So you think Pittsburgh sucks at regional coordination? (school, earthquake)

[Craziaskowboi]

Last I checked, two inches of snow has never brought the Pittsburgh metropolitan area to a standstill.

[erieguy]

But did/will the residents of Atlanta make 14 pages of complaints about it? Just wondering.

[Herodotus]

To be fair, it was a sheet of ice in Atlanta. Plus, comparing snow removal in a northern city that gets hit with snow 25-30 times a year, with a southern city where they average about 2.5 inches a year isn't really fair.

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by erieguy

But did/will the residents of Atlanta make 14 pages of complaints about it? Just wondering.

It deserves 140 pages. It was really, really bad. People having to sleep in stores, teachers and cafeteria workers having to stay overnight at school with all their students, people having to abandon their vehicles on the interstate... It is a big story.

[wpipkins2]

I agree. That was a once in a generation storm for the southern states.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by erieguy

But did/will the residents of Atlanta make 14 pages of complaints about it? Just wondering.

No, they just made five or six different topics about the same thing.

Originally Posted by Herodotus

To be fair, it was a sheet of ice in Atlanta. Plus, comparing snow removal in a northern city that gets hit with snow 25-30 times a year, with a southern city where they average about 2.5 inches a year isn't really fair.

The city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia invested in more snow removal equipment after major snowstorms three winters in a row (2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011).

Originally Posted by wpipkins2

I agree. That was a once in a generation storm for the southern states.

"Once in a generation" my ass. It dropped two inches of snow. There were snowstorms in March 2009, February 2010, December 2010 and January 2011 that dropped as much or more. That's four in the last five years. There was also an ice storm in January 2005 that left a quarter- to half-inch of ice. Furthermore, the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia bought more snow removal equipment a couple of years ago. They had the resources; they lacked coordination.

[erieguy]

Plowing 2 inches of snow? Sounds like more of an ice issue than a snow removal issue. Is there salt available? Sounds like this barely ever happens for them to be prepared for it or to properly train people to operate equipment.

[SolitaryThrush]

Kind of like the time Pittsburgh lost its [expletive] over a tiny earthquake a couple years back.

Let's not feel too smug, because for all its boasting and bravado, Pittsburgh doesn't exactly handle cold and snow well. Pittsburgh doesn't come to a standstill; they just stop running buses when it snows or gets too cold.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Last I checked, two inches of snow has never brought the Pittsburgh metropolitan area to a standstill.

My initial reaction was the same.

What I find to be very telling though is the fact that there are so many pictures of tractor trailers stuck or blocking traffic. While the majority of motorists in Atlanta probably have little to no experience driving in snow, those guys should have far more than the average person. If they're getting stuck its because the roads are iced over. 2 inches is nothing, but ice is a completely different headache that would most certainly shut Pittsburgh down if we didn't have the capacity to pre salt and continuously maintain the roads.

[gg]

Atlanta is probably the same as all big cities. Tons of governmental waste, tons of debt and huge legacy costs. What ends up happening is "the people" do with much less than in years past. The city can't spend the money because there is so much waste and monopoly costs involved. What would need to happen to fix these issues is dismantling the big government and privatize road maintenance. Just have a small government organize it and put it up for bidding. If a company they hired didn't perform, they might not last. Government has gotten so huge with so much fat it will just keep getting worse and worse.