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Snowed in

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I love snow. I always have. And it’s snowing. Again. It’s beautiful. I should be thrilled.

Instead, I’m just pissed off. We live on a hill, in Fremont, that’s been a skating rink for nearly a week now. I understand when side streets don’t get plowed during an emergency. But impassable for a week?

And it’s not just side streets. The nearest arterial is less than three blocks away. It’s flat. It connects to other streets that are flat (or, in one case, gently sloping). By all appearances, that street hasn’t been plowed, either. Or salted. Or even sanded. The bus, needless to say, doesn’t come.

Read some of the over 250 comments on Joel Connelly’s latest column and you’ll quickly deduce that this situation is happening all over the region, and especially in the cities of Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond. And there’s no excuse. None.

“But Seattle has hills!” So does Pittsburgh. And Boston. And any number of other cities that get snow regularly. They cope. “But it’s rare here!” I’ve lived in any number of places in the South – Houston, Memphis, South Carolina, Virginia – where it snowed in amounts roughly comparable to Seattle: a couple times a year, maybe, and one big storm a decade. Some of these places have hills, too. They cope. Mind you, we’re talking the South, where local governments are loathe to tax or to provide any services, and where buses are something the black maids use to get to the suburbs each morning. They handle this shit better than Seattle. “Salt hurts the environment!” Once or twice a year? I can live with that. But then, I could live with sand on the roads, too, and I’m not seeing that, either. After seven fucking days.

It’s preposterous that in the 21st century, a metropolitan area of nearly four million people — one of the wealthiest metropolitan areas in the world, I might add — can be nearly paralyzed for a week or more by a few inches of snow.

Oh, speaking of the P-I, one other thought: we haven’t gotten home delivery of our newspaper since Friday, and, guess what? We haven’t missed it. Everything we need is online. Wonder how many other households will reach the same conclusion this week?

Comments

  1. 1

    Oh, quit complaining, Geov! According to KOMO News, Seattle hasn’t had this much snow on the ground since 1861, so we’re going through a once-in-140-years event. This is a time to snuggle up in front of the fireplace with a good book and forget about work or shopping for a few days. Whatsamatter with you humans, can’t you take a little snow?!

  2. 2

    Regulation? We Don’t Need No Regulation! Dep’t …

    The Ecology Department has discovered hundreds of illegal dams in Washington from aerial surveys, and on-the-ground inspections reveals dozens are leaking and potentially dangerous to homes downstream. Most are in eastern Washington where many folks vote Republican, hate any kind of regulation, and think they have a right to do as they please — even if it kills their neighbors.

  3. 3

    Geov, my good friend, patience…and Merry Christmas.

    On the Eastside in Bellevue, the city does what it is supposed to do: clear the streets because it’s a matter of public health and safety.

    Mayor Quarters and his minions worry about the impact on a few fish, so they leave the streets dangerous and impassable for such unimportant things as ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks.

    I’m sure his attitude is any loss of life occassioned thereby is covered by the words of pre-ghosts-of-various-Christmases Ebenezer Scrooge who, when challenged to donate for the relief of the poor who might otherwise die, commented: “they had better do it now, and decrease the surplus population”.

    Think…no more salt in salty Puget Sound and less people to do carbon footprint things and associated environmental improprieties – it’s all good.

    Of course, someone will eventualy tabulate just what Mayor Quarters’ efforts cost city merchants in lost Christmas-sales revenue and the like. But I’m sure that, too, will be rationalized as a necessary skirmish in the war against mercantile evil, capitalistic consumerism, and sundry landfill crimes.

    Uh huh…

    The net, net, net, of course, is all this political theater of the absurd will have about the same effect as trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a leaky squirt gun.

    People who live within the Seattle City Limits must be embarrassed. Since, however, embarrassment in Seattle over the failure of government at all levels to keep its priorities straight isn’t considered a civic virture, I predict a landslide victory for Mayor Quarters in his re-election run.

    Talk about a self-inflicted wound…

    The ultimate civic virtue in Seattle is narcissistic feel-goodism, which the Mayor’s no-salt, rubber-plows, let-them-eat-yellow-snow policies foster to the enth degree. In the meantime, the rest of the country now has something new to put into the increasingly large stack of stories about how Washingtonians are weird, bizarre, and foolish – again, we’re the laughing stock of everybody.

    BTW…we still need to set a date to break bread and tell inside stories.

    The Piper

  4. 4

    Goldy often says WE are the government, so WE aren’t plowing or sanding the roads, so if you are going to be mad at someone, be mad at yourself.

    Anyone see Westneat’s column about the immigrant?

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....nny24.html

    Even the immigrant he wrote about called us a bunch of snow wimps, and he grew up in Ethiopia. He lives in Renton, and makes it into work EVERY DAY in Madrona.

  5. 5

    Geov–
    When you elect Progressive Pinheads like Nipples, what do you expect??
    Seattle is beginning to remind me of a 3rd World Country. It’s pathetic…but predictable.
    It appears that the Progressive incompentence is really beginning to “chap yer ass” Geov.

    Good.

    Seattle needs a Conservative Mayor to clean up the incompetence.

  6. 6

    Geov–
    Idealogues like Nipples seem to flourish during good economic times…then self-destruct when the goin’ gets tough.

  7. 7

    @1 RR: Do you believe everything you hear on TV? We had more snow on the ground than this in 1996 (though it turned to rain pretty quickly, and was a goopy mess for days). Granted, rabbits have short lives, so it may seem like 140 years to you, but by my calculations it’s only…12.

    @3: My bad. Let’s do it.

    @5 & 6: Plenty of people on the left don’t like Nickels, either. And some issues, especially local ones, just don’t divide neatly into left and right, no matter how much simple minds like yours try to cram them into those boxes.

  9. 9

    7. Geov spews:

    @5 & 6: Plenty of people on the left don’t like Nickels, either. And some issues, especially local ones, just don’t divide neatly into left and right, no matter how much simple minds like yours try to cram them into those boxes.

    Seems like folks on the Left that dislike Nipples are mighty timid when it comes to Election Time…considering how handily he won.
    Go ahead Geov, Keep Whispering your dislike of Nipples. He’s a Progressive…and so are you.
    The results of Progressive “leadership” in Seattle can be summarized by the dangerous, icy streets.

  10. 10

    This ought to make all you KLOWNS warm & fuzzy.
    Obama’s “investigation” uncovered:

    Analysis: Obama Inquiry Has Closed Loop Quality
    The inquiry into whether President-elect Barack Obama’s staff had any inappropriate contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was bound to meet its pre-conceived conclusion. By Major Garrett

    FOXNews.com

    Wednesday, December 24, 2008

    President-Elect Barack Obama’s inquiry into “inappropriate contacts” between his staff and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich over his vacated U.S. Senate seat has the appearance of a closed loop — the conclusion came before the inquiry.

    The conclusion was: there were no inappropriate contacts.

    The inquiry found: Imagine, no inappropriate contacts.

    The inquiry began on Dec. 11 and ended Dec. 15. That’s right, it took all of four days.

    The Obama transition staff never explained what “inappropriate contacts” meant until releasing its report Tuesday, despite numerous press questions.

    “Inappropriate” in Obama transition-speak can be defined two ways: “unethical” or “discussing an explicit quid pro quo”

    When the Obama report says nothing inappropriate occurred, that’s what it means.

    It’s also worth understanding how “lawyered-up” this process was.

    Greg Craig, the incoming White House Counsel, conducted his inquiry by taking questions to each transition staff member’s lawyer. The lawyers then went to the staff members and collected the answers. The lawyers then gave the answers to Craig.

    In some cases — team Obama won’t say how many — Craig would go back to either the staff member’s attorney or the staff member directly for clarification. But it appears Craig’s direct questioning of staff was very limited.

    Additionally, there was no independent effort to verify any of the information provided by the staff member or the staff member’s attorney. If, for example, a staff member’s attorney said there was no e-mail or text messaging with Blagojevich or his staff, Craig took that at face value. No one knows if there was any e-mailing or texting, by the way.

    Also, the lawyers’ own words mattered to Craig. He told reporters on Tuesday’s conference call that Valerie Jarrett described Blagojevich’s suggestion he might be appointed secretary of health and human services as “ridiculous” when that subject was broached by the Illinois head of the Service Employees International Union.

    How does Craig know Jarrett said the word “ridiculous”? He knows that because that’s what Jarrett’s lawyer told him. Jarrett didn’t say it to Craig. Her attorney did.

    This is not to say any of the answers are untrue. But it is to say that two layers of protection are available to staff here when it comes to minimizing the potential political damage to the president-elect.

    Consider this: Obama’s incoming attorney is given a conclusion and then sets about to perform his inquiry. The attorney, Craig, has one client — Obama. Craig then talks to other lawyers for staff who work for the client and with the leader of the inquiry, Craig.

    Craig takes answers from the lawyer for each staff member and does nothing to independently verify the information or challenge with conflicting data. It’s very close to an ask-and-answer dynamic. Craig asked questions and gathered the answers. In no way does this constitute an independent or fact-finding inquiry. It is a set of questions posed by an Obama employee, Craig, to lawyers representing Craig’s co-workers, staff members.

    Obviously, the U.S. attorney in this case, Patrick Fitzgerald, has a separate agenda and would have conducted a different investigation. But Fitzgerald has long said there was nothing criminal involved in any of the Obama transition contacts with Blagojevich or his staff.

    But the Craig report is designed to cope with a political problem. That problem is related to the Obama team’s proximity to Blagojevich. This report was designed to minimize that proximity.

    It has succeeded. The conclusions follow two paths of self-interest: Obama benefits from “being cleared” as to what he or others did — and that’s obviously a plus.

    The report also highlights the benefits that can be derived by other staff members to share with Craig only what they can recollect and have their lawyer protectively reveal those memories to the U.S. attorney only.

    Obama is off to a very bad start if this is his idea of a fair, impartial inquiry!

  11. 11

    Even though we live in a city run by a Democrat, within a district represented by a Democrat, within a county run by a Democrat, within a State run by a Democrat, I don’t think this is a partisan issue. Around these here parts, we like to do things “the Seattle way.” Which is to say it’s okay to make everyone mad, but it’s not okay to make only a few special interest groups mad. That would be unfair.

  12. 12

    @8: Whispering my dislike of Nickels? Like here? Or here? Or here? Or here?

    Want me to keep going? I have eight years of links at my disposal.

    In the phrase “more and better Democrats,” what part of “better” don’t you understand? Plenty of conservatives don’t like some Republicans (McCain, for one). Why should Democrats – or progressives, which are not the same thing – be any different?

  13. 13

    Oh, speaking of the P-I, one other thought: we haven’t gotten home delivery of our newspaper since Friday

    My copy of the P-I has shown up on my doorstep every morning by 5AM. And I’m thankful that it does. If I didn’t get the paper copy how could I do the crossword puzzle?

  14. 14

    I want to know where all the buses are. If more than half of the routes are suspended, why hasn’t Metro redeployed these coaches and drivers to the routes that are still running? I waited an hour and a half on Tuesday for an in-bound #7, only to watch as eight of them passed me by, each too full to pick up more passengers.

  15. 15

    Piper @ 3

    The snow removal here in Bellevue leaves a lot to be desired, but it is much better than the pathetic nothing that has been done in Seattle.

  16. 16

    king 5 inteviewed some SDOT dude last night, he was telling us why they haven’t salted the roads.

    of course, he has a good job with good benefits, as do his professional frieds all ‘working from home’

    – what about the tens of thousands of anonymous serfs working at all the stores and coffee shops who can’t get to work = missed DAYS of pay?

    this guy should be fired.

    maybe some day it will be a small world after all, and we’ll be wearing tofu hats and tofu gloves driving tofu cars with tofu batteries and tofu tires, living under tofu roofs with tofu toilets.

    until then, ONCE AGAIN, when stuff falls apart it is NOT the yuppie tofu policy makers who suffer, but the bottom 60% of serfs.

    yo! mr. clueless salt-free — a little salt right now is NEEDED to get the city running again, and, by ‘the city’ I don’t mean all you powerpoint making over credentialed poorly educated geniuses, I mean the people who don’t get paid if they don’t work.

    rmm.

  17. 17

    @16
    for you mouth breathers – just cuz I have nothing but comtempt for relatively affluent good gov’t incompetents,

    that does NOT mean I suppport your fascist halliburton blackwaterswamp ‘private’ sector coporate welfare kings stealing everything they can steal for their fascist fantasies.

    public sector nimcompoops should be fired –

    your private sector CRIMINALS belong in jail.

    rmm.

  18. 18

    We managed to get on the road yesterday and drive about a mile and a half to U. Village to do a little last-minute shopping and pick up some groceries. The streets were bad, but the parking lot was even worse. They’d turned a small section next to Pottery Barn into “free valet parking” but walking from one part of the mall to another took real courage and extreme caution. You could see a few token splotches of sand amid the hard-packed ice, but it hardly made any difference.

    It seems that preparedness for adverse situations has fallen victim to the “just-in-time” philosophy that’s infused what’s left of American manufacturing–keep a minimum complement of equipment and supplies on hand, rely on daily deliveries from your suppliers, and hope for the best.

  19. 19

    Nickels = Democrat = Liberal thinking = Paralysis of analysis = Multiple car accidents and personal injuries through bumbling incompetence; Lost business revenue for businesses in their optimal revenue generating period; or lack of emergency services personnel capable of responding to emergency calls…

    …but at least there won’t be a very minute addition of salt into the already salted puget sound and pacific ocean.

  20. 20

    @1
    140 years?
    Well then, by my calculations they should be using every and all methods in great excess to clear the roads…
    what possible environmental impact could there be if we only used salt and chemicals once every 140 years….

  21. 21

    Seattle hasn’t responded well to a snowstorm in my lifetime. I figure it’s all been that Sonic-hating, developer-lackey’s fault. Yeah, that’s it.

  23. 23

    I would be happy with simple competence in City Hall, regardless of party. We certainly don’t have it now.

  24. 24

    Mind you, we’re talking the South…where buses are something the black maids use to get to the suburbs each morning.

    Only in your crypto-racist fantasies, Geov. This is not 1958.

  25. 25

    Nickels’ “green” policy on snow removal and resulting crippled transit is the best advertisement for the SUV industry in years.

    Net result? More greenhouse gases from more 4wd vehicles which are less efficient.

    Weel done, Mayor Dipshit.

  26. 26

    Nickels’ “green” policy on snow removal and resulting crippled transit is the best advertisement for the SUV industry in years.

    Net result? More greenhouse gases from more 4wd vehicles which are less efficient.

    Weel done, Mayor Dipshit.

    Piper, Richad,

    The tiny town of of Carnation did a better job than Seattle.

  27. 27

    To save taxpayer dollars, since we know that only certain people want to pay the money to have the streets sanded, I’m sure the City of Seattle only keeps a minimum amount of sand in storage per year.

    I just carry cat litter(unscented) in the trunk. I find it works better than sand.

  28. 28

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    melting

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    complain again in 14 years

    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    Native Son, 3rd Generation, III, Seattle Savy

  29. 29

    Its Obamas fault. He hates white people and fudgepackers. Well, gotta go burn some tires in the burn barrel.

  30. 30

    I’ve discontinued paying for the Times and they just keep on delivering it. I haven’t missed a day since this weather started and I’m not even paying for the rag anymore.

    Is that a great paper or what?!

    Props to the delivery guy. What a trooper.

  31. 31

    @30…DK…

    Of course, you will be giving the newspaper carrier who now delivers your free newspaper a most generous Christmas tip, won’t you?

    The Piper

  33. 33

    I feel bad for the news delivery person! First they were slammed with the high cost of gas. Now (when they’re trying to make nice so that self-addressed Christmas card comes back to them with a healthy tip) they’re hit with this snow crap. I haven’t had a delivery since last week. None on Fri, then Fri/Sat delivered Saturday, nothing since. Same guy delivers both Times as well as the P.I. I believe.

    I always make it a point to tip nice through the year, that’s a HARD job! But, I think my person is just going to have to get that Christmas card AFTER the holidays when I’m not snowbound too. I’m worried this experience will make more people stop subscribing & the ones most hurt will be the little working peons.

  34. 34

    Again…

    Portland
    1300 Arterial Miles
    6.6″ Annual snowfall
    52 Snow plows

    Seattle
    1527 Arterial Miles
    13″ Annual snowfall
    27 Snow plows

    It’s hard to do more with less, when you hamstring the few trucks you have by not using ice. So for a week the 27 trucks struggle to keep arterials clear, and fail. If they even just used salt only on the arterials, those would stay clear and the trucks would get some time to hit secondary and neighborhood streets. None of which have been touched in Capitol Hill north of Madison, since this all began.

    I’m a big lefty, but as far as I’m concerned, Greg Nickels is a giant sack of shit. It’s fun to galavant around the speaking circuit as ‘The Green Mayor’, but he doesn’t get the nuts and bolts stuff done. Even apparently something related to the Climate Change he is supposedly so passionate and knowledgeable about. Hey Greg, I give your defense of the cities lack of preparedness in today’s press Q&A a BS. The people driving the trucks deserve our thanks, but your administration gets an F on this.

  35. 35

    @ 12. Geov spews:

    Danged tootin’! I would be willing to vote for Dino Rossi (gasp), if it would just get Nickels out of town!

  36. 36

    I truly lucked out last Thurs coming back from Phoenix! All those poor sad people waiting at Seatac for delayed flights.

    So grateful to even get home instead of paying another $115 per night at a hotel 3/4 mile from my home, Hotel Nexas by Northgate! Not complaining, it was cheaper than falling on the ice when my flight came in 4 hrs late. But damn, I didn’t have toothpaste, rude scrubbing my teeth with hotel perfumed soap!!!! Ick! So lucky to even get a taxi next day Fri. And, whew, there wouldn’t even be a chance the following day when I believe Alaska & Horizon cancelled all flights because they ran out of deicer too.

    Re: Taxi Driver above, things were so bad here in Seattle the Yellow Cab driver asked if I was “paying cash?” Their satellite dish had frozen over with icicles, meaning NO radio dispatch, no credit card transactions either. Thankfully, I had cash! When I asked him HOW he was able to pick me up? He had given his cellphone number to the Hotel DeskClerk. Jeepers, I could still be staying at the hotel, instead of my own bed!

    Grateful that the contractors had finished my insulation/mold abatement issues this last month. Wow, would I have been in Hurt City & freezing my buns off! Thank you Santa!

  37. 37

    About that $115 per night at a hotel, they gave a “Manager’s Special” for $98/night. The rest went to pay fool Stadium taxes. Yay teams.

  38. 38

    12. Geov spews:

    <blockquote

    Nipples has recklessly disregarded the Public Safety of the citizens of Seattle.

    Why not start an IMPEACH NIPPLES movement.
    Walk your talk Geov.
    Nipples is a LardAss listening to lunatics masquerading as environmentalists. Most of them have little or no science in their backgrounds.
    IMPEACH NIPPLES!

    You “Progressives” seem afraid of offending the Democratic Establishment…like Nipples & Sims.
    Grow some sack Geov!!
    IMPEACH the LardAss.
    Let the Courts decide if his Public Safety inactions are recallable.
    RECALL NIPPLES!

  40. 40

    @34 Seattle has 27 snow plows? And they still don’t know what to do with them? Hahah! Charlie Chong’s Revenge!

    Remember when Charlie warned the Council not to sell off the five plows we had back in early 1996? They sold ’em anyway, and ridiculed Charlie in the process. (So did Joni Balter in a 9/20/99 Times editorial, conveniently forgetting the snow plows were long gone.) When the huge snowstorm hit in December of ’96, guess who looked stupid?

    But stupid is as stupid does, my mama used to say. And if you ever want to see what stupid does, all you have to do is watch Nickels and the current City Council in action. (Or is that inaction?) If it wasn’t for Licata, real Seattle progressives would have to commit ritual mass suicide.

  41. 41

    I’ve lived in any number of places in the South – Houston, Memphis, South Carolina, Virginia – where it snowed in amounts roughly comparable to Seattle: a couple times a year, maybe, and one big storm a decade. Some of these places have hills, too. They cope.

    I call bullshit.
    I lived in Richmond.
    They shut down under the exact same amounts as Seattle got last week. And they got that much EVERY OTHER YEAR. Not every 10 years like here in Seattle.

    And guess what? None of the roads got plowed.

    Same thing in Memphis where my girlfriend grew up.

    Quit channeling the old guy from the Simpsons and Deal With It instead of yelling at clouds.

  42. 42

    @19. Rick D. spews:

    Nickels = Democrat = Liberal thinking = Paralysis of analysis = Multiple car accidents and personal injuries through bumbling incompetence;

    The Mayor is personally responsible for every fender-bender in Seattle? Not one of the drivers who thought their skills were uber-midwest capable were responsible for any of them?

    What ever happened to the vaunted GOP personal responsibility?

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