Thursday, Feb. 28 2013 4:14PM
Plowing away
By John Beaudoin
jbeaudoin@lsjournal.com
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ReprintSome resident of Lee’s Summit sure have a black helicopter, conspiracy thing going on lately.
Last year, it was the UFOs. The year before, it was Ted White.
Now, some seem to think our snow plow drivers have some weird scheme in place to remove snow from the street and place it in areas that are offensive to your driveway.
This just in: the plow drivers in Lee’s Summit aren’t going to plow your car out. And guess what? They’re not going to do it in any other city, either.
It seems like with every snow, there are habitually the residents that swear there is a “better” way to plow our streets.
In some magic realm, plow drivers in big trucks should be able to remove snow and take it so some other dimension whereas it doesn’t end up in one’s driveway.
With our recent back-to-back snowfalls, I had a feeling the plowing experts would be out en force again. And I was right.
First, we have to remember what just happened here: we had almost two feet of snow (more in some areas) in five days. We hadn’t even been able to brush the salt off our jeans from the last storm when the next one blistered us.
Second, the snow plow plan in Lee’s Summit doesn’t consist of a half-dozen older guys sitting around at coffee before they get into their trucks to push some white stuff around.
The city has a plan, and if you ask anyone that doesn’t live in Lee’s Summit (but works or visits here), they’d tell you it’s a pretty good plan.
I spent Wednesday afternoon this week, less than 24 hours after the heaviest snow had fallen, with Steve Robbins from Public Works in his snowmobile.
We hit several neighborhoods off of Scruggs and old Tudor Road, pushing snow off the curbs, out of the streets and away from any dangerous areas.
Yes, some snow spills over onto driveways. And yes, you should plan on moving that snow yourself.
If we asked or expected our city to hit 45,000 households with small vehicles equipped with blades for snow plowing, we would have this snow cleared by about April 1.
You don’t want to spend that kind of money, trust me.
The snow plow guys and city workers manning the phone banks had to put up with the absolute worst of the worst during this last storm. People belligerent on the phone, cursing, threatening and even some buffoon who went to the facility looking for a fight. Thankfully, he was carted away in handcuffs.
Robbins is the best kind of public works employee, too. And I would imagine the dozens of city workers who have been double-timing it on 12-hour shifts for more than a week now all carry the same mission.
They’re just trying to do their job in unusual circumstances.
If all you have to worry about is a line of snow 12 feet wide and 6 inches tall on your driveway, I would say you have it pretty good.
Bravo to the Public Works Department. Most of us have your back.
