This week’s pretty weather melted away the remnants of last week’s massive snowfall, but The Guru has horrible news.
Some of Arkansas’ biggest snows occur in March, and The Guru is a fear monger. His crystal ball says 26 inches on March 9 (send money if he’s right).
The Guru shall share a few of the notes he’s received in a past few days about snow matters, because that big storm will be barreling toward Arkansas soon enough.
Question: “It is apparent that (Rogers) Mayor Greg Hines has a different commitment to the upkeep of the streets, during and after a snow storm, than that of our past Mayor Steve Womack,” writes Joe LaRoche of Rogers. “Hines does not have a commitment at all to cleaning the streets. This is apparentfrom the lack of effort over the past three storms. The department of streets definitely has new instructions. I called his office (on Feb.
4) and left a message, asking for a returned call. He did not call. We will not vote for him again.”
Answer: Hines said he never received LaRoche’s message, and Hines did contact LaRoche this week after The Guru sent LaRoche’s e-mail address.
They exchanged e-mails - Hines defending the city’s work, LaRoche blasting it.
It’s hard to compare Womack to Hines because Womack never faced a 20-inch snow like the one that fell Feb. 9, soon after the 6-10 inches of the white stuff fell Feb. 1.
Q: “It is obvious that the most effective tool in Northwest Arkansas for snow removal is the sun,” writes Jerry Lundwall of Bella Vista. “After living in Minnesota for most of my 75 years, knowing people who worked in snow removal, and watching the efforts of the folks in Northwest Arkansas, it occurs to me that the best investment the Northwest Arkansas taxpayers could make is to send the snow-plow operators to Minnesota for a week in January. Knowledge, not equipment, is the biggest deficiency. Given that, they do make a heck of an effort.”
A: Northern states such as Iowa and Minnesota do have what are known as snow-plow simulators that allow people to learn the craft. However, those $200,000 simulators are more about being aware of nearby cars’ locations andobstacles (Watch out for the deer!) than they are about pushing snow aside.
“I would say a simulator wouldn’t be a wise investment in Arkansas because one of those snows happens every five or 10 years,” said Jim Dowd, an Iowa Department of Transportation winter operations research analyst. “You don’t walk around with a motorcycle helmet on all day because you think you might get on a motorcycle.”
Q: “I have the answer for the folks complaining about the street clearing by city officials,” writes Joe Dunn of Farmington. “Get their contact information, and the next time something like this happens, let them be the ones making the decisions about clearing the streets and just see how difficult it is. It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.”
A: Amen.
Robert J. Smith, aka The Guru, writes on traffic issues in Northwest Arkansas on Fridays. He can be reached at nwaonline.com/guru or [email protected].
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/18/2011