nothin “They’re Done?” | New Haven Independent

They’re Done?”

Melissa Bailey Photo

Thomas MacMillan Photo

Alderwoman Robinson-Thorpe: “It’s unacceptable.”

In order to carry passengers down Goffe Terrace Monday, the Z3 bus had to swerve around a bank of unplowed snow, crossing the yellow lines into oncoming traffic.

The tight spot was one of dozens neighbors flagged as they called in complaints about narrow streets and high snow piles — questioning the city’s assertion that the post-blizzard cleanup is largely done.

The city laid most of its plows and pay loaders to rest on Saturday after seven days of round-the-clock work cleaning up from historic Winter Storm Nemo, city Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts said. At the peak of cleanup, the city reported having nearly 100 pieces of equipment on the roads, including 32 heavy plows, 26 pay loaders and 40 dump trucks.

By Monday, that operation had been scaled down to just a few pieces of equipment, Smuts said. A small crew from the city Department of Public Works was responding to snow that posed a threat to public safety or would impede kids’ safe return to school Tuesday, he said.

Highland Street, looking towards East Rock, was cleared curb to curb.

Smuts said the fire department had deemed 60 percent of roads passable,” 40 percent open,” and none impassable” as of the latest count.

The major snow removal effort is now completed,” the city announced in a press release Monday morning.

What completed” means was a topic of much debate Monday. Neighbors’ complaints continued to pour in, particularly from the Beaver Hills neighborhood.

It’s unacceptable,” steamed Beaver Hills Alderwoman Claudette Robinson-Thorpe.

I know it’s a lot of snow. But we’re going on the second week now,” she said. I’ve gotten over 25 calls” about how people were told to move their cars for an odd-side parking ban Wednesday to Friday nights. The cops came out here” to tell people to move. Then They [the plows] never showed up!”

People are upset about this,” Robinson-Thorpe said. I told constituents they need to call City Hall.”

Dyer Street was down to one lane Monday.

On Bellevue Road and Dyer Street, she noted, the city plowed only one lane. The crews that spent three days removing snow with pay loaders and dump trucks never hit those streets, she said. Cars moving in opposite directions Monday had to pull over to let each other pass by.

Complaints also came in from neighborhoods like East Rock and Wooster Square and Newhallville and the Hill, through calls to aldermen and messages on SeeClickFix.

Beaver Hills was a particular focus of concern.

Smuts said the city will be able to address some of the problems aldermen raised. If the weather warms the snow enough, we hope that we may be able to plow back and widen” the lanes on some streets, Smuts said. He said Dyer is one street on the city’s list for future widening.

It’s not an immediate public safety issue, but it is one issue that rises to the level that we’d like to get to,” he said.

Overall, Smuts said, the city won’t be able to get to all the complaints. It’s just not feasible to clear the streets to the level of convenience that ideally we’d like to provide,” he said.

Smuts said the city has been spending a quarter-million dollars per day on snow removal. Because there was so much snow, the plows couldn’t handle it alone; the city had to hire contractors to dig up the snow and remove it with pay loaders and tri-axle trucks. That’s a slow, expensive process, he said.

Because the federal government declared a state of emergency, the city is eligible for reimbursement for up to 75 percent of costs, but so far the reimbursements only pertain to a 48-hour period after the storm hit.

Besides all the money it costs, snow removal takes a toll on manpower,” Smuts said. We had 7 days of 12-hour shifts. There’s a limit to how much you can get your personnel to do.”

Roydon Road in Beaver Hills narrowed to one lane.

Our standard for removal is safety issues, not convenience issues,” he said. Streets will be cleared to the extent that there is a public safety risk, as determined by the fire department and Board of Education, Smuts said.

Reports from aldermen varied.

The situation being what it is, the city did a good job,” said Dixwell Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison. They did the best with what they have.”

Aldermanic President Jorge Perez said the major roads are done,” but some of the side streets leave a lot to be desired.”

Some people are grateful. Some people say, Delphine, I’m glad I can go to work!’” reported Newhallville Alderwoman Delphine Clyburn.

Clyburn said the city did a good job on some side streets, while it has more work to do on others.

They should still be clearing,” Clyburn said. There are still problems. At corners, if you’re driving, you cannot see if you’re at a stoplight. You’re safe at a light — if they’re obeying the light. At a stop sign, you can’t see around the snow bank. How can children go back to school? They have to wait for their buses.”

Done?”

News that the city had stopped its snow removal operation came as a surprise to some pedestrians trudging through Newhallville.

They’re done?” responded a man named Andre walking through Lilac Street Monday afternoon. That sucks. There’s still a lot of snow out there.”

Further up Lilac Street, a certified nursing assistant named Carmen Spears drove up to pay a visit to a patient. She had to park way up the block because there was little parking: Though the city had ordered cars off the odd side of the street for three nights in a row, the snow removal crews never made it to the street. The odd side of the street remained piled up with snow, with many parking spots unavailable.

It’s not right they didn’t finish plowing,” Spears said. She added that the mountains of snow made it hard to see around some turns.

Lilac Street.

It was requested that we park on the even side several nights last week so that our street could be plowed. This was never done. When can we expect this to be done?” wrote a Lilac Street neighbor on SeeClickFix, the Google-Maps-based problem-solving website.

Smuts acknowledged neighbors’ frustration.

That’s understandable,” he said. But he said the city didn’t know in advance exactly which streets it would be able to get to. Because it was an overnight operation, police had to announce the ban in the evening — not at 4 a.m., when a crew turned onto a specific street — to give people time to move their cars. The crews reached as many streets as they could, he said. But with such a long, laborious job, we’re not going to get to every street.”

SeeClickFix buzzed Monday with comments from neighbors ticked off that the city didn’t remove snow from their streets.

Pearl Street in SoHu.

While I understand the awesome force of nature that this storm was, I do not understand why all major arteries into town are cleared so that individuals who live in suburbs can now easily commute into New Haven and Yale, but those who live in New Haven are still struggling to find parking and have safe streets to navigate between these major arteries,” wrote a neighbor in SoHu, the pocket of East Rock South of Humphrey.

Bishop Street in East Rock.

Carmen Spears, the nursing assistant making her rounds through Newhallville, tried to look on the bright side.

Maybe the sun will melt it,” she said.

Paul Bass contributed reporting.

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