The Observation Deck

We live in Northeast Ohio and it snows here in the winter. What I just can't understand is why this seems to always take this entire City of Lakewood by surprise.

Let's take snowplowing first. It's pathetic. There is no positive spin on this. I've talked to my neighbors who have lived here longer than I have (11 years) and they all seem to agree that the quality of plowing has declined significantly. Based on my driving around, I'd say it is barely better than the City of Cleveland and much worse than Rocky River. We pay some of the highest taxes in the region. Shouldn't we get "good city services" as a result?

I know the party line: tight economic environment and decreasing tax revenue. But remember that reduced city services AND continued high taxes is a perfect recipe for Lakewood's downfall. In my opinion, reducing services that are as visible as snow plowing is a really bad idea. It sends a very obvious message to residents that the city is not doing well. More importantly, it sends the same message to potential residents. You might as well hang a sign on the border signs saying "Don't move here. City in trouble.".

Second Issue: Sidewalk clearing. What on earth is the problem here? We get a decent snowfall and what happens? Chaos. Maybe 60% of residents clear their sidewalks and you can't drive anywhere without pedestrians in the middle of the street. And then we all know what happens next: all the kids keep walking in the streets until about mid-May when a little enforcement finally sends the message to use the sidewalks.

Again, why do we have to go through this every winter? I've heard talk of enforcing sidewalk clearing ordinances for the past few years and every year it is just talk. This is not a complicated problem. This city should be able to address something as basic as this issue without the residents having to complain like I am doing today. Note: I've also contacted multiple city council reps and the mayor on this issue in the past.

Maybe I'm the only one who's frustrated with this?

Since I walk over mounds of snow every day to get to work, I share youru frustration. I wonder which is cheaper:

- more city employees running around issuing warnings for uncleared snow

or

- more sidewalk clearing rigs running around

As a practical matter, I'm not sure the first option would actually result in there being more fully clear sidewalks overall, but I'm not sure how the snow clearing machines would fare on sidewalks that are messed up with frost heave and/or tree roots. My old, tiny, town of Truro seemed to do ok with getting them cleared.

Maybe if we weren't so harsh on Sebetini moving into town he would have let the City borrow the Zamboni for a few days.

Corey

The job of plowing the roads seems to be going well, in my opinion. I'm not seeing cars stuck in the roads anywhere. Short of installing radiant heating under the streets, I'm not sure what more could be done.

However, I couldn't agree more regarding the sidewalks, residential and business. Just this past weekend folks were walking on Riverside because there was still a foot of snow on the sidewalks in front of some houses - not all but enough to force dog walkers into the street.

Also, a friendly reminder, please remove the snow from around all fire hydrants. I happen to have one of four on our street in my tree lawn and heaven forbid that it ever has to be used on my house or a neighbor's.

David Anderson wrote:The job of plowing the roads seems to be going well, in my opinion. I'm not seeing cars stuck in the roads anywhere. Short of installing radiant heating under the streets, I'm not sure what more could be done.

However, I couldn't agree more regarding the sidewalks, residential and business. Just this past weekend folks were walking on Riverside because there was still a foot of snow on the sidewalks in front of some houses - not all but enough to force dog walkers into the street.

Also, a friendly reminder, please remove the snow from around all fire hydrants. I happen to have one of four on our street in my tree lawn and heaven forbid that it ever has to be used on my house or a neighbor's.

If you need help locating the fire hydrants just look for the organic yellow place markings.

Corey

I said it last winter and I will say it again. If the city wants to buy me a atv with a plow on it I will gladly spend my free time hitting the sidewalks.

Corey Rossen wrote:Maybe if we weren't so harsh on Sebetini moving into town he would have let the City borrow the Zamboni for a few days.

Corey

Then we could all skate instead of walking. Hey, it works for Holland.

Although in all fairness, while I think that the city does a pretty good job with main drag Lakewood roads, it would sure be nice to have a few municipal mini-plows to clear the main drag sidewalks leading to the schools.

And, once again laboring a point that I truly believe to be essential. I still find it difficult to understand where those big heavy loaded rubbish dumpsters will sit on our alpine landscape tree lawns, if that front yard rubbish idea goes forward.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that the plowing in Lakewood is pretty bad. I've lived in Mentor, Euclid, Cleveland Heights, and now Lakewood, and Lakewood's the worst of the four. Every snowstorm seems to take the city by surprise, and plowing is really sporadic. On snowy saturday a few weeks ago, Madison was completely unplowed, and a huge mess, as cars were sliding all over the place. I did see a plow truck eventually head down Madison ... with its plow UP and not actually plowing. After fighting my way over to Riverside and to Detroit, I slipped and slid over the bridge to Rocky River, where Detroit had been scraped down to bare pavement by a succession of plows following each other in a swath, with the final truck also laying down salt. It was like night and day.

Though a big frustration is also my street ... regardless of the "snow parking ban," which is ignored all over the city, when it snows heavily, the folks on my street who park their second, third (or in the case of my neighbors, their fourth) family cars on the street just leave them there, so when the plow does come, it only goes down one side, leaving snow banks and snowed-in cars on the other side. And the owners never move their cars, so the plow can't go down side. It'd be nice if the city would actually enforce a parking ban ... everyone could put their cars in their driveways, or the parking lot at the end of the street, and let the plows go down and clear the street. If the city needs some cash, starting to ticket people who ignore the snow ban is a good start!

As for the sidewalks, there's no easy solution, other than getting homeowners to shovel. However, there's elderly homeowners who just physically can't, and renters who just won't. In Mentor, they used to have a small tractor with caterpillar treads and a plow, and it would go up and down every street with sidewalks, plowing the sidewalk. Eventually they replaced it with a small SUV and a plow, though that doesn't work for the narrow sidewalks around here. But a few ATVs with plows could work ... how about the workers who tootle around town in the garbage cushmans switch to ATVs in the winter and plow sidewalks?

thou shalt salt the earth.

give the gift....of boots

I was all over the area today, Lakewood is doing a much nicer job than most!


Three days ago at 2 am, patching holes.


Plows trying to keep up on their second shift in a row!


Police ticketing and helping to dig out cars on Detroit and Madison.


Considering how fast it was coming down, I think city workers
were doing a great job.


Hoover now 2.5 years old, with Mrs. O'Bryan gives me a reason to
keep the thermostatat 75 degrees. The charcoal drawing of my dog
was done from memory by Observer, Dustin James, and is incredible!

party on lakewood


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FWIW, there are 93 miles of road in Lakewood with 2 sides to each (minus the few one way streets). The main drags have 4 or 6 lanes with a turning center lane. This probably adds up to around 240 miles to plow. Let’s all show some patience.

I’m sure everyone who is complaining has shoveled their sidewalks?

As Deb O'Bryan demonstrates, by using everyday objects around the house---soup cans, books, turtles, ---one can achieve a health club workout effortlessly!

I have to admit that since relocating here from Buffalo four years ago, I have been curious about the seemingly inefficient snow removal process. My first thoughts were similar to those expressed in the message that started this string: snow is not a new phenomenon to this area, so what gives? For side streets, it seems as though an alternate side parking policy would help (i.e. park on one side half the week, and the other side the remaining days). Granted, this policy cost me a few parking tickets in my day, but it seemed to really help with snow removal.

One other note: After having shoveled my driveway, and sidewalk!, numerous times yesterday, I failed to clear the end of my driveway this morning. I was stuck. Approximately 8 -10 vehicles drove around me, including a couple of the trash "golf carts" without offering help. I am thankful for the two teens who finally came out of their house to help. It took only one push - about 2 seconds of their time. I hope mine was not a typical experience.

Beachwood has a machine that clears the sidewalks on the main streets. It looks like the Chariot from Lost in Space with a snowblower welded to the front.