So I found this statement interesting;
Now more than two weeks after the historic weather event, all but a few trees remain to be picked up in city parks,
Not quite. I find it baffling that the city is still struggling with messaging. Earlier this week I rode my bike thru the affected areas along 41st street. While a majority of the bigger trees were picked up, small debris was still strewn all over the residential side streets. On Lincoln Avenue, directly North of the Auto parts store that was damaged, a large piece of the roof sat in a yard (approximately 10 x 30 FT in size).
On the bike trail between Spencer park and Yankton Trail, there were hundreds of trees down and massive piles of tree debris. But the bike trail was clear and clean.
Overall, Smith and others with COAD say operations were mostly smooth, with the city’s emergency operations guide working as it was intended. The document, created in 2012, outlines a chain of command and lays out what steps are to be taken during natural and man-made disasters.
This is also baffling to me. Throughout the article they talk about how they have been planning for this for 9 years and have timely meetings. So what happened with messaging and city assistance?
I think the volunteer efforts were FANTASTIC, but as I have stressed before, volunteers are one leg of the stool, the city, the state and federal government has to step in and help to. This was a major misstep by the city in the early stage of this (they of course stepped up later but never communicated that to the public, or maybe contractors just ignored the rules?).
I don’t know how you can say you have been planning for a tornado for 9 years, and after the event actually happens you tell citizens to call a private non-profit helpline for assistance because it’s not the city’s responsibility to pick up debris, but then do it anyway
That’s one heck of a 9 year plan!
I just hope it doesn’t take 9 years to fix it.