm just a bit frustrated for a myriad of reasons. First of all, my sister and I are supposed to be surprising my grandmother tonight by picking her up for a "night on the town." We're treating her to a nice dinner and have tickets to see some sort of "Broadway Show Tunes" production at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre. The prospect of canceling this because they can't figure out what a snow plow is nearly 48 hours AFTER the storm ended irritates me. I'm also peeved that I'll now have to challenge my professors over the validity of my "cuts" today because I still had class. The thought of showing up at the township meeting and making fools out of our officials does cheer me up though! It's understandable for a large, spread out city like Scranton to be having problems clearing roads, but for a community as small as mine to have TWO trucks and STILL not be able to take at least one swipe is ludicrous. Actually, I was thinking of investing in a pair of cross-country skis! They would have been put to good use today! LOL!

[Dawne]

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

I have a feeling you're going to see a HUGE outcry around here after the storm now admonishing our leaders for the slow response to "digging out."

And that's not to mention the outcry to the state goverment from the poor people (vacationers trying to go south, truckers trying to get their work done, etc.) from other states and Canada who were just trying to travel through the area and ended up stranded for hours and hours on interstates with no facilities and, maybe worst of all, no information about what was going on and when they could get moving again. Last night the news showed people from Canada being detoured to a convenience store/gas station in Nuangola. They had out their maps and GPS systems, trying to figure out where they were and how they could move on. No one was telling them anything. They actually got more information from the news reporters that were interviewing them than they did from any officials.

This whole situation has just totally shocked me. This isn't supposed to happen in PA. We're a four-season state. We get snow and ice. We stockpile salt and anti-skid. How could so many DPWs get caught "unaware" like this?

My husband was on I-80 westbound yesterday and Luzerne County was a mess. They blamed it on the weather and people being in the way so they couldn't plow the highway. Okay, maybe. But then WHY was I-80 in Columbia County plowed clear, with snow pushed back past the guardrails and the only wet? Heads may roll over this whole fiasco!

By the way, thanks for the great pix, SWB. Even though it's frustrating for you and others in this situation, they are beautiful pictures.

[openless]

I eventually had to work through it, all of it! We work at a gas station and we were busy selling rock salt, snow shovels, and ice scrapers and gas! Here in harrisburg we had about 7 inches of snow and the roads are still pretty bad, I dont know how everywhere else is, but our roads were and still are atrocious! PennDOT is a joke, i honestly havent seen any township or state plow trucks on the road yesterday or today. That's actually funny, when we ran out of stuff to sell we called the local Lowe's and re-directed eveyone there (just a mile or so away) to stock up on rock-salt. it was crazy, i will post some pics later. thanks ~Dan~

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

....... his boss insisted he sit in the parking lot till this morning, sleeping in his truck so he could watch his load. He made the delivery this morning and has been sitting in traffic ever since and doesn't think he'll make it home tonight either. The best part is his boss hasn't called him at all to see where he is or if he is OK. They all went home at the office.

I trust your husband got home ok........ Doesn't it just blow your mind

[MB2]

My hubby and I were heading to wilkes barre today, all on back road, since 81 was closed. Well, a lot of people had to go the same way, causing such mess on all alternate routes, which were still either not plowed or poorly plowed. And, people are still driving like idiots!
309 cutting trough the mountain is ALWAYS icy, because the road never sees the sun. A person, apparently in a hurry to go no where, passing us out, crashed.....
Coming back, 309 again, PW was clearing the on ramp for highway. 2 lanes each way, each one blocked by parked tractor trailors, cutting the lanes down to 1 on each side. Well, we are all lined up, snowplow blocking path.....just waiting.
Some really "smart people" coming down behind us (3 cars in all), and all 3 of them with out of state plates from a neighboring state (I'm not going any further with this, because of a previous debate with a present member). Passing the lane, going south bound in the NORTHBOUND LANE!!! WHY? Because they are ignorant, dangerous idiots!
Well, state police was at the bottom of the hill, and all 3 got tickets, one had to step out of the car, because she was getting "lippy" with the state trooper. Us and all other drivers in the lane were cheering, and giving the troopers the thumbs up!
Such behavior can't be tolerated, especially not in conditions we have had. People should know better.....