WARNING: Temperatures this morning are in the teens. Roads are treacherous. 12/21/09 (7 am)
VDOT, our state transportation overlord with those bright orange trucks, rules supreme right now. It is they who determine who gets plowed and who doesn’t. They can be found at http://www.virginiadot.org/default_flash.asp VDOT has announced that some neighborhoods will not be plowed until Wednesday night. Wednesday night?!
The cities like Manassas and Manassas Park have their own snow removal. The county relies on VDOT and those road jockies who are out riding the trucks, plows and tractors scrapping, dropping, sprinkling , spreading and barricading us back in our driveways.
Poor Westgate has had very little plowing since Saturday during the storm. It is obvious. Entire blocks can be driven without seeing pavement. Sudley, meanwhile, has been plowed. There are a few rough spots but there are single lane paths through nearly every street. Sudley Manor and Strasburg, on the other hand, have been scraped clean. Why can’t those trucks who have made 20 trips up and down Sudley Manor Drive (yea right, snow emergency route…that’s the ticket) go over and take a few swipes at the Westgate roads that look like a white, wintery moon scape?
This is chronic waste and happens every snow storm. Many of these drivers are contracted and simply are putting in time on the course of least resistance. Where is the oversight? Who is issuing the job orders? Westgate people should be furious! Hopefully they will give VDOT the good ripping they deserve.
Meanwhile, Prince William County Schools apparently think they can wiggle their respective noses and have all their snow removal taken care of. With the VDOT statement about Wednesday night, how does the county think roads will be clear enough to get kids to school by Wednesday? How about Tuesday? How will they clean their lots for 80 schools? PWCS needs to accept the reality of the situation. They will save money and earn some good will with parents, kids, and staff by simply closing until after the holidays. Mother Nature can handle the snow removal until January. They need to announce today, so people can plan.
This situation is where our supervisors and school board members could make a real impact. I would love to see each of them riding around in some of the county SUV’s surveying the road situation, checking out the school parking lots,checking neighborhood sidewalks, and checking the neighborhoods in their districts. They could make a huge difference. I feel certain that a VDOT call from one of them would have more impact than your rank and file citizen.
Hopefully our supervisors and school board members will feel free to post here as to the conditions in their magisterial districts. We might need their help getting some of the neighborhoods dug out.
It is ridiculous for plows to spend several hours scraping pavement when a block over neighborhood streets have a good foot of snow on them. Transparency. Government waste. Oversight. We all need to work together to get this done.
If you live on Bull Run Mountain, like some of my ‘in-laws’ do, one understands why they aren’t first in line for the snow plows. Many communities have their own snow removal, depending on whether the roads are state maintained or not.
However, when you live in Westgate, Loch Lomond, or many of the other communities, this doesn’t make sense.
I was awakened this morning by a neighbor gunning the engine of his jeep over and over again, accompanied by that whine of tires spinning on ice.
As I watched from the terrace, this fellow repeatedly gunned the engine of the jeep, until his vehicle slid sideways into several neighbor’s cars.
It never occurred to this fellow to use his low gears and SLOWLY add power. He just gunned the engine and lost control of his vehicle. Now there will be some big repair bills to pay.
The best thing our fellow citizens can do is to stay inside, unless of course they have a job at local hospitals or some other job where it is justified to risk one’s life and property, in order to get to work.
In a few days, most of the ice on the roads will be gone. Just stay home and get caught-up on some of those chores around the house. It is simply not worth risking anything to go to a mere job in these treacherous conditions..
We were awakened this morning by a neighbor gunning the engine of his jeep over and over again, accompanied by that whine of tires spinning on ice.
As I watched from the terrace, this fellow repeatedly gunned the engine of the jeep, until his vehicle slid sideways into several neighbor’s cars.
It never occurred to this fellow to use his low gears and SLOWLY add power. He just gunned the engine and lost control of his vehicle. Now there will be some big repair bills to pay.
The best thing our fellow citizens can do is to stay inside, unless of course they have a job at local hospitals or some other job where it is justified to risk one’s life and property, in order to get to work.
In a few days, most of the ice on the roads will be gone. Just stay home and get caught-up on some of those chores around the house. It is simply not worth risking anything to go to a mere job in these treacherous conditions..
In this section of the country we simply aren’t able to quickly handle
18+ inches of snow on every street. This isn’t Buffalo. It
wouldn’t make economic sense for us to buy and store equipment
and train operators for a snow event that occurs every 7-10 years.
Classic: Check one or all:
1) My street isn’t getting enough attention. I’m being dissed by
snow plows.
2)They did plow my street my street and pushed snow back into
my driveway or on my sidewalk. (Where do you suggest they
plow the snow?)
3)They should open/close schools! (Either way will be seen as
a bad choice and beheadings will be demanded).
Having MAJOR computer problems. So this will be short and sweet.
I heard beeping plows all night long a few blocks away, but not a plow down the 9700 block of Lafayette. I’ve not heard/seen a VDOT plow go down our block. I may have missed it but I sure don’t think so by the looks of my street. I think a private citizen dropped their blade on a trip down our block. They usually do this is every storm. They used to live in WG, but now live in Sudley. Luckily, they still think of their old neighobors. Thanks, John!
Now, on to the school system. Grow a pair and close the rest of the week. The City of Manassas sure did. They don’t have near the square miles that we do. Nor, do they have Bull Run Mountain. As usual, PWCPS continues to pussy-foot around the closing, once again leaving parents little to know time to make arrangements for their children. Furthermore, we have a lot of walkers in the county. In my neighborhood kids walk to elementary school and middle school. People have been lucky to get their cars dug out let alone getting the sidewalks done. C’mon PWCPS. Do you really want our kids walking in the middle of our still snow-covered roads with cars driving down them. Get real!!! Every parent should NOT send their kids if those fools decide to have kids attend classes.
Started to do my Manassas City Rules dance until I noticed the picture
at the top of this thread is of an Old Town street.
Well, darn.
Actually, it is Culpeper. Sorry.
I understand complaining and what you are saying. However, the City has its own people and doesn’t turn loose a bunch of snow plow jockeys. SM Drive, and Stasburg are usually overly tended while other places go begging.
Sometimes complaints are legitimate. How many times must a snow plow run over pavement that has no snow? Could we all agree that 10 times over pavement is too much, especially when your neighbors have not been plowed?
PR, it does look like the City. That is one reason I chose it. The other reason was I couldn’t find a local one I liked. Sense of honor made me fess up. It was Culpeper.
My sister-in-law from Ohio insists that Culpeper should be called Cul-peeper. I sort of agree.
Ok, now I can dance! (Imagine Snoopy when Charle Brown fills
his food bowl).
Number 4) on list — People will quickly become out of sorts if they
park in a place without private driveways or assigned parking,
go out and clean off vehicle and space, leave, come back and find
someone has parked in “their space” and/or plow has pushed a huge
clump of snow into it. Plastic lawn chairs placed in spot to “save it”
don’t always work. People have shot each other in Chicago over this
sort of thing.
Culpeper is an interesting town. It has a smaller population than Manassas,
but a much larger Old Town area. A running battle there now is over
the pros and cons of restoring an old theatre. Historical value/culture
vs. tight budgets. Should town help and how much?
Oh, and everyone move snow from around your nearest fire hydrants.
Mr. Howler used to live in Culpeper. Interesting stories. That was before Moon’s day.
lafayette has just called in with a roving report. VDOT has now started in Westgate and they have plowed the 9700 block of Lafayette. There is a huge traffic jam on rt 234 from Grant Ave. northbound til Rolling Rd. No accident.
Stonewall Middle’s lots are cleared but none of the sidewalks are cleared. Court house lots are cleared. Court is in session so there is no where to park.
I hope I remembered it all. Over and out for Lafayette.
Main roads in my area aren’t bad, but they are narrower. Some people still want to drive the speed limit. I don’t think slowing down 10 miles an hour is out of the question if you don’t have a SUV or truck. People, PLEASE be patient!
I have had good luck on my street and my neighborhood on the east end of the County in Marumsco Hills (very hilly) seems to be in decent shape we are down to good size patches of pavement along with packed ice by no means are they safe for busses, there is only 1 car getting by on the side streets. … Just saw the Police Department they are still driving around in the white county vehicles with 4 wheel drive.
Two of the three schools in my neighborhood Elizabeth Vaughn and Woodbridge Middle School remain completely untouched I mean NOTHING I can’t say for sure on Marumsco Hills Elementary as I haven’t ventured over there yet. I suspect many schools are like this….. So why is it that the Superintendent (or his staff) cannot call it for school tomorrow and/or Wednesday? This is ridiculous, hopefully the school board will be taking note of this lack of communication, planning and leadership…..this is complete incompetence.
Battlefield is closed off except for the horse trailer park and the area off of Featherbed near the unfinished railway. Featherbed had some real heavy duty holes with water in them.
It looks like we got more than parts of Loudoun County.
Sledding is going great guns at the stone house and in the NY section.
MJ, I could not agree with you more. They know it isn’t going to happen. The sidewalks have not been cleared. Kids can’t walk in the street. Why heat up a building for 2 days when half the parents will keep the kids home.
It is complete incompetence and lack of consideration to the parents, kids, and staff of Prince William County.
mj,
I’ve heard of several good reports in the neighborhoods(Non-HOA) at the eastern end. I’ve heard mixed reports from those neighborhoods with HOA’s. I do understand that VDOT is not equipped for this amount of snow. We were able to get Dulles yesterday. I am thankful they’ve finally made through WestGate, but most certainly understand the delay. People were driving way too fast with spinning wheels Saturday, yesterday, and early this morning.
What do the neighborhood sidewalks look like at the eastern end? We have lots of walkers in WG/Sudley. There are few with their sidewalks cleared. We have quite a few seniors that just are not able to get out there. I have seen kids looking to shovel in WG. That’s a good thing. Even able bodied folks might need help, and it’s Christmas. Kids could use the cash.
Total lack of consideration and concern for safety on the PWCPS part. Please, just CLOSE for the week. Think about are kids walking in the road to get to school. And to do what we all know the kids are doing absolutely NOTHING in their classes, and many students have already left for Christmas vacation. The kids can enjoy the snow and watch a movie at home, not at school.
For all those who may gripe and groan about HOA’s, here’s a good one for you to munch on. We have our own pickup trucks equipped with plows and our own snowblowers for the sidewalks. The staff guys manning this equipment do good work. We can get out of our development rather quickly. Then we hit the public streets. Man, you can’t win for losing in all this.
“Sledding is going great guns at the Stone House and NY Section.”
It was also “going great guns” in the “NY section” when Hood’s
Texans surprised and decimated the 5th NY Zouaves on that hill in
Second Manassas. One might pause to reflect on the panic and
pain of that day leading to the innocent pleasures and joy of today.
(No battle = no park = no sled hills).
Good news!! PWC school’s are now CLOSED Tuesday & Wednesday.
Complete listing of closings as of 4:25pm
http://www.myfoxdc.com/subindex/weather/closings
Last Updated: Monday, 12/21/2009 4:37pm
Public Schools
Alexandria Public Schools – Closed Tuesday CODE GREEN
Arlington County Schools – CLOSED Tuesday and Wednesday Administration Offices Are Open
Berkeley County Schools – CLOSED
Calvert County Schools – CLOSED TUESDAY CODE YELLOW FOR EMPLOYEES
Carlos Rosario Int’l PCS – CLOSED
Carroll County Public Schools – CLOSED
Charles County Schools – Closed Tuesday – Code 2 – Liberal Leave for Employees
Clarke County Schools – CLOSED TUESDAY
Community Academy Public Charter School – CLOSED
Fairfax County Schools – CLOSED TUES & WED
Falls Church City Public Schools – Closed Tuesday and Wednesday CODE GREEN
Frederick County MD Schools – CLOSED Tuesday & Wednesday No After-school or Evening Activities
Frederick County VA Schools – Closed Tuesday
Howard County Schools – CLOSED
Loudoun County Schools – CLOSED Tuesday
Manassas City Schools – CLOSED TUES & WED CODE BLUE
Manassas Park City Schools – CLOSED TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
Morgan County Schools – CLOSED TUESDAY
Page County Schools – CLOSED TUESDAY 12 MONTH EMPL. REPORT AT 10AM
Prince George’s County Schools – Closed Tuesday and Wednesday
Prince William County Schools – CLOSED TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY CODE RED
Shenandoah County Public Schools – CLOSED TUES & WED
St. Mary’s County Schools – Closed Monday & Tuesday Code-3 for Employees
Stafford County Public Schools – CODE 1 EMPLOYEES
Washington Mathematics Science Tech – CLOSED
Young America Works Public Charter – CLOSED
Lafayette,
The sidewalks are so so here, some folks have shoveled them many have not. Our household shoveled ours out and 2 neighbors before we made the trip our parents home to take care of theirs.
The 3rd school Marmusco Hills had not been touched yet when I went by at 3 pm today.
Channel 5 Fox is reporting Prince William County Schools closed Tuesday and Wednesday Code Red…..finally!!That call could have been made a long time ago, it would have given parents with small kids time to make day care arrangements.
Indeed, I passed by the stone house on the way home from work today around 4:30 PM and there were a few cars actually parked on Rt. 29 since the stone house parking lot was full. There were lots of sledders on the hill. I’d never passed by there when there was a lot of snow before – it looked like everyone was having a good time.
When I went by around 1 pm today the hill was swarming with people. There appeared to be as much socializing as sledding.
There were a bunch of cars parked on 234 near the closed gates to the main battlefield office. I suppose people hoofed it around the fence. now that’s dedication. Perhaps they were short staffed. And we are near DC and the Feds were closed down.
Westgate still doesn’t look good. It has been plowed but the streets are full of snow still. On my field trip today, I hit Loudoun County, and the Cathaprin/Gainesville neighborhoods. Gum Springs was clean. Paigeland was clean as well as many of the developements off of that road. Westgate was a mess. What’s wrong with this picture?
For the record, I don’t live in Westgate. I am beating the war drums for those who live there. Truthfully, I feel they are getting short shrift.
Excellent reflextion point, PR. I had never looked at it that way, but you are totally correct.
Must second Poor Richard and say that I too like living in the City of Manassas. We are on a side street in a neighborhood and were plowed on Sunday. It is nice not having to rely on VDOT. The superintendent closed schools all week and we got an automated call announcing this yesterday afternoon, giving parents plenty of time to make alternate plans. A couple of weeks ago I had no electricity and called the City Utilities Dept. and they had someone at my house within 15 minutes …. not kidding, 15 minutes. It is a very well run City and I appreciate and realize this even more in the midst of a blizzard!
IWK Manassas, all you have said speaks quite well for the City. I can remember a time when the City was THE place to live and people lined up to buy houses there.
Actually, out my way – Glenkirk Rd. – a fairly major road to a bunch of neighborhoods in Gainesville – still is snow covered as of this morning. Don’t know why the county isn’t paying much attention to it. This morning it was quite a bumpy ride over the snow on it.
I do think I too was spoiled living in the City for many years – the main roads always seemed to be taken care of quickly. Out in Gainesville roads more major than Stonewall Rd. for example that are outside neighborhoods are still snow covered as of this morning.
I love the City! Next time they have a Public Utilities Day ( the second Saturday in October) you should take the tour of their facility. Their maintenance dept has won awards and makes sure its equipment is ready to roll in emergencies like this. http://manassascity.org/index.aspx?NID=337
The City was always fast to respond to electrical outages in my former neighborhood – particularly the time the idiot towing company backed their truck into one of those huge green power transformers and took out all the power late in the evening on a Saturday night.
I was impressed with the effort of the crews in Fairfax. I suppose one’s impression is very much based on where one lives. My street is a tertiary or worse street, but they had made a pass by early afternoon on Sunday. As PR noted above, as rare as these big storms are around here, it would not make sense to invest in the capability that it would take to clear them off in a few hours.
Great to hear the accolades being bestowed on the City and also in Fairfax. I am assuming NOVA Scout is referring to Fairfax City and not county?
Good to see you NoVA Scout. It’s been a while. I always count on you to keep us honest.
Snow removal is very expensive. I get tired of hearing northerners taking crack shots at the DC area about not knowing how to handle snow. Considering that there are few native Washingtonians, relatively speaking, and that most are imports, the criticism is even dumber. We all know how to handle snow fine. (except my friend Suzanne from Miami) We just don’t have to do it that often and therefore don’t have the investment in snow removal that say one would find in Buffalo, NY or other places where snow is simply a way of life. Having a huge snow once ever 10 years doesn’t exactly make one bo-hick.
The problem with PW snow removal (and every place else that has to rely on VDOT) is that not enough supervision of the job. These jobs are contracted out for the most part and there isn’t the oversight there would be if actual employees were used. The City would be all over the case if someone were neglecting Weems Road in favor of Stonewall Road.