Snow Removal Followup ...
Vienna Staff Promise Improvements to Snow-Removal Efforts
by Brian Trompeter January 6, 2010Following highly disparaged snow-removal efforts after a mid-December blizzard, Vienna officials held an after-action meeting and soon will produce a report outlining improvement efforts, Town Manager John Schoeberlein said at the Jan. 4 Vienna Town Council meeting.
Schoeberlein’s assurances came too late for Vienna resident Lynn Sanderson, who lit into Vienna officials during the meeting’s public-comment section.
“It was the worst mess I’ve ever seen in my life, in 32 years of living in the town,” Sanderson said. “And you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for allowing it to happen.”
Sanderson continued, “If you can’t do it, there’s the door. Run!” She added, “I’m not faulting the guys that drive the trucks. I’m faulting management. You all slipped on the ice. It’s too bad your butt didn’t hit the ground and bounce a few times. It has to be said: If you can’t do the job, get out.”
Comments
I fully agree that it was not the crews on the trucks, but rather the management. The crews were working against the odds on this one.
Posted by: Fed Up | January 7, 2010 04:04 PM
It is Mother Nature's fault too. Let's not forget this was the most snow this area has seen in decades
Posted by: Bounce House | January 7, 2010 10:52 PM
Ms. Sanderson appears regularly in Town Council Meetings and has been railing against Town Policies for years.
If one wishes to follow this story, a "back look" into Council Minutes would give a clear picture of this woman and her patterns.
Her recent comments are not new, nor are they unexpected.
Posted by: Still Me- Been There - Done That | January 7, 2010 11:33 PM
As you can see by my name, I work for the Town. I do not wish to reveal who I am; because, as you can imagine, I do not want to be disciplined for posting on this site.
I have been following the many comments on the previous post and this one regarding the job we did on snow removal. Also, I have read the articles that have been published in the Sun-Gazette.
As some have stated, we were against the odds on this one. That is very true. What made our job worse is the fact that we were and still are in the process of leaf removal. We were told to go around the leaf piles so as not to push the leaves back into resident's yards. Also, cars parked on the street makes our job that much more difficult. Another thing, many people understandably do not want their driveways plowed in. That prevents us from plowing curb to curb in order to clean the entire street.
Vienna received 22 inches of snow during the storm of December 18-20, 2009. We did the best we could with what we had to work with. If that wasn't good enough (and for many of you it obviously wasn't) let me apologize on behalf of the Town of Vienna.
Each and every call to Town Hall, whether good or bad, is forwarded to all of us. Thank you to those of you that understand what a tough job we have to do. To the people that are upset, please know that we are refining the way we go at these snows, and we hope that we do not let you down again in the future.
Posted by: TOV Public Works employee | January 9, 2010 03:58 PM
Nice to see an apology, but although the reasons for the problems that were provided explain problems on a lot of the side streets, they don't explain why "major" streets such as Park Street, Center Street, etc. were such a mess... it seemed to me there was a general lack of salt/sand deployed on these major roads that was at the root of the problem. Maybe that's related to the leaf removal?
Posted by: You're Kidding Me, Right? | January 12, 2010 09:24 AM
I have heard Mrs. Sanderson at meetings "railing" on the TC. Why are you blaming, and dismissing her for voicing an opinion?
Posted by: blame the public | January 12, 2010 10:24 AM
I am neither blaming nor dismissing Ms. Sanderson. She is certainly within every right to express her opinions before the Council. I am merely pointing out that she often does so, and a look back at the Minutes may assist in opening a window to her personality and past habits. I don't judge her actions- Just pointing out that there is a pattern to the commentary.
Posted by: Dorothy | January 12, 2010 08:40 PM
I really did not observe a problem and thought what a great staff the Town has. Things seemed cleaned up wright away. I was out right away on Saturday and most of the roads were clear!
Now if the Vienna residents had to rely on VDOT, that would be another issue. I live across old Court House Rd from the Town and I never saw one plow go through our neighboorhood, and this occurs over and over snowfall after snowfall.
VDOT must think Vienna is responsible for plowing in our neighborhood. I wish they were!!!!
Great Job Town Staff on the snow. There is room for improvement on the leaves.
Posted by: Frank Torre | January 14, 2010 04:49 PM
Well Dorthy I judge people by their actions and not their "intent." And sometimes a citizen no matter how cranky she comes across might still have valid points. This was a huge snow storm, and no we don't need to waste money on getting more equipment for something that happens every decade or so, but I think more to her point is that management does not do a lot well, and should be given to Fairfax!
Posted by: still blaming the public | January 22, 2010 10:15 AM
I am quite amazed that business's do not shovel the sidewalks in front of their stores or shopping centers. No shoveling forces people onto the street where there was barely enough room for cars much less walkers / cyclist.
Citizen's cars were snowed in but we saw many people trying to walk to a store but forced to walk in the street.
Spokes etc. and Pro Feed next door did shovel the snow on the sidewalk but watched in amazement at the people trying to get to Starbucks or Chipolte.
Posted by: Jeff Palmer | January 22, 2010 02:17 PM
Back to the usual excellent plowing job for Snowmageddon!
Posted by: You're Kidding Me, Right? | February 8, 2010 10:08 AM