This is amazing. The amount of snow is going to be very difficult to deal with. I was watching them truck it out of old town yesterday! At our house, we lost an entire row of cedar trees. The first tree got bent over slightly and the snow just piled on to it. As it bent over, it took the next one and thus crushed the next 4 trees. They aren’t huge trees so the main danger was that we would lose our FIOS service as the trees are leaning on the cable. If FIOS would have gone out, we would have lost TV and internet. That just wasn’t an option…:) They are still leaning but we did shake the snow off. Our neighbor lost the top out of a beautiful magnolia tree. Sorry Dave!
Sarah and I made two circuits of our neighborhood yesterday to take in the scenery. It was beautiful but my job on the Council is never far away: all I could think about was how much the cleanup will cost! Our snow budget was pretty well wiped out by the “Storm of Century” that we had a couple of weeks ago. We’ll have to go into contingency or the fund balance (savings account) to pay for this latest conflagration. There’s just no gettin’ around it.
February 7, 2010 at 1:08 pm
The city came through last night with a front loader pretty early. I was very impressed with the turn around on my end. The streets are pretty clear over here in Winterset Area. I just need a path down my folks street so we can go dig them out.
We also have a GREAT neighbor who is coming down our sidewalks and driveways and using his snowblower to dig us all out. Then our neighbor and my husband cleaned off an elderly couples cars for them. Its nice to see neighbors working together nowadays 🙂
February 7, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I really appreciate all the Manassas residents on Facebook, and the sharing of information and photos there. Somebody recommended using WD40 on shovels to keep the snow from sticking. I used spray PAM and it works great. You have to have a sense of humor to get through this, and the Internet — blogs, Twitter, Facebook — offers that.
I’m concerned about many things – weight of snow on roofs, the next onslaught of snow on Wednesday, the affect of the storm on small businesses that can’t afford another economic blow, the strain of shoveling snow on people not prepared for it..
But I am encouraged by so many reports of neighborliness — my neighbor plowed out our drive Friday night, so it was easier for us to carve a parking place in the morning for my husband after he worked all night. I also got an e-mail from the Neighborhood Watch in Wellington, passing on the information that the Future Business Leaders of America at Osbourn High School are shoveling snow for a reasonable price — very enterprising!
Thanks for your blog, Andy — it is a welcome connector!
February 8, 2010 at 9:32 am
Our little nine house cul-de-sac over here on King Carter is still awaiting signs of a plow. Did notice a front loader clearning the “school route” a bit – only – a bit – Fairfax, Tackett and down King Carter; alas, as a cul-de-sac, we don’t qualify yet by the plan. Saw a Public Works truck making a survey (I suppose)
However, yesterday we neighbors took matters in hand and cut a one lane down through, then cut out each driveway to the lane. At least those who have to get to work today (including my wife) can get out as Tackett and Fairfax were somewhat packed down by others to make it doable. 14 guys with shovels shall not be stopped by “Snowzilla – The Sequel!!!!”
February 8, 2010 at 10:03 am
Still waiting to get the first visit from the plow in my Cul du Sac. Took a walk- about yesterday. Looks like they plowed part of my neighborhood sometime during the storm, but haven’t been back since. Reminds me of the blizzards I experienced as a kid growing up in Boston. I noticed many cars still parked on the main streets in my neighborhood, and they had been plowed in. Has the city ever considered designated snow removal routes, like they have in NE? After the big blizzard in 1978, my home city Waltham, implemented this parking ordinance. If a snow emergency was declared by the Governor, people couldn’t park on the designated streets. This made it much easier for the plows and other emergency vehicles to get through. Not ever street was designated, but the main ingress and egress roads into the neighborhoods were.
February 9, 2010 at 9:05 am
Steve, the City does have snow emergency routes – Liberia, Portner and a lot of other ones. If you look on the City website under Public Works, there is a page talking about how the plan.
On a side note, Steve, my Mother was born & raised in Roxbury and I know Boston well as that is all the one side of the family.
HEY ANDY! A suggestion – that page is neat to know, but would be helpful (and informative to the Citizens) if there were a map or map up of the Snow Emergency Routes – first priority – and then School Routes – second priority.
Got plowed out in our cul-de-sac about 7 last night. Big Cat Frontloader (#189 I think) that did a bang-up job of making three big piles. My compliments to the driver of that big Cat!!!!