Your Tax Dollars at Work

I'm not sure how to describe what happened early this morning so let me start at the beginning....

I left my apartment to get some groceries and drop off my rent check a little before 5 AM.
My car was parked in the new parking garage. As I started to exit (I needed to go left on Storrs St. towards the intersection) I stopped because the road was blocked by a solid barrier of snow preventing me from going across to the proper lane and plows were plowing in the other.

In the lane closest to me there was a plow coming my way.

That plow driver went right by, oblivious to my dilemma. There was another plow around the intersection of Pleasant St. extension and Storrs St..

Still unsure what to do I pulled out and braced to blast through the pile of snow to get into the correct lane. Once I got further out into the road I discovered that there wasn't a lane on the other side of the snow pile.. just more snow!

By that time the other plow was coming towards me. I was in the center of the road, (semi-stuck) and the plow just continued on by, literally plowing snow within a foot or two of my car and scaring the crap out of me.

I yelled and waved for him to come help me. He backed up and basically yelled at me (something like 'what are you doing in the road!').

Stop and think about that for a moment.... I was leaving a city parking garage, they clearly saw me sitting at the exit wanting to get out but drove right by. They had snow piled up in a solid barrier blocking the north-bound lane (Storrs St.) and part of the intersection, no signs or any direction for drivers trying to navigate their maze of snow piles, and instead of stopping and providing me with some direction the driver yells at me? Then he makes my situation worse by plowing more snow around my car! All I could see was a pair of bright headlights coming at me, a huge plow, and I literally didn't know if I was going to get hit.

After that I managed to gun the engine and plow through the snow (that the plow had just made deeper) into the wrong lane and made it to the intersection. I headed up to Main St. hoping to find a Concord Police cruiser somewhere, drove by the police station but it was closed, drove towards the south end a ways but seeing no police I headed back towards Storrs St..

Why?

Well first of all I was fairly mad.... Though 'incredulous' would be a more appropriate word.

Second, I had a video camera (which [thankfully] had been recording since exiting the parking garage*) and I wanted to get more shots of the road including the entrances to the shopping center which were inaccessible.

Third, there is a part of me that seriously dislikes mean people and especially ones on the public payroll!
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If I just blew the incident off nothing would be learned and the same dangerous situation could repeat itself, possibly with disastrous results. This kind of behavior has to be punished and corrected so hopefully it doesn't happen again.
That is my goal.
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- So to continue.. I went back down onto Storrs St. and tried to see if the entrance to the shopping center down by the state liquor store was accessible. It too was blocked but not as badly as the others, so I made my way through the snow (almost getting rear-ended by some guy who stopped, honked, and yelled at me, failing to realize that he was going too fast and following much too closely for the conditions).

After that I got shots of the plows at work and the road conditions. At one point I tried to flag down one of the plow drivers (to ask why they hadn't assisted me) but he ignored me and drove right past!

At that point I decided to go on my way and do my shopping but there was one problem.. all the exits were blocked by the barrier of snow the plows created. After sitting at the northernmost exit (while the plows were driving past ignoring me) I had to get out of my car and gesture to one of the drivers to plow a spot in the snow so I could get through.

So there's your tax dollars at work....

And please don't get me wrong.. as I've said on this blog before, I have great respect for the plow drivers and other workers working long hours clearing the streets.

That said, some common courtesy, and a recognition of the need for public safety while they move the snow around is crucial. Ignoring drivers, yelling at them, and scaring them by plowing dangerously close to them is negligent and borders on criminal behavior, and I for one won't tolerate it.

I'm exploring different options at the moment, and I'm preparing (and making copies of) the video** for potential public display on the Internet, and/or as evidence to show relevant public officials/representatives if need be.

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Plus there are additional issues concerning the city's care (or the lack of) of the stairs next to the dumpster which (too many times) have been left unshoveled/icy, and extremely dangerous (as my sore tailbone can attest to!). Also the adjacent stairs leading down into the new parking garage have been left in a similar condition. That says to me that the safety of the citizens using that area isn't important to those whose job it is to maintain it.
Seriously, how much time and effort is required to clear the snow and/or spread some sand on the ice?

If necessary I'll suggest a meeting of all the people involved at some point this spring including CATCH/MB Management, relevant city department reps, and our Councilman Allen Bennett.

But that really shouldn't be necessary, should it?

I just want to nail down who's responsibility it is to keep the area clean and safe and have someone lite a fire under their butt to make sure it stays that way.

If there are city manpower/budget issues then some form of shared coverage by MB Management, The Green Martini, and The Lighting Place should be looked into.

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* I recently started taking a video camera every time I go out
(for many reasons).
So fortunately in this case it's not my word against theirs....

**For the moment I'm not going to post the video here
(or anywhere else) but that could change....
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Dangerously Narrow City Roads

Yesterday I noticed it up on Loudon Rd. by Applebees Restaurant. Today as I was driving over by Franklin Pierce Law Center it was even worse.

I'm talking about the narrow roads people are forced to navigate in Concord.

I'm trying to figure out why some roads aren't being plowed to a reasonably safe width, and why cars are allowed to park on both sides of many streets. In some places there's barely enough room for two cars to pass each other, and other streets where there isn't even that much room.

Up on Loudon Rd. if you're in the right-hand lane heading east you are forced into the left lane in places because literally half of the right lane is taken up by the snow bank.

Someone needs to explain to me why the plow drivers don't plow the snow the full width of the road [everywhere]. I'd also like to know why this situation is allowed to persist for so long. I would hope that as the Concord Police and/or the supervisors from the Highway Department drive around Concord they would see this (it's hard to miss) and report it. It shouldn't ever get to the point where it is now.

I hate to say much concerning the plow drivers this year. They've had it rough. But now it's become a safety matter, especially when combined with the fact that the sidewalks are impassible and pedestrians are forced into the streets.

Narrow streets, cars parked on both sides, and pedestrians forced to walk in the road is a recipe for accidents and possibly even fatalities. I can understand that on some streets where houses are close to the side of the road it might be impossible to push the snow back any further, but on the streets I've mentioned that's not the case. There's no excuse for letting the snow banks encroach into the road to the point that cars have to cross into the opposite lane. That's unacceptable and threatens the safety of drivers.

I didn't see a single car ticketed that was parked on the sides of any of the streets over by the Law Center, or anywhere else for that matter. Isn't that the job of our Police department? To maintain safety on our streets and in our community? From the dangerous drives around Concord I've had lately I'd have to say they've dropped the ball, as have the supervisors in the Highway Dept.

*UPDATE [2/23/09] - Almost a year later and I see the same thing happening (in the same places). On top of that, I reported unshoveled and icy steps leading to the new parking garage to a young Concord Police officer I saw at D'Angelos afterwards only to be told to "report it myself"!
Not in a mean-spirited way, but all the same I was under the impression that the police were there 'To Protect and Serve' and this was a 'public safety issue' was it not?

I immediately thought about what the City Atty's office would think of this. I've personally slipped more than once on those steps and the ones by the dumpster and I'm relatively fit. What about older folks?

At the end of the day shouldn't someone from the city make sure ALL city property is safe and kept that way?

Update 2: - I want to add that overall the great majority of Concord Police officers have been helpful and professional, and it's not fair to them to be tainted by the actions of [the inevitable few] 'bad apples'!