"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
19 January 2007Scraping byOnce I got out of the neighborhood this morning, the commute went at close to full speed; the hard part, of course, was getting out of the neighborhood at all, where the streets are still covered with re-refrozen ice. This should not surprise you, says Mayor Cornett:
If people expect an extremely high level of service when it comes to snow cleanup, they've got to be kidding. That's why we've designated specific snow routes.
Said snow routes make up something like a twentieth of the 14,000 miles of roadway in the city, and it's taken the better part of a week to get them into shape. Were they to start on every residential street this morning, they'd finish in March, maybe. The average annual snowfall in Oklahoma City is 8.1 inches. Going into this weekend's version of the White Death, we've piled up 6.9 inches, so I think it's safe to say that this winter has been snowier than average. (Worst winter ever? 1947-48, with 25.2 inches. And on the 19th of March, 1924, 11.3 inches of the stuff came down.) There's only one way in and out of my neighborhood. The "alternate snow route" is the same as the way to grandma's house (over the river and through the woods). While I'm not whining about the slow (or complete lack of in some places) snow/ice removal, closing public schools for a week is ridiculous. I'd love to see a study done on how this has affected the economics of OKC. We're lucky; we've got daycare to fall back on. A lot of other people are being forced to take off work to spend time with non-schoolbound kiddies. Posted by: robohara at 10:07 AM on 19 January 2007"If people expect an extremely high level of service...they've got to be kidding" do not appear to be words a Mayor should prudently utter. I understand the idea of lowering expectations, but still... Posted by: John Salmon at 3:31 PM on 19 January 2007I don't think he's worried; he pulled 87 percent of the vote last time. It'll be less next time if there is still ice on the roads preventing voters from reaching the polls ... Posted by: robohara at 9:12 PM on 19 January 2007Now you know why they hold the election for mayor in the spring. Posted by: CGHill at 9:37 PM on 19 January 2007 |