This last couple of weekends I have been reintroduced to Winter. Last Saturday morning while running errands the streets were a pure sheet of black ice that was undetectable unless you tapped your brakes. After sliding thru almost two intersections I wondered where the sanders were? Yesterday while riding my bike down East 10th street I hit a patch of ice and almost dumped my bike. I am not expecting our street department to sand every residential street in this town, but at least the busy streets and intersections.
The rumor coming from city hall is that the snow budget for 2023 was already eaten up and they are trying to get by without a supplemental appropriation until January 1st. Which is ridiculous since tax dollars main objective is to fund taxpayer services like street maintenance.
I found it funny that a city that has a tennis court on every corner of this town wants to build pickleball courts. You can play pickleball on a tennis court, you just have to lower the net by 2 inches. We seem to have money for a fad (I call pickleball the rollerblading of the 2000’s) but no money to throw a little sand on the streets so people can safely navigate? BTW, I also saw a gigantic 4-door super max truck slide thru an intersection, so when it comes to ice, size doesn’t matter.
This ‘cheating’ us on snow removal started with Munson and progressively got worse towards the end of Huether’s term. TenHaken acts like when it snows he has to make some weighty decision. It’s simple, money is in a fund for this, you call the Street Director and tell him, get to work. Nobody will criticize you for doing ‘too much’.
I have spoken to former street department managers and workers (retired) and they all tell me they have no idea why it is being run the way it is now. I think I have the answer, it’s not being run, it’s being ignored. On purpose.