I saw on Twitter yesterday that Washington DC conceded defeat to the snow and opted to stop plowing the streets. After driving in Erie last night, it would seem that our own streets department must have stopped, too. And we didn’t have nearly as much snow as Washington.
The Erie School District Wednesday evening gave the go-ahead to architects to begin drawing up plans for a total renovation of Strong Vincent High School. The project, expected to cost 40 million dollars, will be paid for with interest-free loans funded by the federal stimulus bill. Also being discussed are renovations and consolidations of Irving and Roosevelt Schools on the west side, and Wayne and Edison Schools on the east side. There is no firm plan in place as yet for the latter projects.
There is a good possibility that Lake Erie will freeze completely over this year. Satellite images show the surface to be near 95% ice covered already. Maybe it will alleviate some of the lake-effect storms we have been having.
Spring is only 38 days away!!!
Governor Ed Rendell has proposed a 29 billion dollar budget for Pennsylvania. One troublesome item is a rather large change in the sales tax. Rendell’s plan would lower the tax rate to 4%, but add some 74 new entities to the taxable list. Objections are sure to be forthcoming. Rendell said he is trying to head off huge deficits in 2011 and 2012. I would rather see him propose real spending cuts instead of suggesting a back-door tax increase.
Presque Isle State Park will see a cut-back in services, as the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources tries to cope with the reduction in state funding. Fewer guarded beaches will be available for swimming, the Stull Nature Center will not open this year, and hours at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center will be reduced. An even more dire result of budget cuts is the closing of some of the restroom facilities at the park. That’s scary for young children and old men who can’t wait!
Sports
The Edinboro Men’s Basketball team defeated Mercyhurst 62-55 and the Edinboro Ladies won over the Lady Lakers 71-52.
Gannon Men overcame Slippery Rock by a close score of 54-53, while Gannon’s third-ranked Women pounded the Slippery Rock Ladies 63-39.
The Bayhawks game against Ft. Wayne scheduled for Wednesday was postponed due to the weather.
Events
Only 2 more shopping days ’til St. Valentine’s Day. Consider yourselves reminded, gentlemen! If you need some ideas, why not check out some of the locally owned shops, and find something really special for the lady(s) in your life.
Both the city AND Millcreek Township have done a POOR job of plowing. Main streets like West 8th not plowed, why? Millcreek neighborhoods get a brief one-time swing thru, not even both side of the street. Its aggravating that we’re supposed to send the kids to school under these conditions, get into work in these conditions and we pay our taxes for what?
Agreed, Joe. Other cities have an overnight parking ban, which would clear the streets for plowing, that might help here. Even better would be to eliminate on-street parking entirely.
I would like to see other ideas on how to deal with this white stuff!
There is no way you can eliminate the on street parking – many neighborhoods were built before cars got huge – what they need to do is enforce the odd even parking rules – if more people knew they would get ticketed, it would make them move their car in time. I had to do it when I lived there – won’t kill anyone else either. Then the plows could work –
Then again, I never saw people trying to help on their own either. There are some pretty big commercial outfits that I am sure could assist the city when things got really bad in exchange for a tax write off.
I am amused when it gets backed up because it is not like this never happens. Every year they know it is going to snow.
If the city would allow private contractors to assist like Lawrence Park and (I think) Wesleyville in a snow emergency the streets would be cleared 100x faster.
If PI needs to produce revenue, how about showing IMAX movies in the big green screen? I really doubt many people are watching the Mysteries of the Great Lakes or whatever is showing this time of year. However you bring me Avatar in IMAX and I’ll go see it two more times.
“Even better would be to eliminate on-street parking entirely.” I live downtown and don’t have a driveway – thanks a lot for your great ideas!
“if more people knew they would get ticketed, it would make them move their car in time.” everyone that lives in my neighborhood knows this and adheres to the odd even parking (mostly). I’ve seen the parking authority out ticketing as early 8:15 on my street, this week. A round of $25 tickets tames this situation pretty quickly on my block.
Just another side of the story, I live in Millcreek on a tiny side road off of Grandview Blvd. and it’s been hit several times by the plow trucks.
In the 5 years I’ve lived at my current residence I’ve never really had a huge issue with Millcreek hitting our tertiary (it doesn’t even deserve to be called secondary) road.
It might be different groups take on different chunks of the city too and perhaps I just happen to have a good bunch of folks taking care of my quadrant.
I’d be surprised that private companies would want to subject additional wear and tear to their company vehicles unless they were properly compensated.
To say ‘why don’t these big bad plow trucks help on their own?’ is kind of ignoring the fact that they’d be introducing a lot of wear and tear to their equipment and probably assuming some liability for any damage to the road they create or, god forbid, some liability in accidents on a road they touched.
I believe L.P. plowers are compensated.
I was not suggesting private companies help all the time, but in really serious situations.
Why doesn’t someone build a business to subcontract with cities to do snow removal – you have it with trash, you have it with demolition, I am sure someone could do it with snow.
The city does need to provide more ramps for people to park when they do not have driveways, but many people are lazy and refuse to walk more than a few feet to get home. These are the same people who are too lazy to push a shopping cart back to the cart ramp or the store.
Completely agree about the plowing here in Erie…All weekend I have barely heard a plow go by, and the roads are still quite bad. I’m almost thinking of not driving for the rest of the winter. I am from upstate NY where the winter storms are as bad or worse than Erie’s, but I have never had such a problem getting around.
I also completely agree. On-street parking is often times a necessity for those with no driveway, a shared driveway or a driveway that is too narrow. People just need to follow the odd/even parking rules…