Preparation for Winter: Complaints About The Streets

[donsutherland1]

Complaints about the condition of the streets and sidewalks is not a modern-day matter. People have complained about the failure to clear the snow even well back into the past. The following is a letter to the editor written to the New England Palladium on the state of Boston's streets following the December 1811 snowstorm that brought a swath of heavy snow from Long Island to southern New England, along with brutal cold and harsh winds.

The letter follows:

It is hoped, that gentlemen near the centre of Federal Street, will take a look at their side walks. those further north should be reminded that it is extremely painful for ladies to expose themselves to danger by being driven into the carriage roads at such a season.

--Sir Cloud Sley Shovel

For those who are curious about how Philly fared, that city received only "a small fall of snow"--the storm was a Miller B.

[coriolis]

I wonder if people back then would shovel their sidewalk into the street like they do today.

Come to think of it, I wonder how they cleared the streets back then. Somehow I don't think they had horse drawn snow plows.

[Miss Mary]

My next door neighbor grew up in Buffalo, NY. He shovels his snow out into the street, when he gets near the end. Your car then has to drive over this mound of snow. He claims the plow will come along and clear it. Well, last year 2 days before xmas, we got dumped on. Then 6 to 8 hours of freezing rain on top of heavy snow. It all fused together to create huge snowdrifts, left over from the plow. That did not clear both sides of the street. We ended up with a huge mound of snow at the end of our driveway, that I had to chip away at for days. Both of our cars got stuck on it too - we had to rock my car back and forth to get it off of the mound.

I know my neighbor watched these scenes with interest. I wanted to shout over to him, yeah, the plow clears the entire street - not! My husband had to get a running start to get into our driveway. And we had a new teen driver, Nina. I had to back my car a few times so she could get somewhere. It was like living in another time!

I know it was a fluke, snow, then ice, and right before xmas. Crews weren't up to full capacity. Major streets were not cleared properly.

All I know is my left elbow still aches, from all the chipping I did. I'd go out and say - okay, I'm going to clear enough room for one of our cars to get thru! LOL

I had forgotten all about that time period, until now. I got stuck in a major traffic jam Dec. 24, in a parking lot that held a few stores. Again, plows hadn't cleared even 1/2 the lot. So cars were forced into one of 3 lines to exit. My other daughter was with me and she joked, think we'll ever get home? It took us over 2 hours to exit a simple, average suburban parking lot, only to sit in gridlock traffic, miles from home. That's when I said we are getting our shopping done early next year!

Mary