January 29
- Jan 30
- 3 min read
Hello Eastporters! |
Well, at this point, I think we all have had enough of this snow and ice. We agreed last weekend that the storm would be disruptive. It has been, and more. Here is an update as of Thursday: Plowing efforts: Street clearing efforts have moved to primarily servicing tertiary (neighborhood) streets with plow crews working daylight hours (4 a.m. to 6 p.m.) in 14-hour shifts. The City is currently using 80+ pieces of heavy equipment to remove snowpack, widen roads, and move snow, reaching previously unserviced communities. Plow trucks are continuously applying salt - 9,150 tons of salt and 63,645 gallons of brine used since the start of the event. As of noon on Thursday, it has been 87 hours since the end of snowfall from Sunday’s storm. At that time, the City was in a Phase III Snow Emergency, with specific metrics for expected recovery. Here is the timeline with updated progress:
If your street has not been plowed, please use the Report an Issue portal, email pubworks@annapolis.gov or call (410) 260-2211. Sidewalks: The City has suspended sidewalk clearing code enforcement for individual residential properties. For Thursday, this suspension holds. Enforcement at commercial properties is ongoing, and the City has also commenced enforcing sidewalk clearing at multi-family residential properties. Staff may issue warnings where sidewalks remain uncleared, especially for uncleared sidewalks in school zones. Citations could follow.
Garage Parking: Free residential parking continues at City garages (Mills Hillman, Gotts, Knighton, and Park Place) until 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 1. This extension has been granted to allow more time for all streets to be plowed and to give residents more time to clear driveways, sidewalks, and parking areas. Residents who can park on their street are encouraged to do so, so that businesses and downtown employees can also access garage parking. Expectations: It is important to remember that the overall goal is not to see blacktop everywhere. While that would be nice, it is not yet possible with these frigid temperatures. Until the temperatures rise, we will have to accept some level of disruption. Also, Public Works is doing their best to clear the large piles of ice that are created by the snowplows. Eastport is amazing!: Walking and driving around Eastport, I continue to be impressed by Eastporters being Eastporters and helping to clear the sidewalks. It is hard work, and together we will get it cleaned up. The City’s Storm Response: I am also impressed at the City’s response to the storm. I have had the opportunity to observe the city operations up close over the last two weeks. The amount of preparation and hard work that has gotten us to this point in the snow, ice, frigid-temperature storm has been very good. In 28 years in the military, I have had the opportunity to participate in many operations, and the work of the City of Annapolis this week is right up there. Has everything been perfect? No, and no crisis recovery ever is. The city staff will learn from our storm recovery operations. I am on day 60 as an alderman and I have learned from it. We now need to take these efforts, praise those who have worked so hard over the last week and, moving forward, learn from the lessons for the future. On A Sad Note: Sadly, we lost an Annapolitan in this storm. Unfortunately, it looks like an Annapolis resident fell in Truxtun Park and succumbed to the cold weather. The City has taken this hard. The Office of Emergency Management lives by “No one dies from exposure on the streets of Annapolis” and they do a lot of hard work to live up to that. Please keep her and her family and friends in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you again to everyone who pitched in to help clean up this storm, whether the snowplow drivers or the residents shoveling out their (and others’!) sidewalks. |
Stay safe and stay warm, Frank |