Janet Evans loves to spout off about cronyism. I guarantee you if she ever manages to get herself elected to a position of authority, perish the thought, she will surround herself with people she knows and trusts (cronyism). Will they always be the right person for the job? Likely, no. But that's the way it goes. Society has managed to survive for thousands of years in spite of it. We will continue to survive. Cronyism isn't this city's problem. It never was.
Before it begins to sound like I'm defending Parker and Hayes, I still maintain that they need to be gone already. Every time something bad happens, you need a scapegoat. It may not always be the right person, and it may not always be fair, but someone needs to take the fall. It's been that way for every screw up. In this case, and quite fairly IMO, because of the DPWs miserable response to the need for snowplows, Parker declaring the streets passable two days before a child died because fire trucks with chains couldn't pass, Hayes saying the roads had no impact on response time despite the firemen themselves saying it did, ten full days later when conditions aren't that much better than they were 5 days ago, those two need to resign or be fired. It won't solve anything, and it won't change anything that already happened, but it may prevent it from happening again. And it'll at least calm the public's outrage a bit. It'll show that the administration holding someone accountable, and it'll appear like they are actually doing something about it.
As for who should be appointed in their places, it doesn't matter, as far as I'm concerned. I don’t care if they single handedly financed Doherty's campaign or not. I don’t care if it's a favor to a buddy. If it's his best friend from since kindergarten, and he knows what he's doing, then he's the man for the job. The two guys there now quite obviously have no clue, and should be removed before they do any more damage.
To the victor goes the spoils, it's been said. Sometimes these spoils involve being in a position to give "payback" in the form of political appointments. Civilization has not crumbled because of it. It's been that way long before we came along, it'll be here long after we leave. It's the price of doing business. The trouble is not cronyism. The trouble is having people in a position where they don't belong. Parker and Hayes no longer belong in these positions.
It may be snow-frustration talking, but if "Mayor Evans" :dry heave: hired Joe Pilchesky himself as DPW chief :another one: and the roads were pretty much cleared even two or three days later, you'd hear very little grumbling from me.
Now, you want ideas on how this could have been handled better? I have a few.
All streets become one way during declared snow emergencies. It works year round in the Hill Section, downtown, West Side among other places. No reason it can't work a few days out of the year in other sections.
Alternate side parking, as has been suggested before. A 7AM to 6PM ban shouldn't be that much of a hardship to anyone. Parking on the sidewalk, also suggested, would be acceptable for 48 hours after the storm, provided the sidewalk can accomodate it. By that, I mean a pedestrian can pass, and the car is off the street. In two days, the streets are cleared and as wide as they would normally be. (You can't change the infrastructure, but you can maintain it a lot better than it has been.)
Every block has corner yards, abandoned houses or lots where the street snow can be plowed to, or to dead ends like at the top of Pear and Genet Streets in Southside (even the very top of Connell is a dead end, right? ). Empty lots can also be gravelled or paved until developed to provide off street parking during the snow emergencies for those of us without driveways, church lots, or other parking options. It doesn't take long to plow a flat empty lot. If the lot isn't needed, the street snow can be pushed there instead if into 3 foot high curbside banks.
On days like today, after a rain or melt, when the roads are wet and re-frozen, trucks should at the very least be out brining or salting.
Any car violating the alternate side parking ban would immediately be towed if the owner cannot immediately be found. This would be enforced.
Relax the 12 hour limit on sidewalk snow removal if the city has no intention of getting the streets plowed in a reasonable time. No point in having to have your sidewalks clear 12 hours after a snowfall when your street isn't, even 10 days later. The sidewalk law is in part so emergency crews can get to your door in an emergency. See how beneficial that turned out to be in West Side? I'll bet you that their sidewalk was clear and dry. Without plowed roads, though, it really didn't matter. Plow the streets, and then worry about the individual properties sidewalks.
I agree on Mayor Evans. I don;t like Doherty, but Evans would be nothing better. She would surround herself with her cronies, competent or not, just like Doherty.
But this snow clearing debacle is a disgrace. The snow plowing has always been disgraceful in this town, even though DD contends that the snow plowing was top-notch before Doherty.
But...the mayor needs to take a cue from Wilkes-Barre mayor Tom Leighton and accept the ultimate blame for the snow clearing problems, and apologize to the people. We can blame Parker, but sh*t rolls downhill, and the leader is ultimately responsible. The ironic part is that Wilkes-Barre did a much better job plowing their streets, and they acted much sooner than Scranton.
It would only be for a day or two, and only for declared snow emergencies. For example, on Monday, we get a forcast for 6-10 inches beginning Wednesday around noon, the city declares Snow Emergency rules in effect beginning on Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM and lasting until 8:00 AM on Friday. If we get a forcast for an inch or two, you don't declare it. And each section has their own specific snow emergency rules. The neighborhood associations must be involved in this for it to work. What would work on East Mountain might not work in Green Ridge. Snow emergency signage could be put up ("this street one way ---> during declared snow emergencies", "no parking this side 7AM-6PM during snow emergencies", "snow emergency parking only", etc.) and probably paid for by the state.
But the short answer to your question is "I dont' see why not."
Say what you will about Doherty, he makes decisions HE thinks will work.
"Mayor" Evans would pander to the lowest common denominator. The city would be run by the Legion of Doom and her insane and unstable husband. Let us never speak of this again.
I just see some people being as vindictive as they can be. By the attitudes of the people across the hall, I simply can not see them falling in line with a Doherty plan no matter how much sense it makes.
Now if it were a Janet plan and it had her blessing, well they might pay the slightest bit of attention to it, even if it involved seven union reps standing on their heads in the middle of Weston Field. But alter their daily habits just to make the DPW drivers job easier? I don't see it happening (without someone making a fuss). They are happiest when they have something to bi+ch about.
). Empty lots can also be gravelled or paved until developed to provide off street parking during the snow emergencies for those of us without driveways, church lots, or other parking options. It doesn't take long to plow a flat empty lot. If the lot isn't needed, the street snow can be pushed there instead if into 3 foot high curbside banks.
