Slow snow removal adds more ‘unhappiness’ to Philly

Posted 3/23/17

Last week, a personal finance site called Wallet Hub released a “study” on the “happiest places to live,” which found Philadelphia languishing in 139th place among 150 cities. The study was …

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Slow snow removal adds more ‘unhappiness’ to Philly

Posted

Last week, a personal finance site called Wallet Hub released a “study” on the “happiest places to live,” which found Philadelphia languishing in 139th place among 150 cities.

The study was suspicious for the usual reason – selective methodology – and seemed like most others to be designed to drive Web traffic. Most suspicious might have been the fact that Washington, D.C., made 10th place. I mean, c’mon.

Despite those shortcomings, the ranking was widely shared by Philadelphia media outlets – as most similar studies are – for reasons of sheer curiosity and likely because the characterization fits the typical Negadelphian stereotype of a population that finds community in misery.

Perhaps another reason Philadelphians were ready to nod in agreement to a negative assessment of their fair city might have been the poor performance of the city’s snow removal efforts following last Tuesday’s snowstorm.

Philadelphia has never excelled at clearing streets of snow. A lot of it is a complication of design. There are many narrow streets in every city neighborhood. And no matter where you go, most streets are packed with cars parked along every stretch of curb, making plowing a tricky and difficult procedure.

But last week seemed quite a bit worse than usual. Some readers called the Local and left messages to voice their frustration: “Are they even trying anymore?” “I can’t even drive down my street.”

One reader, Laurene Topping emailed to show the intersection of Crefeld Street and Laughlin Lane, filled with snow several days after the storm.

“I have observed several different vehicles, including a school bus, get stuck on the giant island of ice in the middle of the street,” Topping wrote.

Last week, I observed the same thing at the corner of West Highland and Germantown avenues. Snow in the westbound lane of West Highland was left untouched by plows for days, making the busy block an icy and dangerous one-lane road. Commuters, shoppers and delivery vehicles took turns getting stuck in the snow as they tried to maneuver past oncoming cars.

In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, City Streets Commissioner Carlton Williams said his department did the best it could given the conditions, which mixed very heavy sleet in with the snow, making it extraordinarily difficult to deal with.

“When we plowed, it pushed the snow into areas making it difficult for cars to go in and out and pedestrians to cross the street,” Williams told the Inquirer. “We’ve been removing those piles."

Williams said that the city would respond the best it could to spot snow removal for any residents who call 311. I can only imagine that line gets pretty busy following a storm like last week’s, but it is available.

Perhaps there really isn’t much more the city can do. Like death, taxes and frustrating sports teams, Philadelphia is just going to have to deal with snowstorms that make the city an unhappy place to live.

Pete Mazzaccaro

opinion