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| Grey lines indicate streets where plowing has yet to begin; map image from 7:20 AM today |
According to the County snow operations map, some neighborhoods' streets remain untouched 59 hours after the snow ended. Spring Hill, Green Acres, Springfield, Wood Acres, Rock Creek Palisades, Randolph Hills, Stoneybrook Estates, and parts of Aspen Hill are among the "children of a lesser god."
The crews are working hard, but it appears the County did not procure enough of them in advance, despite the unusual advance notice of this weather event.
The other gaffe today is the County's Ride On bus service. Only Routes 1, 5, 8, 15, 16, 17, 23, 30, 34, 43, 46, 47, 55, 56, 59, 83, 100 will operate today, and - get this - only from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM. What is this, just for senior citizens or something?! Unplowed neighborhood roads + no rush hour Ride On feeder buses = residents unable to get to work today.
Apparently, just because elected officials can declare themselves closed for a day off, they've lost touch with the fact that most of their constituents lack such authority. At last check, janitors can't telework. The failure to get the basic emergency transit service up and running is costing people pay, and possibly their jobs.
Unbelievably, once again there is no T2 Metrobus service along the River Road corridor. When you need transit in Montgomery County, it's just not there for you, folks. You can't rely on it.
Metrorail is operating with service on all lines except the Orange Line between Vienna & Ballston, and the Silver Line.
The Bethesda Circulator will not run today.
57 comments:
maybe you should not live so far out in the suburbs
My smart growth street was plowed by 11 pm Saturday. Although I haven't yet shoveled out my car, I've been able to walk to every place that I've needed to go.
I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for the folks in Sprawlville. I'm tired of subsidizing their lifestyle.
Will folks get fed up at not being able to leave their homes 4 days after the storm?
@ 5:12 - will Dyer call on them to riot and burn down their own homes?
Montgomery County has always had a grand tradition of plowing Potomac and Chevy Chase neighborhood streets first and then moving on to less affluent neighborhoods.
Rideon is running the routes and times they feel can be done safely when considering road/stop conditions. I'm not at all surprised they're not running for very long after sunset. Dyer's uneducated opinion on the matter literally is worthless.
Our private plowing service was out there as the snow was falling. Took the Tesla out for a spin this morning.
7:51: My opinion on the matter - and this is what's so sad about the "leadership" situation in MoCo - is actually more educated than our elected officials: People need to get to work! Buses that don't run during rush hour can't get them there! DUH!
Of course Dyer didn't think hmm it gets dark at 5:30 so seeing the businesses that he pushes so hard for are not clearing the sidewalks so the riders need to stand in the street ...........think about it, standing in the street in the dark is dangerous so stopping service is a pretty good idea.
He also has no idea about the turning radius on a bus and with the large snow banks, the buses can't make those turns.
Yet again, Dyer proves himself worthy of our votes in the next election.
Dyer, your living in la-la land and have no understanding of the logistical facts. You saying "this should be so!" isn't actually useful in any way. Why not make suggestions that could actually be employed? E.g. "routes X and Y are redundant w/metro service so the state should focus on clearing the shoulder of streets A and B instead." or "the county should allocate resources to clearing bus stops along Q and R routes because they're integral to an east-west connection that doesn't exist within the current Metrorail system. When considering the cost of $_______ for a 20 stop pilot conducted by the county in ____, I'd expect annual cost of $_______ to clear the stops along these routes."
you're*
effing old-ass website doesn't let me edit typos.
@ 8:42 AM - and the captcha in his supposedly "mobile-friendly" site works poorly or not at all with smartphones.
Other east coast cities are literally laughing at us right now.
Folks across the county haven't seen a plow yet. And there is almost non existent Ride on service today.
Other east coast cities are literally laughing at us right now.
Folks across the county haven't seen a plow yet. And there is almost non existent Ride on service today.
Let them laugh, they are not as educated or as wealthy.
Given that the entire metro area - DC, Northern Virginia, PG County - is experiencing the exact same challenges in recovering from the blizzard, I'm wondering where Dyer imagines that the MoCo Machine could have found this untapped snow removal capability that he believes to exist, somewhere out there.
My street was FINALLY plowed today. The street behind us was done Sunday night. Multiple calls from the neighbors to no results.
Finally today, after someone stopped a plow and asked, our street got plowed. (Kudos to the guy for not only helping, but taking the extra step to get close to the driveways)
We weren't on his list, apparently our street fell into the abyss. Established affluent neighborhood. With no council members still living here...
2.5 days. Not bad at all given the amount of snow and streets to plow.
It's a blizzard. Takes time. County and state are doing a great job.
Sorry not a blizzard but a big freaking snowstorm. :)
Complaining without offering suggested alternatives and thought out plans. Sounds about right for his MO
9:41 AM Yeah, unfortunately Bethesda's councilmember lives on Rockville Pike, so he's not really feeling our pain down here in the Bethesda neighborhoods.
If I see a plow around, I'll try to flag it down and redirect to the neighborhood streets.
The Council may just be laying low, waiting for mother nature to slowly melt the snow.
Speaking of "laying low", why hasn't Dyer posted any new photos in over a week? All photos since then have been either his stock photos or from county websites.
You'd think he'd want to share his and other folks' adventures in the snow.
Maybe his street hasn't been plowed.
Well...mid afternoon and no plows in sight for Bethesda neighborhoods.
Maybe folks will get out by Friday?
9:59: Yes, a slow thaw is more the speed of our low-energy County Council. Super low-energy.
10:20: No one's having adventures because THEY CAN'T GET OUT OF THEIR STREETS thanks to our impotent County elected officials not planning ahead for winter.
10:45: Yeah, seriously - what a plum job the County Council has. Get paid $130,000 to say, "Be patient. Stay in your homes." They just don't have the energy or stamina required for the job. Retire!
9:53: Now 64 hours since snow stopped. BAD.
How about that Riemer sidewalk clearing law, which his buddies in the local media were touting as a miracle cure for snow covered sidewalks? A massive failure like every other Riemer initiative. We are being governed by very incompetent people.
Not just MoCo. NJ Guvnah Kris Krispie (R) is taking a yuge amount of flack for his handling of the storm.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/chris-christie-new-jersey-mayor-flooding_us_56a78698e4b01a3ed123d0fd
Dyer move to PeeGee you will be real satisfied. LMFAO!
State and county highways and main roads apparently are clear.
Makes no difference if residents can't get off their streets.
What sidewalk policies would you suggest instead? Just curious. No animosity in the question.
What advance plan would you as an elected official put in place as a recommended alternative?
I've been driving all around the county for work the past couple of days. It's pretty darn good out there considering how much snow we got. Plows are still going at it strong as fast as they can. 2 feet of snow! Whew that's a lot to clear.
@12:59 The current sidewalk policies are an unfair tax on the elderly and those not physically able to shovel. You need to have the sidewalk in front of your residence cleared within 24 hours of the last snowfall, or face fines.
So people who can't physically do this must hire help.. and such help is not cheap ($100-200 in Bethesda) and it's also hard to find, like if they've declared a snow emergency so people aren't supposed to be out on the roads anyway.
I live on a corner lot so lots of sidewalk to shovel. It's cheaper for me to take the fine than pay someone to shovel. We did get it shoveled, but it took 2 days with my wife and I alternating then resting.
For businesses, it's a different story as I understand the need and also this is usually done by the building management, which has in-house maintenance people and equipment to do it. It's unfair for homeowners to expect the same thing.
How is it an unfair tax? No one forces people to live in a SFH. If you do, then you're responsible for clearing the sidewalk - period. That's a fact everyone knows going in. Hire someone, do it yourself, or don't buy a lot you can't maintain.
MD needs to come up with a better game plan in dealing with major snow storms and rain. These severe weather patterns are here to stay. They can take a page from Boston, Chicago and NY's playbook on how to deal with it. They all had their problems dealing over the years, but they learned and established real, working protocols and sticking to them. The preliminary snap-shot happened on the Wed. night prior to the storm, which just one inch of snow and a think layer of ice formed. It sent drivers and gov't. officials in a tailspin. Seems they can't walk and chew gum at the same time!
"9:53: Now 64 hours since snow stopped. BAD. "
If you paid attention to the news prior to the storm you would have seen they said 60 hours is what it takes to clear 24 inches of snow. so let's do a bit of a math problem.
if 24 inches takes 60 hours, how many will 30 take?
Headline on WUSA-9 News: "ARLINGTON BURIED"
This is a joke. MoCo has waited for stuff to melt and residents are manually plowing their own streets at this point.
Where are the world class services we're paying for?
@ 2:38 PM - "MoCo has waited for stuff to melt"
Could you kindly explain what you mean by this? Are you trying to suggest that plowing has been halted, or even slowed, at any time since the storm ended on Saturday night?
1:32: Here's the other interesting question - does the County own that right-of-way for the sidewalk, or not? If they can seize that strip on your lawn and construct a sidewalk against your wishes, it seems to be theirs at that moment. So how, then, can they legally delegate their responsibility for keeping it clear to the resident who supposedly doesn't own the sidewalk? Has anyone ever challenged this in court?
@ 5;07 pm Boob Derp - you appear to believe that these sidewalk shoveling requirements are unique to MoCo.
In my Bethesda neighborhood, some folks did a great job clearing sidewalks to concrete. Meanwhile, others did nothing.
@5:07pm I assume they have the authority to fine people for unshoveled sidewalks, since they can fine you for having an umkempt front lawn, and that's definitely private property.
What's your suggestion? County maintain it? At what cost?' I'm curious?
IMHO I would not want to be driving the T2 on Falls Road after a snowstorm either. Just driving it in my car one time when it was icy was enough to freak me out.
That His Moribundness has not driven a plow or driven a RideOn or Metrobus gives him, IMHO, little legitimacy to whine about this stuff.
10:55 AM If only your standards applied to sports bloggers and radio show hosts.
re: Anon @ 12:03 -- yeah I wish they did too sometimes, but I feel safe with sticking to (apparently) sloth-level energy web commentators that don't have CDLs. :-)
Peter, wouldn't the sensible thing to do be to just plow Falls Road?
You realize that Falls Road is a state highway, don't you?
re Anon 8:42 PM -- YES I am abundantly aware that Falls is a state-marked route.
re: His Moribundness quoth at 747 PM a sloth-level-energy statement about plowing Falls Road.
Ummmm...duh yeah the sensible thing to do IS TO PLOW FALLS ROAD. However, SHA (even with the help of Doug Hill and Sue Palka) cannot predict with any sort of confidence just how much icing ANY street will necessarily have. So now apparently not only do you have a CDL, you also know for sure even after plowing it, that Falls (especially when to get to the stretch around Normandie Farms/Bullis/the golf course) will be totally bare-pavement, ice-free, etc. ???? Nice to know that you suddenly have this particular bit of experience Bobby.
Schools? Infrastructure? Public safety? Etc.
We have it pretty good here. A couple days of unplowed roads after a major snowstorm we can deal with like adults.
re Anon @ 5:59 -- yeah for a property tax payment that is 1/3 of what I would possibly pay in, say, New Jersey, it certainly is.
We do have it pretty good here. :)
- happy montgomery county resident
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