How much in additional property taxes would you be willing to pay the City of Park Ridge so that, after a blizzard like last Sunday’s, all the streets and City parking lots would be curb-to-curb clear of snow and ice within 24 hours?

That’s a question few people – even those who chose to register off-topic beefs about the City’s snow removal as comments to our unrelated 01.29.15 post – seem interested in taking on. Even the beefers offered nothing in that regard, other than for one of them saying he/she doesn’t think we pay high enough taxes here in Park Ridge.

Needless to say, that comment was made anonymously.

But when it comes to most of the things about which Park Ridge residents (and the occasional non-resident parasites) complain, money almost always could make a difference. And often a big difference.

Take snow removal.

According to Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim (as reported in a 02.03.15 Park Ridge Herald-Advocate article, “Park Ridge mayor questions delay in plowing Uptown lot after blizzard”), City crews worked steadily from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning. But apparently that wasn’t enough to clear even our primary thoroughfares from curb to curb by the time residents had to head to work Monday morning. Or to salt those thoroughfares, plow out the commuter lots on Summit and Fairview, or plow out the Library lot on Prospect.

That ticked off some residents who awakened early Monday morning to shovel their driveways in order to get to the train, only to find no place to park. And those residents who would have taken their kids to the Library in response to the school closings, only to find the Library closed because its lot wasn’t plowed.

Questions should be raised about what was done and not done, when, and why. A number of residents and the H-A article reported that neighboring communities did a much better job than we did in clearing and salting their streets. If that is true, the City’s Public Works Director owes residents some answers.

He also owes them an explanation of why two plows reportedly were already out of service when the blizzard hit – despite a couple of days of advance warning that a heavy snow was on its way – and why three more plows reportedly went down with mechanical problems during the snow removal effort. Frankly, five downed vehicles sound like too many for a properly maintained fleet the size of Park Ridge’s.

Questions also remain about why Park Ridge streets weren’t salted during the first 24 hours of the blizzard, while streets in neighboring communities were salted and noticeably clearer than ours. And we’ve heard a few folks question whether the Super Bowl and/or the running feud between the City and Operating Engineers Local 150 – which represents the City’s Public Works employees and stationed large inflatable rats at City Hall on November 24, 2014, to protest Mayor Dave Schmidt’s and a 5-alderman Council majority’s refusal to roll over for the union in a contract dispute – may have affected not only the availability of City staff but also of the private plowing contractors the City sometimes uses in emergency situations.

One thing the City could do to improve the public’s understanding of this situation is to post on its website a color-coded map showing which thoroughfares and lots have the highest plowing priority and which have lower priorities. At least that way, residents could know where their streets rank and can chart their course around town with the knowledge of what streets are most likely to be passable. Something like that should cost taxpayers next to nothing

But the additional manpower and vehicles it might take to provide 24-hour turnaround times for blizzards such as Sundays will cost a whole lot more than “next to nothing.”

So it’s up to the City – with the Public Works Department taking the lead – to proactively figure out what it would take to do a top-shelf job of snow removal and salting, and what it would cost our taxpayers. Then it’s up to the City Council to proactively discuss that issue and figure out whether the benefits justify those costs.

As part of that process the Public Works Director should be asked to fully account for his department’s performance in this last blizzard.

He should be asked to confirm whether his department had enough salt (and, if not, when did he last ask for more); whether it had enough trucks (and, if not, why not and when did he last ask for more); whether it had enough drivers (and, if not, why not and when did he last ask for more); whether it had enough mechanics (and, if not, why not and when did he last ask for more); and whether it had enough money in its budget to do the jobs it needs to do at the level it needs to do them (and, if not, why not and when did he last ask for more).

He should also be asked to explain things like : (a) which streets are our No. 1 priority streets; (b) when each of them was fully cleared – not just one lane, but at least two lanes if not curb to curb; (c) why the commuter lots weren’t cleared by 6:00 a.m. Monday when commuters started arriving; (d) why the Library lot wasn’t cleared when it could have been expected that there would be a demand for parking due to the schools being closed; and (e) exactly what happened to those 3rd party plows, and how many did the City try to call in?

These questions and discussions should occur right now, while memories of the event are still fresh in everybody’s minds – and while the City is just beginning its budget process and might be able to adjust the budget to address any real or perceived need to provide for additional snow removal expenses.  Because whether the answers to all those questions are good, bad, or ugly, snow removal is an issue that should be able to be resolved based on what it would cost to do the job the way it should be done.

And whether the taxpayers believe the benefits justify that cost.

Update (02.05.15) As luck would have it, we just discovered a relatively recent Illinois Appellate Court decision, Patullo-Banks v. City of Park Ridge, 2014 IL App (1st) 1132856 (Sept. 4, 2014), holding that the City can be liable when a pedestrian is struck by a car while walking in the street (Touhy, near 3rd Street) because careless plowing of that street (Touhy) piled an “unnatural accumulation” of ice and snow on the sidewalk, making it impassable; and the City then failed to clear the sidewalk within a reasonable time after it knew or should have known that the sidewalk had become impassable.

So besides clearing the streets, City snow plowers need to be mindful of creating “unnatural accumulations” of snow and ice on City sidewalks that might render such sidewalks impassable.

And the following is a comment from Mayor Schmidt:

I have heard a lot of criticism over the past few days. Some of it is fair, some of it is not, but certainly everyone is entitled to their opinion. Bottom line is that I agree the City could have done better, but I do not agree that it was a major failure, and I know for a fact that it was not the result of City Council action resulting in inadequate funding or supplies.

In response to [the comment from] 4:40 pm, City Hall, meaning the Public Works Director, DID call in private plowers. The fact is they were in extremely high demand, and many simply chose not to answer the call. We also had one PW worker retire the previous Friday, one is on medical leave and one worker did not answer the bell and has been suspended. The claim that the streets were not salted 72 hours later is not true. We learned Tuesday morning, about 30 hours after the storm ended, that PW had started salting the streets on Monday night and have been salting ever since. The problem with salt is that it is ineffective below a certain temperature, so the Monday night salting had little effect until the temperature began rising Tuesday. Another fact that people must understand is that salting while it is still snowing heavily is a waste of time and resources, because the plows will simply push any salt laid down to the side of the road. I did question the PW Director why he did not begin salting earlier on Monday when the sun was out and temperatures were higher. He has admitted that, in retrospect, he should have ordered salting to have begun sooner. He says he has learned from this particular experience and will adjust procedures accordingly.

I cannot address why Library management decided to close on Monday, but I do think that was as multi-departmental mistake. PW should have made the Library lot a priority, primarily for the sake of the Uptown businesses, and the Library should have stayed open on Monday. I am not happy with how that unfolded.

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