Snow Removal Report Card

First time I have ever had to question the value of the "Town of Vienna" property tax. Fairfax County put the Town to shame this go around.

Grade: F

Our neighborhood received excellent care. The main road that we live on, and the adjacent side streets were ice and snow free today- Totally dry, as if nothing at all had happened weather wise.

They plowed Church (in front of my house) at least 20 times in the morning, and then didn't show up again until late afternoon. However, Fairfax County didn't plow any side streets right along the Vienna (proper) border. I travelled into SE Vienna on Sunday, and it was rather miserable.

I saw them out on Sat. and they made a few passes down my road on Sunday a.m., so they were trying, but the road is still covered. Maybe too much snow or as you said, budget cuts?

Having survived the blizzards of '79 and '96 in Vienna, I have never seen the snow removal this poor.

I've defended the town taxes before by pointing to the usually excellent snow removal, but it was HORRIBLE this snowstorm. I have to guess they were completely unprepared due to something with the budget.

If the town services deteriorate to this level, then I'd agree there's no need for a town government.

Maybe we should all go turn the Town Brown into the Town Yellow as a tribute to Seeman's moronic job of snow removal.

I think they did the best they could with what they had to work with. The snowfall was huge....Unprecidented accumulation in one single day, and never anticipated in December! We got out on Saturday, and today (Tuesday) had no issues whatsoever.

True, some smaller side streets still have slush, but having travelled into FfxCo over the past few days, Vienna is faring no poorly than neighboring areas tended by the County.

The new plowing conditions is part of the latest traffic calming strategy. If it proves successful the town will probably purchase snow making machines.

Half of my street is still coated. My parents live in the county a mile away, and it's about the same there. So I have to wonder why I pay more for the Town's so-so service.

However, my bigger complaint is the fancy brick sidewalks on Maple ave. Who is responsible for clearing those? How about snow removal at the bus stops and in front of the shelters?

My son (who is disabled) and I fell multiple times today on snow and ice when we went down to our "walkable" Vienna to do some Christmas shopping. It was terrible trying to cross streets -- we were almost hit twice.

God help the elderly who are trying to get around.

I rely on the 2T bus to get me home from Dunn Loring in the evening.

Tuesday evening, the route was canceled entirely due to the snow on Cottage St. Tonight, Metro bypassed Vienna for the same reason (they ran up Gallows to 123 rather than snaking through Vienna via Cottage.)

I'm glad Holly Chu was happy - does she live in the Town limits?

Vienna Council Members Rip Into Staff Over Snow-Removal Effort
by Brian Trompeter
December 22, 2009

Combine a foot-and-a-half of snow with two broken-down plows and three crew members not on duty, and what do you get? Peeved Vienna residents and an equally steamed Town Council.

Fifty-three residents e-mailed the town concerning the storm, which began on the evening of Dec. 18 and dumped snow continuously for about 24 hours. Some major roads still had significant amounts of snow on them when the Vienna Town Council met on Dec. 21.

Council members were not in a festive mood, saying quick, thorough snow plowing is one thing residents deserve for their higher taxes.

Council member Howard Springsteen, who fielded complaints from about 15 to 20 residents, said the town’s performance was troubling.

“I’m just a little concerned, because one of the things we hang our hat on is how well we remove the snow in town” Springsteen said.

Springsteen noted that Tazewell Road still had just one travel lane open. Council member Edythe Kelleher added that Park Street, where she lives, was “like a washboard.”

Town Manager John Schoeberlein said he plans to hold an after-incident meeting with public-works, parks-and-recreation and police crews to determine what exactly went wrong and how such problems can be prevented in the future.

That was not enough assurance for Town Council member George Lovelace.

“It occurred to me that either we don’t have the right equipment [or] we don’t have enough of the people that we need,” he said. “There is something inherently wrong. We do a better job than what we’ve seen here this time.”

Lovelace added, “There are streets that look like it did in Chicago or Indiana after a snowstorm. They don’t even bother to plow those kind of streets. And I was surprised to see our major thoroughfares were not clean. So to me, it’s more than just, ‘Let’s see what happened’ and so what have you. We need to get down to finding out [if] we have the right formula for snow removal.”

Lovelace continued, “This is not just this snowstorm. This is something that has been going on for some time and I think the magnitude of this snowstorm really exposed us. If we intend to continue to have the reputation of removing snow in this town, then we need to do something else, because we’re not getting it done.”

Town crews in the past have been able to clear streets down to the pavement, not just leave a path, Lovelace said. In 1982, when he joined the council, the town had less snow-removal equipment and still did a better job, he said.

Council member Michael Polychrones also was displeased.

“This is the biggest storm that we’ve had in a very long time, but I’ve lived here since I was 4 and I can remember the storm of 1968, when the residents of Frederick Street had to hire a front-end loader to come get us all out,” he said.

“The storm of 1996 was last one of this size, and we came through it a hell of a lot better and with the streets clean,” Polychrones said. “Park Street, Cottage Street and the other major arterials through town need to be plowed again. I mean, they’re in horrible shape. . .We definitely fell on our face this year.”

Council member Laurie Cole said the storm’s snow was unusually light and dry. While an inch of rain normally equates to 10 inches of snow, in this case an inch amounted to 15 to 18 inches of snow, she said.

“While it was easier on all our backs to shovel our driveways, I think might have been harder in a way for the equipment to handle,” Cole said. “It’s not always apples-to-apples in the comparison” of storms.

Council member Laurie DiRocco suggested the town could alleviate residents’ concerns if it e-mailed updates on snow-plowing progress and glitches, plus reminders about snow-removal policies.

The town has 32.6 miles of road, totaling 65.28 lane-miles, to plow. Vienna has nine snow plows, five sand-spreaders and two rubber-tired loaders to help with snow removal, said Vienna Public Works Director Holly Chu.

Two snowplow trucks broke down during the storm, and some of the snow-removal vehicles had difficulty moving off of stretches of ice. (The town does not use chains on such vehicles because they would damage the asphalt, Chu said.)

Several days of sub-freezing temperatures froze the ground, allowing snow to stick more readily and depriving equipment of the usually moist bottom layer that makes snow plowing easier, she said.

Twenty-seven town employees, including six mechanics, were on snow-removal duty during the storm. One employee was on scheduled leave, another was on sick leave and an open maintenance-worker position was unfilled when the storm hit.

According to a preliminary report submitted to the Town Council, work crews took several multi-hour breaks as the storm raged. Chu cautioned that the report listed only times that crews were on the street and did not include strategy sessions that usually precede plowing.

The town does not hire temporary workers for snow removal, she said.

Fifty-four of the town’s 78 maintenance workers have commercial driver’s licenses, which allow them to operate plows. Town officials encourage workers to obtain the licenses, Chu said.

The town’s snow-removal budget this year is $106,835. Crews already have gone through about half of the town’s 400-ton supply of road salt and town officials likely will place another order for salt, currently priced at $84.77 per ton, Chu said.

Town snow-removal crews are highly experienced and frequently refine their procedures, she said.

“I’m very proud of the job they did,” Chu said.

What happened to the Vienna Christmas tree? Budget Cuts, the grinch took it, used for fertilizer for the town brown, too tall?