On Kenney's old block, the same snowy story
TINY Cantrell Street can't catch a break. The South Philadelphia route rarely got plowed when the future Mayor Kenney was growing up there, longtime residents said, and now that he has taken office, it still isn't getting plowed.
TINY Cantrell Street can't catch a break.
The South Philadelphia route rarely got plowed when the future Mayor Kenney was growing up there, longtime residents said, and now that he has taken office, it still isn't getting plowed.
Snow drifts and piles were thigh-deep Monday, and a half-dozen cars were buried. They might not drive out for weeks. People trying to walk across the street sank into drifts where crusty tops hid soft layers.
"It's treacherous," said Leon Fulginiti, 35, who was trying to dig a path outside his home near 3rd Street.
He spoke for thousands.
On the myriad small side streets across Philadelphia on Monday, the snow mountains were high, the thermometers low, and the tempers rising. People labored to free cars and called the city for help from snow plows that never arrived.
A little further east on Cantrell, one woman worried less about the snow and more about the smell.
"We're going to have three weeks of trash by the time we get [plowed] down here," she said, declining to give her name because, she said, her family was in politics. "We're the forgotten street."
Several neighbors said that as much as they could use Kenney's help, they did not expect the new mayor to favor his old block - people on other snowed-in streets would rightly complain. And there were plenty of them, north and south of Cantrell and across South Philadelphia.
"A week from now, if it's like this, then we've got a problem," said Mary Listman, who has lived for 30 years on the block where Kenney once lived.
Kenney, his two brothers, his sister, and their parents shared a 21/2-bedroom brick rowhouse on the narrow street, where homes stand shoulder to shoulder.
On Monday at City Hall, Kenney asked for patience.
"We haven't forgotten you. We are coming or we are already there," he said.
Part of the challenge is that large plows can clear a typical street in two to three minutes, officials said, but smaller streets require a smaller vehicle and generally take from 30 to 45 minutes to clean.
On Monday, main South Philadelphia routes were passable, the side streets mostly socked in. Many snow piles were taller than a man.
No one was happy at being snowbound, though some preached patience: The city has endless small streets, a certain number of plows, and limited places to put the snow.
In Center City, the streets were mostly clear. Pink-and-red dressing in the windows at Macy's suggested that people should forget the snow and prepare for Valentine's Day. At intersections, pedestrians stepped over and around small icy lakes.
In Mantua, residents said, few streets have seen a plow since the storm hit Friday evening.
"Who's next?" yelled Chuck Singleton as he and Quadir Tilghman freed and pushed a car down Union Street. "That guy was stuck there three hours and didn't want our help, but then he saw us get five other cars out."
The streets were filled with residents carrying shovels and pieces of cardboard, the latter to be slid under car tires to provide traction.
A few blocks south, Karen Kalia shoveled the sidewalk and watched her two sons throw snowballs in the middle of Melon Street. Cars sat bumper to bumper, and most residents hadn't started digging.
"People can hardly get to work," she said. "They have the subways running if you can get there, but how about the people who work way out? They're stuck and they're missing days and days of work."
One young woman, who gave her name only as Evelyn, said that in her original home of Springfield, Mass., the streets were fully plowed the day after a snowfall.
"Isn't this a public safety problem?" she asked. "My blood pressure is so high today. I just want some answers. What is going on here?"
Singleton said the city must be far behind on its plowing schedule, since Fairmount Avenue still was not cleared for SEPTA Bus Route 31, which normally would be running right where he stood.
In West Philadelphia, a truck traveling along Pine Street made a slow, five-point turn onto 46th Street.
"Trucks have been slipping and so have people," said Paul Gravitz, who watched the truck make its way. "There's black ice under this snow."
In Kensington and Fishtown, main routes including Kensington Avenue and Frankford Avenue were mostly clear, though cars struggled to navigate narrow side streets still encased in snow and ice.
Casey Knecht, 29, spent two days stranded in a hotel in the Lehigh Valley. He was still trying to reach his Kensington home when his car got stuck in the intersection of Memphis and Dauphin Streets. He jumped out, grabbed a shovel, and started to try to clear a path.
"It's better here than it is there," Knecht said.
His experience on the road was common. Lots of snow. No plows.
"I haven't seen anyone touch anything," said Cooper Kelso, 21, of Kensington. "No plows on Saturday or Sunday."
Bob Selter, 58, gave up waiting and began shoveling his street in Fishtown. On Wilt Street near Gaul, snow was piled so high that cars didn't dare approach. Selter said he would normally ignore the snow in the street, but his daughter needed to drive back to college.
Back on Cantrell Street near 3rd, a bicycle was locked to a handrail of a rowhouse stoop, and sleds were piled beside a doorway - the latter the more reliable form of transportation.
"It's like six feet of snow," said Brian Lamay, looking out at the drifts from his front door. Calling "311 doesn't get you anywhere, really, not when it's like this. Not when everyone is calling."
Kenney knows what that's like.
"I spent most of my life in South Philadelphia," he said at a briefing as the snow fell Saturday. "And up until the Street administration, it never got plowed."
It's a block, neighbors say, where everyone knows everyone and people watch out for one another. Several people are older, and some have health problems - worrisome when the snow would block an ambulance.
Nearby, on Winton Street near 4th, Macio DaSilva, 37, was trying to shovel away the snow that entombed his car - and not happy about it.
"When Michael Nutter was in office, we didn't have a problem," he said. "Now with the new mayor . . . I called 311 several times. I put in a request. I don't think they're being fair."
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@JeffGammage