Thomas Breen photos
Julio Perez and his fellow public-works crew members are ready for the blizzard predicted to hit New Haven starting tonight. They have the payloader and the sand to show it.
Late Wednesday morning Perez had the payloader wheeled out of a cavernous Middletown Avenue shed holding 1,000 cubic yards of sand and salt, and dumped a bucket’s worth of mix into the back of a city plow truck.
The nine-year public works veteran and dozens of his colleagues will hit the streets with the road-clearing mix later Wednesday afternoon as the first blizzard of the year prepares to slam New Haven.
“We’re ready,” Perez said from behind the wheel.
That was the scene Wednesday morning at the city’s public workers headquarters at 34 Middletown Ave.
Perez and a handful of fellow city truck operators prepared load after load of the salt-sand mix as Mayor Justin Elicker, Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana and public works chief Jeff Pescosolido previewed storm preparations.
Elicker (pictured) said that snow will likely start falling between 5 and 7 p.m. today, with a heavy fall starting around midnight. He said winds should hit 25 miles per hour and gusts 45 miles per hour. When it’s all through, the city will likely have around 12 to 16 inches of snow.
“This has been the most difficult year in my lifetime, and I don’t think we would expect anything less of 2020,” Elicker said about the coming deluge. “It’s very important that residents be patient. You’re not going to open your windows tomorrow morning and see clear streets. You are going to see our teams on the streets clearing the streets as fast as possible.”
A few highlights of the city storm prep and coming response include:
• The city will have more than 40 city-owned trucks as well as an additional eight third-party contractor trucks out clearing the streets of snow once the storm hits. “They will concentrate on the arterial roads starting out,” Pescolido said, and then will move on to the rest of the city.
• A citywide parking ban goes into effect at 9 p.m. Cars that violate the ban will be towed. Click here for more details.
• It is homeowners’ responsibility to clear the snow from the sidewalks in front of their residences. “Please clear your sidewalks in a way you can imagine someone with a wheelchair getting through,” Elicker said.
• Stay put, if possible. “High winds. Snow. Sleet. Freezing rain. This is going to be a mega-storm for us,” Fontana (pictured) said. “We’re asking people just to have some patience. We’ll get to you as soon as possible.” The most important thing, he said, is “we need people to stay off the streets. It’s critical important.”
• City snow plows will be using three different mixes to keep the streets clear: straight sand, sand and salt, and, for streets freezing over during the coldest temperatures, salt treated with magnesium chloride. “At the start of the storm, we’ll be using the salt,” Pescosolido (pictured) said. “During the storm, as the roads get slippery, our men will be putting down some of that sand-salt mix.” The city also has some leftover beet juice from previous storms that it will deploy to keep the streets clear.
• Anyone who has issues or concerns they want to raise with the city about the storm should call 203 – 946-8221 (Emergency Operations Center) or 203 – 946-7669 (Snow Line).
• Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal (pictured) said that the city has made more hotel beds available for the unsheltered who need to get out of the storm. He said outreach workers have hit the city streets over the past few days to get the word out about available spaces. And the city will have a backup, refuge area at 200 Orange St. slated to open Wednesday afternoon. He said anyone interested in volunteering with Interfaith Volunteers to help clear snow for seniors can call 203 – 230-8994.
And, during the ongoing pandemic, “just keep an eye out for your neighbor in a socially-distanced way,” Elicker said. “Let’s keep an eye out for each other.”
Before the presser, public works operators Milton Johnson and Jerome Houser expressed confidence that the city will do its best to clear the streets during this storm and keep the roadways safe.
Johnson (pictured), a five-year veteran of the department, said his primary responsibility today is checking in on different public works vehicles to make sure everything’s working well and to see if they need repair.
“There’s nothing we can’t do,” when asked about how he feels about the work ahead for the coming storm.
Houser (pictured), a 22-year-old veteran of the department, sat behind the wheel of a snow plow as Perez dumped the sand and salt mix from his payloader.
He’ll be heading downtown to start clearing streets as soon as the storm hits this afternoon.
“It’s all part of the job,” he said.
Watch the full presser below.
"Please clear your sidewalks in a way you can imagine someone with a wheelchair getting through," Elicker said.
Thank you, Mayor Elicker for that great description of what a cleared sidewalk should look like. Too often only a 4 inch wide section is cleared, or the snow clearance ends before the curb, leaving an icy ridge of hardpacked snow between sidewalk & street pavement, especially difficult at a crosswalk.