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Seriously, it's not as if this storm is sneaking up on you. Local government can't dump some sand and salt on the roads? This is kind of embarrassing.
There is a salt shortage across the southeast. Towns down here don't have the same resources available to our northern brothers. Whereas there are fleets of plows and salt trucks along that Canadian border, there might be only 2 public utility trucks clearing roads in some counties down here... I know my little region ran out of salt with the last storm... even the main roads weren't cleared. We don't prepare for winter down here- we prepare for hurricanes.
the arrogance among some of you Northeners is unbelievable.
The primary concern is power loss and damage to homes and/or cars from tree limbs, as we have been warned could happen. No amount of pre-planning can mitigate that. It's true that one could spend several hundred dollars on a generator that would only get used every few years at most. That's not really in my budget right now, sorry.
Newer subdivisions down here have buried utilities. My house was built in the 1970s when that just wasn't done. And...my power could fall victim to a power line or a transformer nearby.
Anyway, I'm done with the topic. I am prepared as I can be and I was offering assistance to neighboring Inforoosters in need. Namaste, y'all
Yes, I understand that perfectly well. I know what they are and how they work. As I have helped put them on a truck before. My point is this: I doubt they have enough trucks to cover the area. But, even if they did it would take a lot of money and a considerable amount of time to get the massive amount of sand/salt delivered. They probably do not even have bins/barns with the capacity to hold all that since they rarely use it in that quantity. Plus, they would have to pay overtime to have guys load the trucks, drive the trucks, that is super costly and I doubt that kind of cash is in the budget. It is not effective to make one pass. To be effective you need to plow as well. This is almost a 24 hour operation. I do know quite a bit on the topic and have a working knowledge of what it costs.
Yes, they could expedite equipment/trucks/manpower/materials I just doubt they are willing to pay that kind of expense for 1 or 2 out of the ordinary snow emergencies. That is all I am saying.
Know how sand/salt is stored in the northeast? In massive, uncovered piles in DPW/highway service depots.
You realize that everything you're saying they would have to do is done in the Northeast every time it snows, right? Acting like paying the DPW workers OT to salt roads overnight is some Herculean task that no one in Atlanta could possibly have the foresight to see is silly. They know what's coming, they don't do anything to stop it. It's not a puzzle, you have a blueprint already in place.
And if they're not willing to pay for upgrades that are becoming more and more necessary (climate change), then they are fools and the voters should be making noise. It's not rocket science, I'm sure in the massive budget that the city has, an allowance for emergency snow/ice removal & prep will not break the bank.
Yes, I know it is done every time it snows in the north. I do not live in the north east, however. The salt is not stored in massive uncovered piles, here anyway. It is stored in massive 3 sided silos or bins. It is delivered in the fall and replenished as needed during the winter. Orders have to be made well in advance. It is a significant undertaking, they could do it, I suppose. I just doubt they have the resources to do it properly. They would need to be prepared a season in advance as opposed to just a few weeks ahead of time to be prepared. No, it would not break the bank, but whatever they have allocated to a normal winter would not cover what they need to combat unusual snowfall/ice.
I'll chime in with what I know about the way Nashville operates in snow/ice (though I doubt I'll make enough of a point to convince anyone otherwise). My boyfriend works for Public Works in Nashville, and they are the department responsible for the major streets in town (not interstates or highways, that's the state). If it's not raining, they will brine the roads. If it is raining before the snow/ice comes, they can't put down the brine because, obviously, it will wash away. Here in Nashville, the only way salt is put down is AFTER it starts to snow/ice. Stupid, I know. However, there is a lot of fear mongering and over-reacting here, and forecasts often change or are just wrong. So if they salted at every forecast of snow/ice, they would run out of salt and manpower. My boyfriend will get called in and literally SIT in the truck with a load of salt at the start of his route to wait for the call. In Nashville, they have about 50 people that know how to operate the salt trucks (and have the certifications), so they have to conserve manpower and work in shifts. They do have special salt trucks but no snow plows which is reasonable since the most snow I've ever encountered in my life has been 4".
You also have to take in to account that we have A LOT of back roads/country roads that do not get treated at all because there is no way any city/county could afford it. It's not economically feasible. Typically, the government will ask that if you don't have to leave the house, don't. But if most people are like me, we still have to go to work no matter what. So driving is going to happen, and most of us have no idea how to drive on ice, myself included. We see it so rarely, and are encouraged NOT to drive in it, so we don't have much opportunity to learn outside of driving on it when we HAVE to. Which causes fear and stupid decisions and chaos.
Nonetheless, everyone stay safe. We are getting nothing here.
the arrogance among some of you Northeners is unbelievable.
The primary concern is power loss and damage to homes and/or cars from tree limbs, as we have been warned could happen. No amount of pre-planning can mitigate that. It's true that one could spend several hundred dollars on a generator that would only get used every few years at most. That's not really in my budget right now, sorry.
Newer subdivisions down here have buried utilities. My house was built in the 1970s when that just wasn't done. And...my power could fall victim to a power line or a transformer nearby.
Anyway, I'm done with the topic. I am prepared as I can be and I was offering assistance to neighboring Inforoosters in need. Namaste, y'all
What's arrogance? I honestly don't get why we're not allowed to be critical of a city that, after just going through a similar situation that embarrassed themselves, seems to have come up with nothing better than "cancel everything" as a solution.
I forgot, the south can talk about those "uppity Yanks" or whatever, but as soon as we laugh back, it's just the worst. For shame, northern people....for shame!
Seriously, it's not as if this storm is sneaking up on you. Local government can't dump some sand and salt on the roads? This is kind of embarrassing.
I drove well outside of Knoxville today for work, but it appeared the main roads had the telltale whites lines of being brined recently. I didn't go off on any back roads, so I am not sure. Like I said in another thread about such things, it really depends on the area you go to. My county is usually pretty great about taking care of such things, but other counties are not so lucky.
"What's arrogance? I honestly don't get why we're not allowed to be critical of a city that, after just going through a similar situation that embarrassed themselves, seems to have come up with nothing better than "cancel everything" as a solution."
When we are faced with a potentially catastrophic storm, as is predicted...to start going on and on about the perceived failings of our local and state governments, along with our perceived inability to cope, then yes, I perceive that as arrogant. I'm sorry.
I'll chime in with what I know about the way Nashville operates in snow/ice (though I doubt I'll make enough of a point to convince anyone otherwise). My boyfriend works for Public Works in Nashville, and they are the department responsible for the major streets in town (not interstates or highways, that's the state). If it's not raining, they will brine the roads. If it is raining before the snow/ice comes, they can't put down the brine because, obviously, it will wash away. Here in Nashville, the only way salt is put down is AFTER it starts to snow/ice. Stupid, I know. However, there is a lot of fear mongering and over-reacting here, and forecasts often change or are just wrong. So if they salted at every forecast of snow/ice, they would run out of salt and manpower. My boyfriend will get called in and literally SIT in the truck with a load of salt at the start of his route to wait for the call. In Nashville, they have about 50 people that know how to operate the salt trucks (and have the certifications), so they have to conserve manpower and work in shifts. They do have special salt trucks but no snow plows which is reasonable since the most snow I've ever encountered in my life has been 4".
You also have to take in to account that we have A LOT of back roads/country roads that do not get treated at all because there is no way any city/county could afford it. It's not economically feasible. Typically, the government will ask that if you don't have to leave the house, don't. But if most people are like me, we still have to go to work no matter what. So driving is going to happen, and most of us have no idea how to drive on ice, myself included. We see it so rarely, and are encouraged NOT to drive in it, so we don't have much opportunity to learn outside of driving on it when we HAVE to. Which causes fear and stupid decisions and chaos.
Nonetheless, everyone stay safe. We are getting nothing here.
As a Yankee who lived in Nashville for 12 years, I can tell you there is a HUGE difference between winter driving conditions in the north vs. the south and not just because the south lacks major snow removal abilities. First off, I don't care what anyone says, ie is never, ever driveable, no matter where you live unless you are using spiked tires or chains. In northern regions with removal/treatment capabilities, a snow packed road remains driveable because it stays below freezing until that road can be taken care of. But, if you get snow without the capability to remove it, it thaws, refreezes and turns icy, which is what happens down south.
2013~Bonnaroo, Gentlemen of the Road-Troy 2014~McDowell Mountain, Beale Street, Bonnaroo, Riot Fest 2015~Coachella 1, Bonnaroo 2016~Summer Camp, Bonnaroo, Live on the Green, Pilgrimage 2017~Bonnaroo, Live on the Green, Pilgrimage 2018~Bonnaroo
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" 2019~BROKE 2020~M'fking COVID 2021~ditto 2022~tbd
"What's arrogance? I honestly don't get why we're not allowed to be critical of a city that, after just going through a similar situation that embarrassed themselves, seems to have come up with nothing better than "cancel everything" as a solution."
When we are faced with a potentially catastrophic storm, as is predicted...to start going on and on about the perceived failings of our local and state governments, along with our perceived inability to cope, then yes, I perceive that as arrogant. I'm sorry.
I didn't speak about the people who live down there not being able to cope, I strictly criticized Atlanta and the way they handle these situations. And it isn't a perceived failing, your city/state gov is failing you by sitting back and not changing their emergency protocols. The safety of voters should be paramount, no?
For the record, I do think it's cute that southern people get so worked up over snow, but I don't hold it against them. I deal with heat & humidity about as well as an ice cube, so we all have our issues.
"What's arrogance? I honestly don't get why we're not allowed to be critical of a city that, after just going through a similar situation that embarrassed themselves, seems to have come up with nothing better than "cancel everything" as a solution."
When we are faced with a potentially catastrophic storm, as is predicted...to start going on and on about the perceived failings of our local and state governments, along with our perceived inability to cope, then yes, I perceive that as arrogant. I'm sorry.
I didn't speak about the people who live down there not being able to cope, I strictly criticized Atlanta and the way they handle these situations. And it isn't a perceived failing, your city/state gov is failing you by sitting back and not changing their emergency protocols. The safety of voters should be paramount, no?
For the record, I do think it's cute that southern people get so worked up over snow, but I don't hold it against them. I deal with heat & humidity about as well as an ice cube, so we all have our issues.
I believe Madeline has a long standing deal in chat where she won't laugh at us for complaining about winter if we don't laugh at her for complaining about the heat at Roo.
I didn't speak about the people who live down there not being able to cope, I strictly criticized Atlanta and the way they handle these situations. And it isn't a perceived failing, your city/state gov is failing you by sitting back and not changing their emergency protocols. The safety of voters should be paramount, no?
For the record, I do think it's cute that southern people get so worked up over snow, but I don't hold it against them. I deal with heat & humidity about as well as an ice cube, so we all have our issues.
I believe Madeline has a long standing deal in chat where she won't laugh at us for complaining about winter if we don't laugh at her for complaining about the heat at Roo.
If you complain about heat at Roo you should be forced to stand in a porta for a full hour at high noon.
Know how sand/salt is stored in the northeast? In massive, uncovered piles in DPW/highway service depots.
You realize that everything you're saying they would have to do is done in the Northeast every time it snows, right? Acting like paying the DPW workers OT to salt roads overnight is some Herculean task that no one in Atlanta could possibly have the foresight to see is silly. They know what's coming, they don't do anything to stop it. It's not a puzzle, you have a blueprint already in place.
And if they're not willing to pay for upgrades that are becoming more and more necessary (climate change), then they are fools and the voters should be making noise. It's not rocket science, I'm sure in the massive budget that the city has, an allowance for emergency snow/ice removal & prep will not break the bank.
Yes, I know it is done every time it snows in the north. I do not live in the north east, however. The salt is not stored in massive uncovered piles, here anyway. It is stored in massive 3 sided silos or bins. It is delivered in the fall and replenished as needed during the winter. Orders have to be made well in advance. It is a significant undertaking, they could do it, I suppose. I just doubt they have the resources to do it properly. They would need to be prepared a season in advance as opposed to just a few weeks ahead of time to be prepared. No, it would not break the bank, but whatever they have allocated to a normal winter would not cover what they need to combat unusual snowfall/ice.
Maybe next year?
I didnt look back farther at prior posts but from this I think you guys might be overanalyzing this. Its far more simple for Georgia, where I live. As Gibran stated, you would have to be prepared a season in advance. So one year in advance you would have to allocte funds that most municipalities these days just dont have a lot of for something that is unlikely to happen. Even the news today is talking about it being a "storm not seen in 20 years". Truthfully, nobody I speak to down here is in favor of spending more money to prepare for this because A)it doesnt happen often at all and B)for the most part we dont trust our politicians to allocate the money we give them already so we feel we need every avialable dollar to fund the pre-k programs, schools, roads, etc. It has snowed a total of 3 times in the 4+ years I have lived here. The issue is in how to handle when it does happen. What Atlanta missed two weeks ago was the opportunity to shut things down in waves or not even have school open at all. Instead, they waited and waited for it to get too bad, then shut the entire city down all at one time which forced everybody on the interstates at the same time. Where I live it was not as big of an issue because decisions were made well in advance, even at the risk of the storm NOT being as strong as it could be and everybody sitting at home laughing. Because we dont put our tax dollars into what would basically be an insurance policy that might get used twice in a year or once every 10 years, we have to err on the side of caution if and when it ever does happen. Schools have already been closed for BOTH Wed and Thurs here and possibly Friday as well.
If there is another discussion here, it is that because counties and states do not have a surplus of funds, programs keep getting cut. When they tack on an extra day off of school before and/or after holidays like we do next week when my kids are not only off Monday but Tuesday as well, it makes it more imperative for there not to be snow days because they already scheduled the "extra" days off throughout the year to save money on everything from janitor staffing to cafeteria food. Our county for example did cut it close last time and kept the schools open for a half a day but that was announced the day before so everybody had planned in advance. They let the schools out in waves so all the buses and kids would not be on the roads at the same time. They closed the older kids schools first so in some cases a parent would not have to take off work and be on the roads and the older kid could care for the younger sibling for a few hours when they got off the bus. Many of the decisions would have a minor singular effect but collectively they made a big difference. Really in the end though, they had a plan. Atlanta did not.
"What's arrogance? I honestly don't get why we're not allowed to be critical of a city that, after just going through a similar situation that embarrassed themselves, seems to have come up with nothing better than "cancel everything" as a solution."
When we are faced with a potentially catastrophic storm, as is predicted...to start going on and on about the perceived failings of our local and state governments, along with our perceived inability to cope, then yes, I perceive that as arrogant. I'm sorry.
I didn't speak about the people who live down there not being able to cope, I strictly criticized Atlanta and the way they handle these situations. And it isn't a perceived failing, your city/state gov is failing you by sitting back and not changing their emergency protocols. The safety of voters should be paramount, no?
For the record, I do think it's cute that southern people get so worked up over snow, but I don't hold it against them. I deal with heat & humidity about as well as an ice cube, so we all have our issues.
You are missing the mark here Rob. Sitting back and not changing protocol? Actually, Atlanta formed a 34 person committee to work on how to handle these issues going forward. It could not be predicted or expected that two weeks later they get another "storm unseen in 20 years". Cancel everything for 48 hours is better solution to me than spend the sparse tax dollars we can barely allocate to other areas over to this. I am from the north but live in the south. The storm is fun for me and my kids cause I can build the biggest, most longest lasting snowman in the neighborhood. The issue you have right is preperation and hindsight is 20/20. It just too easy to say "throw money at it" or vote them out. I am fully supportive of closing things down for one day out of 365 instead of taking money away from other needed programs for something we are never positive we are going to use and might not use for years at a time.
Post by Paroxysm714 on Feb 11, 2014 14:11:04 GMT -5
Our taxes should probably be higher, but our state legislature is radically anti-tax. Lots of good ideas in Georgia, just not much legislative support for them sadly.
it's all good. I'm not upset with anyone in particular. Just know that there is a little more to it than a city or state government being prepared or not. We always seem to be on that geographic and climatological cusp where prediction is difficult. combine that with the occasional aberrant "catastrophic" occurrence, for which it doesn't make good fiscal sense to throw a huge part of the budget to prepare for....and there you have it.
Post by Paroxysm714 on Feb 11, 2014 14:19:12 GMT -5
Atlanta is in an interesting area geographically speaking because we have mountains to our north which can cause orographic lifting of moist air. There's a lot of chaos in weather forecasting to begin with, and this is especially pronounced in those 7-10 day forecasts. This winter has been more extreme than most, but inevitably as soon as we decide to devote extra resources to ice & snow we'll have several mild winters in a row, lose practice, and forget everything we've learned.
But we can handle summer heat & humidity like champs.
Atlanta is in an interesting area geographically speaking because we have mountains to our north which can cause orographic lifting of moist air. There's a lot of chaos in weather forecasting to begin with, and this is especially pronounced in those 7-10 day forecasts. This winter has been more extreme than most, but inevitably as soon as we decide to devote extra resources to ice & snow we'll have several mild winters in a row, lose practice, and forget everything we've learned.
But we can handle summer heat & humidity like champs.
I didn't speak about the people who live down there not being able to cope, I strictly criticized Atlanta and the way they handle these situations. And it isn't a perceived failing, your city/state gov is failing you by sitting back and not changing their emergency protocols. The safety of voters should be paramount, no?
For the record, I do think it's cute that southern people get so worked up over snow, but I don't hold it against them. I deal with heat & humidity about as well as an ice cube, so we all have our issues.
You are missing the mark here Rob. Sitting back and not changing protocol? Actually, Atlanta formed a 34 person committee to work on how to handle these issues going forward. It could not be predicted or expected that two weeks later they get another "storm unseen in 20 years". Cancel everything for 48 hours is better solution to me than spend the sparse tax dollars we can barely allocate to other areas over to this. I am from the north but live in the south. The storm is fun for me and my kids cause I can build the biggest, most longest lasting snowman in the neighborhood. The issue you have right is preperation and hindsight is 20/20. It just too easy to say "throw money at it" or vote them out. I am fully supportive of closing things down for one day out of 365 instead of taking money away from other needed programs for something we are never positive we are going to use and might not use for years at a time.
A few comments...
- Forming a 34-person committee is window dressing. This is a hindsight move that may change things next winter, that's not a move to improve things in the coming weeks. - The climate is changing, people need to get out of their bubble and realize that, while you may not have had issues as frequently in the past, the climate in many areas are changing, drastically. New York City just had more snow in January than it had in all of the previous winter. And it's already snowed 4 times in February. The same way Atlanta doesn't get snow EVER, NYC doesn't get snow like we're in the Arctic Circle. NYC, while dealing with a new mayor (meaning all the protocols change) was able to institute new policy and act on it within two weeks time. This isn't a "NYC is the best!" rant, they literally have to leave entire neighborhoods unplowed during huge storms, but it's just showing that enacting protocol quickly isn't impossible. - They close things in the north (as I'm sure you know), but the only time I ever got a multiple-snowday run was in 1996, when we got 4 feet of snow or something insane.
Every city/state budget has contingency money, money that is in a glass case that you break open in case of emergency, so it's not like the city would go broke being proactive. And, economically speaking, being proactive and salting roads before a single snowflake hits the ground will save you millions in revenue that would otherwise be lost if a storm was allowed to hit an unprepared area.
I didn't mean to turn this into a south-bash party, it was very direct in that I don't see how, in 2014, a city with half a million people in it (or close to it) can be so panicked and unprepared. Once? Yes, shit happens. But twice starts to begin a pattern and the fact that they had to have known the spotlight was on them wouldn't give me warm fuzzies about the local gov't.
Hopefully other southern cities/towns/counties realize that they need to have these protocols in place and ready already and learn from Not-so-Hotlanta (amirite!?).
...that last joke was awful, I'm going to sit the next play out.
To speak to the actual purpose of this thread: @zenfnp you're a rockstar for offering your home up for people to weather the storm. Hugs and love to ya and stay safe out there
This is crazy talk. Y'all are asking Southerners to raise taxes and accept climate change. What's next, stop teaching creationism in science class? :OMGpanic:
Fun little one-pager on global warming in Georgia. Good news (?): 68% believe humans are causing global warming. Bad news: 48% think 5 degrees of warming in 75 years would be bad.
Welcome back Bonz, but I do not find it strange that your presence being requested in the Orgy thread and then you showing up, like it was the quacking Bonzai Bat Signal.
Post by wannaberoo'ing on Feb 11, 2014 15:20:10 GMT -5
Dealing with ice is a whole lot different than dealing with snow. Even here in Pittsburgh, you can throw down salt all you want and it becomes almost futile (melts and refreezes, some parts of the road stay dry while other parts turn into black ice, which I slid on myself just last night, thankful I didn't slam into a pole). And, the salt shortage going on presently has many cities waiting weeks now for deliveries, not days, and many of our secondary and country roads aren't being treated at all. I seriously doubt Atlanta, or any southern city, could get salt now even if they tried.
And when bad weather shows up in the South, many folks just can't drive in it regardless (not their fault). They've experienced snow maybe twice in their life, like my husband's Grandma, who got 2 inches in the northern panhandle of FL a couple weeks back. Hurricanes and flooding is what they deal with down there. And they're always prepared for that.
You are missing the mark here Rob. Sitting back and not changing protocol? Actually, Atlanta formed a 34 person committee to work on how to handle these issues going forward. It could not be predicted or expected that two weeks later they get another "storm unseen in 20 years". Cancel everything for 48 hours is better solution to me than spend the sparse tax dollars we can barely allocate to other areas over to this. I am from the north but live in the south. The storm is fun for me and my kids cause I can build the biggest, most longest lasting snowman in the neighborhood. The issue you have right is preperation and hindsight is 20/20. It just too easy to say "throw money at it" or vote them out. I am fully supportive of closing things down for one day out of 365 instead of taking money away from other needed programs for something we are never positive we are going to use and might not use for years at a time.
A few comments...
- Forming a 34-person committee is window dressing. This is a hindsight move that may change things next winter, that's not a move to improve things in the coming weeks. - The climate is changing, people need to get out of their bubble and realize that, while you may not have had issues as frequently in the past, the climate in many areas are changing, drastically. New York City just had more snow in January than it had in all of the previous winter. And it's already snowed 4 times in February. The same way Atlanta doesn't get snow EVER, NYC doesn't get snow like we're in the Arctic Circle. NYC, while dealing with a new mayor (meaning all the protocols change) was able to institute new policy and act on it within two weeks time. This isn't a "NYC is the best!" rant, they literally have to leave entire neighborhoods unplowed during huge storms, but it's just showing that enacting protocol quickly isn't impossible. - They close things in the north (as I'm sure you know), but the only time I ever got a multiple-snowday run was in 1996, when we got 4 feet of snow or something insane.
Every city/state budget has contingency money, money that is in a glass case that you break open in case of emergency, so it's not like the city would go broke being proactive. And, economically speaking, being proactive and salting roads before a single snowflake hits the ground will save you millions in revenue that would otherwise be lost if a storm was allowed to hit an unprepared area.
I didn't mean to turn this into a south-bash party, it was very direct in that I don't see how, in 2014, a city with half a million people in it (or close to it) can be so panicked and unprepared. Once? Yes, shit happens. But twice starts to begin a pattern and the fact that they had to have known the spotlight was on them wouldn't give me warm fuzzies about the local gov't.
Hopefully other southern cities/towns/counties realize that they need to have these protocols in place and ready already and learn from Not-so-Hotlanta (amirite!?).
...that last joke was awful, I'm going to sit the next play out.
I hestitate to even reply to this because we are really off from what the original intent of the thread was. I appreciate the original intent of the thread. That said...
You cant have it both ways thought Rob. On your prior post you said they are just sitting back and not changing protocol. Then when I tell you one day after the storm they formed a committee of 34 people to address this, your immediate answer is it is hindsight AND window dressing. Do I know what will come out of the committee? No, I dont but to say in one breath they are sitting and doing nothing then when told they are trying to do something you discredit what they are trying to do without having any idea what that is.
I know your google skills are good becuase you said Atlanta has half a million people. Yes, Atlanta does but if you googled METRO Atlanta area, it is over 4 million people. How much money would it cost to budget to buy enough trucks, plows, salt, manpower to cover a radius that included 4 million people that might get used 5 times in a 10 year span? My point was they hesitated in putting a rather simple plan into place in advance of what they knew was coming. That was why the outcome was what it was. Your answers were that they should fit dumptrucks and get snow plows and buy more salt etc. Are you saying your plan after the first storm would have been to go out and spend millions of tax payer dollars right now in case it happens again in the next two weeks?? The politicians were unprepared. No doubt. You think spending millions of dollars on equipment and supplies is going to improve thier decision making skills? If they took action just 12 hours earlier, nobody would have been on the roads and they then COULD have sent the salt and sand trucks out again and again. The trucks they did have were stuck in the same jam everyone else had because of the poor decision making. Its that simple. How do you know they are not prepared this time? Just because they dont have trucks and salt? Sending people off the streets, limiting everyones liability and going with safety for ONE day over finding a way to get everyone to work and school for that one day is a very viable solution. You think up north they would vote in a tax increase in a fiscally strapped county to specificaly study the long term effects to local soil, water and 100 year old buildings after temperatures are over 95 degrees for 59 days straight or over 100 for 28 days straight? No. Why not? Because for the amount of times it happens, there is no value in it when that money could fund education, poverty, etc. Im not saying I have the answers. Im not defending the politicians. Im just saying zoom out and look at a google maps view of all sides.
Dealing with ice is a whole lot different than dealing with snow. Even here in Pittsburgh, you can throw down salt all you want and it becomes almost futile (melts and refreezes, some parts of the road stay dry while other parts turn into black ice, which I slid on myself just last night, thankful I didn't slam into a pole). And, the salt shortage going on presently has many cities waiting weeks now for deliveries, not days, and many of our secondary and country roads aren't being treated at all. I seriously doubt Atlanta, or any southern city, could get salt now even if they tried.
And when bad weather shows up in the South, many folks just can't drive in it regardless (not their fault). They've experienced snow maybe twice in their life, like my husband's Grandma, who got 2 inches in the northern panhandle of FL a couple weeks back. Hurricanes and flooding is what they deal with down there. And they're always prepared for that.
The first time there was snow when I lived in the south, I went to buy a bag of salt. There was an older man, probably late 60's just staring at the bags of salt. As I picked up a bag he said to me... "that stuff really work?" Now, instead of laughing at him I came to the realization that in his 60+ years of life, he never had to know the answer to that question. You know what?? Good for him! I would love to not have had to know at any point in my life if I was in need of buying salt for my driveway.
Here in the Northeast, it's barely risen above freezing since December. We've had (at least) four large snow storms in the past month. Nearly every day I drive to work on roads covered in patches of ice and snow. There are icicles over 5 feet in length hanging off the side of my house. If I don't let my car run for about 5-10 minutes with the defrosters on full blast, then I spend 5-10 minutes chipping ice off my windows. Yet every single day I, and all of my peers, make it to work, to school, to the grocery store, to the gym, to the bar, to wherever it is we want to go.
So sack it up, Atlanta.
Same up here! It's beyond ridiculous that Atlanta could be this unprepared. I really hope that city doesn't get an actual winter storm.
I think the main issue last time was that almost everyone that was out at work/school/etc in Atlanta all tried to leave and head home at the same time, causing massive traffic jams and what not. But, I'm sure someone has said it before, people in the south are not use to driving in this weather. Better safe than sorry.