Kudos to Idaho Falls Snow Removal Workers

First of all, I really appreciate all of the city workers and especially those who had to work extra during our recent storms. Joe, I’m glad that your neighborhood roads have begun to be cleared.

Personally, I have not seen any snow cleared in my neighborhood, even for the main roads. The only places I have seen any evidence of snow being moved is on the main streets, such as Woodruff, Yellowstone, First Street, etc. But even on these streets there was still a big pile down the center as recently as this morning on the way to work. Trying to make a left turn, or break through the pile where nobody has already been is not an easy option.

I am glad that the city is issuing a snow alert and plowing the roads in our neighborhoods already. In the past they have usually waited way too long. But it makes me wonder, shouldn’t they finish clearing the main city streets first?

From what I’ve been told, due to budget restraints, the “Powers That Be” decided to wait until the second snowfall (the one we received yesterday) before they started plowing residential areas. I felt it was kind of a good move due to lack of money. I hate to see the entire budget eaten up in just a few days.

As of late Thursday evening they still haven’t even touched my neighborhood and the roads are getting worse. Its getting almost impossible to get out now that the snow is getting crusty which makes it easier to get stuck.

There are some older homes in Idaho Falls that don’t appear to have ANY off street parking so I don’t know what those people are supposed to do with their vehicles. In those cases the fines should be waived. For the others who just don’t feel like moving their cars - just feel lucky the fine is so small. In many cities it costs several hundred dollars to get your car back after a tow.

Question to the city: What happened to all that spare cash you had lying around from not using your snow removal equipment AT ALL for the past several years???? Concerned citizens want to know.

Poor babies can’t handle the snow? Were your fathers and grandfathers pampered.
All you tight taxpayers need to cough up a bunch of tax dollars to buy the city more equipment.
You all need to visit other “snow” town to see how great you have it.
Signed, I have a shovel and know how to use it and I don’t have to be “taken” care of!

It’s not a matter of being taken care of. It’s a matter of we pay taxes for these services and they are sorely lacking at this moment. I got home last night after being out of town for a week and had to take a running start to get into my driveway. I’m in now and can’t get out until they plow the public roadway which our taxpayer money pays for.

Yeah John….get over yourself! We’re not talking about our own driveways or sidewalks….we’re talking about the city streets. For which we ALL pay taxes to have the snow removed. If you would have actually read this post and what others have posted, you would have realized that before spouting off at the mouth.
MY driveway is shoveled….I’ve been shoveling it everyday for the past two weeks. However the street I live on has got 12 +inches of snow on it and most of my neighbors don’t have 4×4’s and can’t get out of their homes. We pay taxes for this service and only want what the city is supposed to provide us. They have no problem issuing tickets and towing cars, but they can’t plow the road even once since all this snow started falling 2 weeks ago.

I’m not interested in telling people how to do their jobs. I’m interested in having a public street plowed in a timely manner. It doesn’t seem to be a difficult concept to grasp. I expect services paid for to be performed properly. That does NOT include waiting five days for a street to be plowed. I fully realize it is not the individual workers fault. I’m not sure where the fault lies, but my current problem is that my street is not plowed. I don’t think making any changes to management is going to help the current situation, however. Someone told me that Rigby streets are all plowed. Anyone confirm this?

I checked with Idaho Falls City GIS and they show they presently have 280 miles of streets within city limits to take care of. It would be interesting to put a pencil to it and compare with other towns, cities and eqipment available to each and see how the ratios would work out and see what is reasonable time frame to take care of the many miles of road with snow continuing to accumulate.

Apparently nobody in city management had a workable plan for such a snow event, its not rocket science. The Mayor tells the Street Sup to get it done, the Street Sup uses what resources avilable to him to get the job done, if he needs more resources he tells the Mayor and the Mayor approves the needed rersources as what has happened in Idaho Falls…Hiring Contractors to haul off the snow. The problem is the city management waited and now they’re playing catch up, they were being “re-active” rather than “pro-active”. How many eldery residense are snowed in and CAN’T shovel themselves or their vehicles out? Dang old people needing to have the city take care of them…shame on them. How many city street intersections were sanded early on during the snow storm? seems to me if they would have been sanded then they would be somewhat clear now but what do I know I’m just a complaining tax payer who’s lived here over thirty years and looking for a city management job (tongue firmly in cheek). When the streets of the city are so bad that emergency vehicles ie: fire/ems/police have a hard time getting around then I don’t think it takes an nuclear engineer to figure out that theres a problem somewhere. Solution? Mangement get off their 3rd point of contact and get the situation corrected in a timely manner. When the city finally did request contractors the contracted resources were up and ready to go just waiting on the city to get their act together. Yes I can complain, I pay city taxes and I also pay our company’s employees to help clear snow, pull stuck vehicles out, and pay for the fuel, wear and tear of our equipment.

I’ve lived here for over 20 years. When we had REAL winters and real snowfall almost every year the city had little problem keeping the streets clear. There were plows running 24/7 until the job was done. I have been all over the city since the snow started falling a few days ago and have seen very few city plows running. The main arterials are clear but most of the side streets are still buried. The only ones doing a fairly good job are the independents and private citizens who have their own plows but they can’t do the whole city. I think maybe the city guys have forgotten how to plan for or handle a real snowfall since we’ve had so many mild winters recently.

They finally got my street plowed last night before 7pm, and it was nice for about two hours. Then, the locals blew all their driveway and walkway snow back out into the street (I do not, we put ours on our lawn, which sucks and builds a big hill but that’s better than putting it out into the street, imho).

Now it’s all nasty again, in front of certain houses.

I thought there was a law against putting your snow into the public street, but I’m sure that’s not being enforced, any more than they do the law about not keeping your RVs parked to obstruct traffic or the view or even the sidewalk itself.

But I agree, cheers to the workers who are getting the plowing done.

Jeers to the city for forgetting how to manage this weather (I agree it’s probably due to not having to worry about it for so long).

If snow removal and/or planning was my area of expertise, you bet I’d volunteer to help get the job done right. I think all most of us were saying is that we pay for this service to be performed in a timely manner. It hardly seems like too much to ask for that to be done. I know what it’s like to miss family members because they’re out plowing the snow for everyone else. That’s just the way life goes sometimes. When people sign on to be snow plow drivers they understand that it is part of the job to work when the snow flies. I don’t have a single issue with the individual workers. I take issue with the poor planning and management. I certainly do not expect perfection, but five days to clear a residential street? That seems a bit excessive.

Guest_1234
Where did I ever say the roads in my neighborhood were cleared? Get YOUR facts straight. I would venture to guess that MY neighborhood was one of the last ones plowed.
“State your opinions, but don’t criticize others when they state theirs.” Apparantly you do not like me voicing MY opinion which is hypocritical in itself! Isn’t a debate a form of criticism? So are you saying you are opposed to a debate? I guess if it in not your oppinion, it must be wrong, is that what I am to understand? By the way, I believe my opinion (in general) does not differ from everyone elses’ - I believe Joe said he was appreciative of the street crew and the job they have done!
I think that people need to realize that the City Leaders are “damned if they do and damned if they don’t” and not too many of us would put ourselved in that position. I also believe that the managers of the street dept were working those days as well, so they are not sitting at home barking orders as some may guess.

Could someone please explain how you believe it took so long for the streets to be plowed when the crews were out during the storms. They do start with the main roads and did on the 24th. That is a large job in itself and would probably take a day or two (I am guessing). Then they start with the residental streets. Oh wait, let us not forget that the next storm was only two days later, therefore they must start with the main roads again!!!!! Only makes sence to me! They have to start at square one. Thus it only took about three days for the residental streets to get plowed after the last storm. Seems pretty timely to me!
One of your statements is that there are still roads in your neighborhood that still aren’t cleared. Could it be that they plowed just before the next storm on Saturday or Sunday (I forget) so there is new snow since the plowing? Which streets are not plowed. I have driven around and found few if any that have not been plowed, but if there are any tell me where and I will call the street department to inquire why. I do not have any pull so don’t get the wrong idea, but if the supervisors do not know, how can they fix the problem? Now be mindful there are several strets in Idaho Fals that Bonneville County is responsible for, and one may not realize unless they ask the appropriate people.
My last question is this! Would you bel willing to pay more taxes for the snow to be removed more quickly? It takes a lot of money to pay for the machines and the manpower to plow the streets. Even if there is not very much snow (as in the last few years) we still must pay for the machinary as it is not paid for all at once and is not used for too many other jobs.
I believe the city contracts out a major part of the snow removal jobs, and that must cost quite a bit as well as no one will do much for free. So I ask again, would you be willing to pay more taxes to have machinary standing incase? I think I would not want a tax hike just to keep machines and personnel on stand-by (just in case).

I did hear - from someone who lives there - that the streets in the Sage Lakes subdivision were plowed by the morning of the 26th. I also heard that that’s where the Mayor lives - funny how things work, isn’t it? Also, I drove down 2nd Street on the 29th - it hadn’t been plowed, but the numbered streets further south had been.

This is a little off the subject but still kind of related.

Idaho State Police reported 160 accidents since last Monday. WTF??!! That’s just downright crazy and in my opinion, people living in this state should know how to drive in these types of conditions.

Now I’m fairly new to the area, but I’ve driven in these types of conditions enough times to know that one needs to take the necessary precautions when driving on icy/snow packed covered roads. Mainly, slow down and don’t follow to close being the main issues.

I was absolutely astonished at all the idiots on hwy 15, 20 & 26 over the Christmas break. People were literally flying by me like I was standing still and the roads were horrendous! I drove to both Pocatello and Blackfoot and Kelly Canyon on numerous occasions over the holidays and I saw dozens of vehicles that had slid off the road going both ways. Yet with all the vehicles in the ditches, people were still driving way too fast for conditions.

They had an Idaho State Police officer on 103.3fm this morning and the DJ’s were asking the officer questions regarding this very issue. One of the questions asked was “if the speed limit is 55(or whatever) and the roads are icy, yet the driver is still doing 55, will he be pulled over for going too fast for conditions”? The officer said no. The only time a person will get a ticket for driving too fast for conditions is if an accident has occurred and it can be proven that the person was driving too fast for the conditions.
THAT is the most ludicris thing I have EVER heard!! Which is obviously why there were over 160 accidents in ONE week! WAKE UP ISP and do your freakin jobs!
We live in a state that gets lots of ice and snow on the roads. The people in this state ALSO need to wake up and learn how to drive in these conditions. It just amazes me the amount of idiots on our roads and hwys going way too fast for conditions. How can there be SO many people living here that have absolutely no clue how to drive in these conditions?
It really boggles my mind!

We won’t even discuss the idiot that got drunk at a bar over New Years and walked home. Only to pass out in somebody’s backyard and freeze to death. The same thing happened last year behind DB’s. (ya gotta love natures way of weeding out the idiots)

He DOES live in Sage Lakes, do your research.

The rumor goes around every year that the rich hoods get plowed first, and it is never true. The city has denied it, and my experiences visiting friends in wealthier neighborhoods has made me believe those hoods are in line with the rest of us to get plowed.

I was in Sage Lakes yesterday, and they definitely were not one of the first to be plowed. Parts of that area are pretty hard to negotiate.

Sage Lakes is out of the city limits, therefore he could not live there and be mayor.

Who really cares WHERE he lives?? It’s NOT important and there’s no sense getting into a … match over it! Geez people, grow up!

I’mnot saying anything more on here…Joe just removes it :o(

Someone is confusing Sage Lakes with Fairway Estates, Sage Lakes is a golf course south of town and in the City limts. Fairway Estates is a subdivision with homes and a golf course north of town and also in the City Limits. Furhiman lives in neither.

Guest: I thought the golf course at Fairway Estates was Sage Lakes. Where is the other golf course you are talking about that is S of town?