Dear 4th District residents and stakeholders

As of this evening, we are coming out of the “white out” portion of the blizzard. With Phase III of the Snow Emergency Plan still in effect, there should still be no vehicles on the street except emergency vehicles. Until this latest snow stops, even once plowing and clearing resumes, the City will only be trying to clear main roads and snow emergency routes. According to the City’s Emergency Operations folks, not until the snow stops completely will they even begin to attack the secondary roads…and most of our residential side streets do not even qualify as secondary roads.

If you or your neighbors have called or e-mailed my office at any time over the last few days, please know that Leslie, Nia, or I have been forwarding all of your requests – and complaints! – to the people coordinating the City’s plowing efforts. As I look out of my bedroom window at the expanse of snow, which no longer clearly shows a street between facing homes, trust me…I share your pain!

I know that conditions on most of our residential streets are still awful…and getting worse with this second snow. I ask for your patience and your understanding that this is not just another snowstorm. This is a natural disaster and we are all trying to get through it as safely as possible. The amount of snow we have received is literally unprecedented – as such, we are all coping with logistical challenges that we have never faced before.

Unless you're reading this on a PDA, you obviously have electricity, so please take a moment and be thankful; there are more than a few of our neighbors who don’t right now. If you are up to it, when the white-out conditions drop off, check on some of your neighbors, especially the seniors or anyone with a medical condition that might inhibit their ability to get around.

As I was on my way downtown for Monday’s City Council meeting, I saw many examples of side streets choked with snow. But I also saw lots of people digging themselves - and each other - out of the snow, working together to get through a common hardship. It made me proud and reminded me why I live in the City.

Over the last few days, neighbors who may have gone weeks between saying more than “Hi” from adjacent porches have laughed and complained together as they shoveled…and scraped...and pushed stuck vehicles. I just hope we don’t need another 4 feet of snow to keep working together like this in the days and weeks ahead. Stay warm and safe and keep taking care of each other!

- Bill

P.S.  I don't have a working digital camera right now, so thank you to Carolyn Hayes for taking a great photo of her block of our neighborhood :P