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Saturday, January 06, 2018

SATURDAY UPDATE: PLOWING, WASTE REMOVAL, CITY HOURS OF OPERATION

Snow removal efforts continue across the City this morning, with plowing and salting operations focused on residential streets early, and snow emergency routes later in the morning. There are several key pieces of information for you to know this morning:

PLOWING
-The Civil and Snow Emergency orders were lifted last night at 10:00 p.m.
-There may be some streets where only one (1) lane width is available for travel, so drivers are urged to be cautious and slow down. Those areas will be revisited and widened as conditions allow.
-This snow event marks only the second time that City crews have been able to plow every street in the City. Typically, improving conditions help us do the work of clearing the roads – however, with this storm, conditions were so bad that plow operators ended up having to make pass after pass along the snow emergency routes.
-We ask for patience as the unique wind and temperature conditions presented by this storm have made digging out more challenging than they otherwise would be. Even with all residential streets having been plowed, we don’t expect it to be “clear sailing” until Monday morning.
-The City is tremendously thankful for our hardworking snow plow drivers. Their work is difficult and even dangerous, and the hours are very long. We appreciate them so very much.

WATER MAIN REPAIRS
Cold temperatures presented several other challenges for City crews, further complicating the snow removal process. Since snowfall began, there have been four (4) water main breaks:

Thursday morning – 6” water main break on Pearl St. at Fitzwater St. Ten (10) homes were affected by low water pressure. The break was repaired Thursday afternoon.
Friday morning – Water main break on College Ave. between Russel St. and Camden Ave. 20 homes were affected by low water pressure. The break was repaired on Friday afternoon.
Friday afternoon – Water main break on Lake St. at Mack and Tangier Streets. 20 homes were affected by low pressure. The break was repaired in the overnight hours Friday into Saturday.
Saturday morning – Water main break on Riverside Dr. between Riverview Ave. and W. College Ave. 25 homes affected with no water. Riverside Dr. is being closed in both directions between Riverview Ave. and W. College Ave., and a detour is established. Repairs are currently underway.

TRASH & RECYCLING
Residential trash and recycling will resume normal operations on Monday, January 8th. Residents whose trash and recycling were not picked up on Thursday the 4th or Friday the 5th will have their trash and recycling picked up on MONDAY wherever possible. Please note that some areas may be difficult for sanitation trucks to access trash cans. We appreciate everyone's patience during this emergency.

POLICE CALLS FOR SERVICE
Since the beginning of the storm, SPD has answered 285 calls for service.
During the same period, SPD investigated 14 motor vehicle crashes, 2 of which involved personal injury.
SPD has assisted motorists with 129 disabled vehicles as a result of this storm.

FIRE HYDRANTS
The Salisbury Fire Department asks for your assistance in clearing snow from fire hydrants. If you have a hydrant along your section of sidewalk, the Fire Department kindly asks that you assist them by sweeping the snow away from the hydrant, to make it easier for them to find and access in case of emergency.

GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS/CITY OFFICES
At this time, barring any unforeseen issues, the City of Salisbury anticipates returning to normal hours of operation on Monday morning, January 8th. All City offices are expected to open at 8:30 that morning.

Again, the City appreciates your patience as we continue to dig out from this unprecedented snow event.

For service calls after normal business hours, please contact the Salisbury Police Department at 410-548-3165. For emergency situations, please dial 911 immediately.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do we need to sweep off those damn blue thingies that are on the roadway too???

Anonymous said...

Yes everyone out there is appreciated! But then again, you knew what you were signing up for when you took the job.

Interesting that they want time to get it all done, but in video after video Jake is ranting about the immediate timeline and fines imposed on residents for not shoveling.

This memo goes on and on about how cold, dangerous and difficult it was but he doesn't have the brain cells to equate those challenges to residents faced with meeting his ridiculous demands for shoveling, only giving us 1/2 a day to accomplish it while him and his crew take several days and in come cases do a half a$$ed job and he dusts that away with a "whatever".

And while his people were working in heated vehicles, we were outside in dangerous conditions - subzero weather - just to shovel a sidewalk so that our kind, caring and generous Mayor won't have us fined.

Kinda puts it in perspective eh Jake?

Anonymous said...

@6:20 NAH We will finally be rid of them as soon as the snow plows hit the roads.

Anonymous said...

Getting that trash receptacle to the curb through 50 yards of foot deep snow might be a challenge. I think I'll wait until next week.

Anonymous said...

6:44 PM We were in OC in the fall and they have them attached to the curb. What a novel idea! Out of the street, out of traffic and still reflecting!

Anonymous said...

We haven't had mail for 3 days & our mailbox area as been cleared from day one. So much for their "Oath"!

Anonymous said...

I don't understand how an under ground water main breaks unless it is at the fire hydrant where it comes up out of the ground in which case it should be insulated.Will someone please enlighten me as to what is happening.

Shed Guy said...

Every street in the city plowed? What city are they talking about? Sure as heck not Salisbury.

Anonymous said...

7:32 well obviously you have not supplied the proper access to your property according to the City entity that drove by your place dumping 20 tons of snow on your sidewalk which was closely followed by a "City Inspector" who somehow candidly "discovered" that your sidewalks were covered in snow. Your lack of "compliance"obviously demonstrates your complete resentment of authority in these matters.

Now you owe us $250 because we can't even come close to what the Citizens are doing on their own because I an Jake Day and I say so.

Anonymous said...

Everyone in the city needs to ban together and refuse to pay their damn fines. Teach them just who has the real power.

Anonymous said...

Clean the fire hydrants so the poor firemen do not have to? Yeah, right. No way in hell.

Anonymous said...

I know these are unusual circumstances, but just think how many people get their medicine through the mail. VA usually takes 12 to 14 days and if you ordered in plenty of time you will probably be out of meds by now.