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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Howl of the Day: Community snow removal?

The snow isn't quite done with Philly yet. With that in mind, user "RetArmy" has an idea for the Streets Department on how to clear smaller city streets:

I have a suggestion that may work to clear the smallest of the small streets in the city such as: Manayunk, and S. Philly of massive amounts of snow. 1. The city could purchase snow blowers that block captains could borrow from the city when there is a serious storm like the one we just had. The block captain would call the Street Dept to request the blowers, the Street Dept would deliver the blower to that block and the block captain would sign for it. They could be shared between 4 & 5 blocks with the block captains of each block working together. 2. Post some type of large water tight containers or bins on these blocks that is filled with salt, and locked. The block captains would have access to these locked containers for the purpose of clearing his or her block during the winter season and then removed in the Spring.

Do you think this would work? Have more ideas? Post them on City Howl.

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Posted by Juliana Reyes @ 4:00 PM  Permalink | 4 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:33 PM, 02/09/2010
    I think that's a great idea. But for alleys, we need more than a snow blower, we need a Bobcat, which the city used to do. You used to be able to request a city-recognized alley to be plowed via online using the Streets website, but Streets seems to have taken that link down. This reflects badly on Nutter. These alleys are how trash trucks pick up trash, so it's not optional that they get plowed.
    — CleanupPhilly
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:43 PM, 02/09/2010
    This is great idea except somewhere in there is insurance and lawsuits about bad equipment. But it's a very sensible idea. If the city can't administer it, then the co-op model could be another way to do it.
    — MB6
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:19 PM, 02/09/2010
    MB6 is right. I can't begin to imagine the litigation that would result by some idiot sticking their head in the snowblower.
    — phillygwm
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:05 AM, 02/10/2010
    Yes, it will work. But since it's for yourselves, do it without any city intervention. Don't let obstacles get in your way, create self insured policies. Engage a local mechanic to service the equipment. Ask city later to lift and carry snow. Thats their obligation.
    — FJG JR


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