| Nothing but love for Jim Cantore ;) The problem I have is with Chicagoans, old and new, who treat every snow like Armageddon. During a heavy snow, if every square inch of every street isn't plowed and salted curb to curb, if every sidewalk isn't shoveled and salted so three people can walk side by side, citizens are ready to toss the mayor, State Representatives and Senators and all 50 aldermen. Here's the deal: 1.Before the Blizzard of '79, side streets were never plowed and salted. Minor arterial streets, like 33rd St., were never plowed and salted. EVER. I learned to drive on ice right at the corner of 46th and Wells. There were no snow routes, where you dared not park until the plows came through. On major streets, like King Drive, you could get hung on snow that had melted to ice if you parked wrong. 2. Even today, the city does not plow alleys. If your alley is snow-clogged and the alley the next block over isn't, those neighbors have chipped in to have it plowed by a private service, or they've rolled up their sleeves and shoveled it out themselves. 3. If you're a senior and you need somebody to shovel the snow in front of your house in Chicago, call 311 and sign up for Snow Corps, a program where people have signed up to volunteer to shovel their neighbors' walks. Or you can sign up online at ChicagoShovels.org. 4. It's amazing, the number of SUV's off in the ditch during the first heavy snow of every winter. I don't care if the TV commercials show SUV's blasting ... |
