A Local Lesson to be Learned

As you may know, I work and write from my home office in Edmonds, Washington. Many days we have beautiful views of the Puget Sound and the snow capped Olympic mountains. But this year, the snow came right down to us and left behind two feet of winter white.

You are looking at a recent photo taken from my office window. Now picture the entire city of Seattle looking like this, particularly the freeways and streets, as we entered the new year.  Fortunately, the schools were closed, but commerce and public transportation were brought to a near stand still. Many of those who braved these unplowed roads were left stranded or engaged in slow motion ice crashes.

After it was over, area body shops reported a banner business bonanza with work backlogs of up to six months. When asked to rate Seattle's response to the event, Mayor Greg Nichols gave himself a "B" grade.  The laughter could be heard all the way to City Hall. 

Now the City Council is holding hearings on what went wrong.  To this observer the answer was clear: a shortage of snow plows combined with a reluctance to use salt on the roads. Because of this, a great opportunity to get people out of their cars and into public conveyance was squandered.