How clueless and out of touch with the rest of the city could this lady really be:
Arterials were safe and bridges were open during December's snowstorms, Seattle Department of Transportation Director Grace Crunican said this morning.This should terminate Nickels' prospects for re-election, provided that there is a candidate with both the credibility and the fortitude to step up. Then again, this is Seattle. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 05, 2009 04:55 PM | Email ThisSome sidestreets were difficult to drive on, but she said she wouldn't recommend clearing more residential streets in future storms. The city isn't equipped for it, she said.
Overall, the transportation department's response was adequate, Crunican said.
She must have been sniffing too much de-icer, another reason to use salt!
Posted by: tg on January 5, 2009 04:47 PMI've asked this over and over and no one has answered other than with generalities, or citing the very steepest of hills.
We got around fine and we live off of a very steep arterial.
After all this hand-wringing over a winter snow we ought to know what the liberals that run Seattle will do. They will raise taxes so they can build up a massive inventory of snow removal equipment.
I've never seen so much silliness.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 5, 2009 04:59 PMEvery time liberals do anything it costs more.
It will be the same with snow removal...after they form a commission or a "blue ribbon panel" to study the "crisis" for a million or two. And that's before they actually do anything. It's truly a mental disease.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 5, 2009 05:39 PMRaise taxes, you can bet on it... Have this equipment ready for snow.
No-way!
Posted by: Medic/Vet on January 5, 2009 08:31 PMall you damn critics--message lost--
"...IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN..."
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on January 5, 2009 09:26 PMI didn't even try NE 125th between I-5 and LCW, even when the city tried to clear it in previous years the stretch between 15th Ave NE and LCW was impassable. I can only imagine the carnage this time.
I have a front wheel drive minivan and was only sliding and out of control a few times. I was always able to recover from the skid. The Hairy Mrs. has a rear wheel drive car and became stuck twice. She just gave up after a day. We are both experienced snow drivers.
The city's care of the streets was disgraceful and embarrassing. These attempts at spin to suggest otherwise are ludicrous.
Hairy
Posted by: Hairy Buddah on January 5, 2009 09:38 PMAgain I think the city could have done a better job, and salt would definitely have helped.
One thing that isn't possible is to plow a street where idiots have abandoned their cars where they got stuck in the height of the storm. That might have been the case on 25th, which isn't particularly steep.
Mark my words, all this whining about a day or two of inconvenience is going to cost us Seattle tax payers. That's how it works.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 6, 2009 07:50 AMI still called into work and worked from home instead, but that was more of a preference than a requirement.
I guess I just don't need my nanny city to clear the roads for me. Good whining though, libs.
Posted by: Andrew Brown on January 6, 2009 08:16 AMAs long as we are paying taxes for these government functions, we have an absolute right to demand they be performed well. To complain about malpractice on the part of goverment officials is not whining.
If the city of Seattle wants to abdicate its responsibility for road maintainance, fine. They should then lower our taxes proportionately, and we will contract with private businesses to maintain the roads. But until that happens (never, of course) we should continue to demand that the city do a good job with our money, and complain loudly and often when the job is botched.
I rode the bus to work downtown each day the week after the snow. 3rd Avenue, the major route for buses and a level street, was never cleared of snow. The number 1 bus slipped and slid all week, nearly taking out a group of riders waiting to board in Belltown.
A city bus remained jackknifed across an intersection at Spring and 7th until Thursday.
Denny Way was usable only by chained vehicles and Sno-Cats. Same with Boren. The streets around the first hill hospitals were never, ever cleared, constituting a danger for patients.
It was a shameful performance on the part of those empowered by law to force us to give them our money to fulfill the functions of goverment.
I agree it would be ridiculous whining to demand the city air drop groceries to our house because we failed to stock up before the storm. But it is reasonable and appropriate to demand the city open its arteries a week after the snow falls.
Posted by: Steve on January 6, 2009 08:48 AMThis is just what I'm talking about. A "week"? Oh please.
I just can't believe the way adults have responded to a rare Seattle snow like spoiled crybabies.
Then we get the "it's a proper function of government" argument. I don't disagree with that but I would argue that is a matter if degree.
Should Seattle, which rarely gets snow, have an armada of removal equipment at great expense so its wimpy citizens have zero inconvenience? It sounds to me like that's what a lot of people want. Reach for your wallets.
This isn't about getting more snow equipment - this is about proper use of snow equipment we have.
The rubber blades and salt issues are big mistakes on the part of our city planners. They led to serious problems. (You can say "I had not problems" all you want, but go to any auto body shop in town and you can see a backlog of cars with multi-thousand dollar dents that prove a lot of people did.)
If, instead of bowing to some very, very "iffy" environmental concerns about the effect of salt on salt water fish, the Mayor had thought instead about the citizens, this wouldn't have been an issue.
Even the Major has backtracked now on the salt issue - it was dumb. Salt can be purchased cheap so this isn't about raising taxes or lots of new spending.
Oh yeah. I can make it happen.
Posted by: swatter on January 6, 2009 09:33 AMI've just about had it. It frikkin' snowed!
Now government is supposed to protect idiots who don't know how to drive in the snow or who aren't smart enough to avoid driving for a couple of days.
This is just insane.
"Twas the week before Christmas, and next to the Sound,
Not a creature was stirring, for all were snowbound.
Greyhound busses quit running, no matter the fare,
And the mail men and garbage said they just couldn't get there!
The children were sliding Queen Anne Hill on their sleds.
While roofs were collapsing on old people's heads.
And mamma in her boots and I in my cap,
Were stuck in the snow and ice and such crap.
When at the Home Depot there arose such a clatter,
I trudged from my car to see what was the matter.
A group of sad souls were waving their cash,
They couldn't buy shovels, they'd sold in a flash.
Tires were spinning and just wouldn't go,
And chains lay broken in the dirty old snow.
Then, what to my surprise did my eyes look over and see?
Eight representatives of SDOT,
With a fat politician so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it was Mayor "Salt Nick".
More rapid than gun bans, his excuses they came,
"To save our environment the roads stay the same!
On Broadway! On Boren! On Yesler and Denny!,
To clear off these roads would cost such a penny!
Sliding down Thomas and onto a wall!
The busses hung over I-5, ready to fall!
Still, he insisted it wasn't his fault,
As the world's greenest mayor he wouldn't use SALT!
That stuff's corrosive, could hurt the fish.
(But the Puget Sound's SALT WATER you ignorant kish!)
So snowy Seattle continued to stew,
But Mayor "Salt Nick" just hadn't a clue.
While I stood there astonished, on nearby TV sets,
I saw the airport was packed, no de-icer for jets.
Since others couldn't get down the roads to the ferry,
The city decided to close Denny and Cherry.
Police cars and firetrucks were highly impaired,
Citizens got no impression that Mayor Salt Nick cared.
A house that caught fire, or a rape in progress,
Was less important than "going green" in Seattle - I guess!
An accident closed the I-90 bridge,
And people couldn't drive down Finney Ridge.
Shovels, and salt had just flown off the shelf,
And I laughed when I heard him in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
He tried to convey we had nothing to dread;
He spoke many words, but did little work,
Yet Seattle knew they should never have elected this jerk.
Then thumbing his nose at his citizens' plight,
He turned to the crowd and exclaimed "We've done right!",
And then to his limo refusing to yield,
He left to get solar panels installed on Qwest Field.
But I heard him exclaim, as he skidded past me
"Happy Christmas to all, heck, I give myself a 'B' ".
That said, Seattle voters prefer "neighborhood activists" and other unqualified persons for elected offices. Experience in a bureaucracy or as an appointed official are not the sort of qualifications needed.
Seattle needs persons with business or financial management experience. It should be obvious that the typical government model does not work because the Peter Principal is in play. Decision makers with actual leadership experience are essential.
Retired military are a resource that has been ignored. They know how to lead, deal with bureaucracies, and know how to motivate and obtain productivity, responsibility and accountability.
Sadly, it is wishful thinking to expect Seattle voters to elect competent, qualified persons for mayor and council members for a change.
Posted by: Paddy on January 6, 2009 01:09 PM"Emergency vehicles were not able to respond".
Pure nonesense. But people here use it to bolster their claim that we need to spend countless dollars on snow removal equipment.
It borders on the hysterical. Sure, the Mayor was liberal silly for not allowing the use of salt. This morning we have front page headlines in the Times about the outrage of citizens over the way the storm was handled.
I think we've gone bonkers. And it will cost us.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on January 6, 2009 01:17 PMDo you or any of your family work for the Mayor?
Or better yet, IS Bill Cruchon Greg Nickels?