Snow Daze
The overnight snowfall probably has a lot of us reaching for those snow removal guidelines mailed to Denver homes last week. Responding to last year's botched handling of the December blizzards, the city is promising changes this winter. In a nutshell, Denver Public Works' regular fleet of snow plows will be augmented by "up to 110 4X4 plows to simultaneously clear residential, or neighborhood, streets" after any "major snow event," which it defines as "a foot or more of snow between November 15 and March 15 accompanied by freezing temperatures." The regular plows will focus on Denver's main thoroughfares, while the 4x4s will "simultaneously" clear a single lane down each residential street. Given last year's mess, it would be easy to be skeptical of an ambitious plan like this. But at the very least the city is to be commended for putting its promises in writing. As Jim Spencer points out over at Colorado Confidential:
This winter, the people of Denver not only know what to expect, they now have a measure by which to hold everyone from the mayor on down accountable.
Comments
Submitted by Andy Bosselman (not verified) on Wed, 2007-11-28 11:19.
I think it was a Denver Post article last winter that compared the number of trucks Denver has to other cities like Chicago and NYC. If I remember correctly, NYC has over 1,000 vehicles because garbage trucks are retrofitted with plows.
Now Denver will have fewer than 200 plows, which may make a difference from last year's 60 or so. But we'll probably still rely on the sun to do most of the melting.
