ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 TAG: 9601160071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
IN CALLS TO OFFICIALS, in area locker rooms, and on a local radio call-in survey, Roanoke's efforts are getting some poor reviews.
With unseasonably warm weather providing a lot of help, Roanoke's administration will report to City Council today on its snow removal from two storms last week that dumped more than 2 feet of snow.
But in residents' calls to public officials, in area locker rooms, and on local radio, the city's efforts are getting some poor reviews.
Three of council's six members said they've had a number of complaints from the public on the job the city did clearing streets in the wake of the storm.
On Monday, a local radio show gave Roanoke an "F" for its snow-clearing efforts, based on listener responses.
The city even took some hits in the Roanoke YMCA's men's locker room Monday after lunch.
"It's mostly been a negative reaction. The city didn't keep ahead of the snow this time, obviously," Mayor David Bowers said Thursday, a day before a second smaller storm hit the area.
"In the the three years-plus that I've been mayor, I always felt like we've kept on top of the problem. This time, we didn't," Bowers said, adding that his street didn't get plowed until Wednesday afternoon.
In response to a solicitation on WFIR-AM's popular Murphy in the Morning radio show Monday, about 100 listeners called in opinions on how well snow-removal operations proceeded in their jurisdictions.
In the unscientific survey, callers were asked to rate their jurisdiction between A for very good and F for "pretty awful," host Frank Murphy said.
The results: Bedford received an A+, Vinton got an A, Botetourt County was rated A- and Salem and Roanoke County each got a B.
Despite around-the-clock efforts by city Public Works crews, Roanoke received an F, Murphy said.
"There were good stories and bad stories for every place," Murphy said. "There were very few good stories about city streets. Mostly, the grades that came in were in the F or F+ range. The majority of the calls came from Northwest and the Raleigh Court area."
City officials last week defended their efforts, saying last Tuesday that they shifted from clearing main roads such as Brambleton and focused instead on plowing neighborhood roads so that residents could drive out.
At that time, City Manager Bob Herbert said at least 85 percent of roads in the city had received at least one pass by a snowplow, and they predicted 100 percent would be plowed by Wednesday morning, except for areas in higher elevations.
The problem seemed to be that by the time the plows got to residential streets, the snow on them had already been packed down by four-wheel-drive vehicles. By then, the snowplows couldn't do much good.
On Wednesday, the city shifted back to main roads, which although passable, looked snow-covered in comparison to main roads in the county.
Councilman Jack Parrot said most of the reaction he'd heard was positive.
"You've got to realize that with a few exceptions, snow removal is about 10 times harder in the city of Roanoke than everywhere else," Parrot said. "You've got narrow streets, parked cars, 500 miles of roads. [Comparison to outlying areas] is not quite oranges and oranges. It's more like apples and oranges."
Tony Stavola, president of the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League, said Monday that problems in Raleigh Court were worst on side roads.
"Most people here felt like the main roads were in reasonably good shape - but you couldn't get to them," Stavola said. "There was not a lot of evidence that chemicals and sand were spread on some of the more hilly side streets."
Meanwhile, downtown streets - even one adjacent to City Hall - still had significant amounts of snow on them Friday, when temperatures suddenly warmed up.
Councilman Mac McCadden said that by Thursday he'd received seven to eight phone calls. Four or five downtown merchants had visited him in his office with complaints.
One of the callers complimented the plowing. But "basically, they were critical," McCadden said. Wednesday night at a local supermarket, "believe me, [people] were stopping me every aisle."
Councilman William White said he'd had "a lot of complaints, but that's understandable, as much snow as we've had. ... I wanted the plows on my street before they got here, too."
Councilwomen Linda Wyatt and Elizabeth Bowles said they'd heard only one complaint each.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. DON PETERSEN/Staff/Jack Lanford of Roanoke washes offby CNBthe dirty aftermath of the record snowfall at a car wash on Wasena
Avenue on Monday. 2. CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Heavy equipment boosts
snow-removal efforts at Fifth Avenue and
Woods Avenue. color.