Your technical explanation is fine. However, if you don't remove the snow
in the first place and then you call a parking ban because the snow is too
high then someone has a problem. The city staff don't have a problem with
cutting corners because their bosses are not coming down on them. The
public has a problem. If the city does not plow in "critical
parking" areas then you compound the parking problems.
I have specific knowledge of Spruce Place between Grant and 14th
Streets. If you checked the work logs for plowing it might confirm what I
am saying, but I doubt very much that the logs would reflect the fact that
only some plowing took place there and not what was required.
Were I come from we call that chutzpah. If you want me to give you a
technical explanation of what chutzpah is, here goes: You kill your
mother and father. At your murder trial you plead mercy in front of the
judge because you are an orphan.
The department of Public Works knows what it's job is. They admit that
they don't have enough resources to do the job so they have to
prioritize. Where are the resources? And who is setting the priorities?
I will grant that this winter was an especially harsh one and that the
snowfall exceeded "normal" conditions. What really bothers me is that it
seems that the city departments don't care about the quality of life
issues of downtown residents who live in highly concentrated
neighborhoods. I don't think that parking has as much a "quality of
life" issue in Longfellow as it is in Loring Park. I used to live in
Longfellow and I never had any parking problems. In fact it was not an
issue for me and I went about my life with a "taken for granted" attitude
about parking. In Loring Park I don't have that luxury. It is in my face
every day. Go ahead, tell me to rent a space in the municipal lot. Then
I'll give you another definition of chutzpah (which I won't be able to
share with the listserv publically).
What I think needs to happen is that the city needs to meet with residents
of "critical parking" areas and start to gather information on parking
problems. Then the information should be addressed in a planning process
that yields alternative solutions. Then the city should adopt one or
several of these alternatives and fund them, and then implemet them. The
public should be kept informed at each stage.
I don't need a technical explanation about why the city does or does not
do something. We need the city to be more receptive to residents' needs.
David Wilson
former "Longfellowite"
former "Lynhurstite"
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