[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Send in the Plows

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Send in the Plows
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1235694024.shtml


   It's snowing again. Do you know where your plows are?
   The past weekend, Minneapolis and St. Paul understandably invoked Snow
   Emergencies, which generally mark the start of a three day plowing
   cycles. Curious, though, while walking 15 miles Saturday and Sunday in
   the Cooper and Longfellow neighborhoods of Minneapolis, I saw but one
   plow each day, plus one more while on the bus returning home.
   That Saturday morning my first tier suburban city had its streets
   plowed by noon, probably earlier. Today, they made a full pass by 4:30
   pm, and will no doubt clean up the additional snowfall well before
   lunch again tomorrow.
   It used to be that only Minneapolis and St. Paul used the Snow
   Emergency concept. The past few years, a few other suburbs have
   decided that they need to get into the act, like St. Louis Park where
   I grew up. Why can't they simply plow the streets like they did all
   those decades before?
   In fact, just what does "Snow Emergency" mean in these suburbs? I
   visited three cities' web sites, no clue. I can only presume it means
   that the 2 to 3 inch snowfall threshold has been reached, outlawing on
   street parking until plowed. But again, depth ordinances have been
   around for some time now, before suburban snow emergencies started
   making the airwaves.
   I'm pleased to say that my city simply plows my street when enough
   snow falls. They don't talk about it. They just do it. What a concept!