Snow Snow Snow

So far, I’ve been letting Seattle off lightly for its inability to deal with snow. Sadly, The Seattle Times digs out the truth, if you will- and you must to continue reading.

To paraphase, the ice and snow packed streets of Seattle exist by design. The city wants to use rubber plows on its trucks to prevent damage to streets, preventing much of the ice from being scraped off, caking the streets with packed down ice and snow. Also, the city prefers to use sand in place of salt, as they claim it to be more environmentally friendly.

I let Seattle off because I just didn’t think they had the capacity in trucks or salt to get the job done because it rarely snows here. However, all the city’s streets have been been plowed multiple times. The fact that there’s an sheet of ice covering every street is downright depressing. And using environmental friendliness towards the Sound as an excuse for not salting is ridiculous. While there is some environmental effects, sand also poses its own issues, not to mention the fact that most snowbound cities use salt or other chemicals. Also, I’d think the bus hanging over I-5, the rerouting and shutdown of half of public transit, and the seeming halt of the city would be enough to make getting streets clear a priority, regardless of the costs.

Rant over.