The blizzard (or 'Snowpocalypse', as bloggers called it) of 2009 shattered records for snowstorms in December and pounded the Metropolitan Area with a deadly two-plus feet of snow and slush-covered ice. Local governments advised us to stay in our homes and (wisely, I think) suspended Metro bus and rail service to above-ground stations. Holiday travelers at Ronald Reagan National Airport saw their flights cancelled, while a few determined holiday shoppers, mere days before Christmas, braved roads slicked with crushed, dirty snow and ice to get to nearby shopping malls, ..only to find their stores had closed early.
Things got worse, before they got better.
For much of Saturday morning, the Department of Public Works cleared River East's major thoroughfares--Pennsylvania, Minnesota Alabama and Branch Avenues, Benning Road, East Capitol Street, etc--before turning to the smaller, residential streets in the afternoon. Unfortunately for those smaller streets, as snow continued to fall faster and heavier than before, Public Works pulled its crews off those side streets before they were finished, ..and quite a few of them, like Pope Street, wouldn't see another snow plow before the following Monday or Tuesday ..night.
The efforts of the Adrian Fenty Administration to keep drivers and pedestrians off the streets, through a series of press conferences, radio announcements AND the 24-hour Mayor’s Citywide Call Center, was truly commendable. Considering the scale of this storm (and it was BIG), whether or not parts of River East, like Penn Branch or Fairlawn, were underserved or lost in the shuffle is pure speculation. There may be as many of us, who were dazzled by the hi-tech tracking devices the Mayor's Office used to pinpoint the locations of Public Works crews to the press, ..as there are those forced to park their cars several blocks from their homes, because they could not safely drive on their own streets.
There may be just as many of us, who felt a little slighted by the D.C. Government, when our friends on Capitol Hill told us their streets had been plowed and salted, hours before the snowfall stopped, ..as if a long caravan of trucks had been lined up along the Eisenhower, waiting for the first opportunity to service them. Makes you wonder...
But, Penn Branch got through it. Branglers always do.
We look out for our neighbors, when a snow comes--drop by and offer a hand. If we're able, we shovel the walks and driveways of some of our older neighbors, people who've kept this neighborhood the best, East of the River. We do what we can and hold fast to our optimism, even in the face of bleakest adversity—we always have. It doesn't matter that we sometimes feel like Downtown has forgotten about us, because when we're up against something that takes everything we've got, ..Penn Branch has what it takes.
This is a great neighborhood, folks, ..and it’ll take more than any freak blizzard to lick us. Happy New Year and good luck in 2010!
Mel Dyer
Things got worse, before they got better.
For much of Saturday morning, the Department of Public Works cleared River East's major thoroughfares--Pennsylvania, Minnesota Alabama and Branch Avenues, Benning Road, East Capitol Street, etc--before turning to the smaller, residential streets in the afternoon. Unfortunately for those smaller streets, as snow continued to fall faster and heavier than before, Public Works pulled its crews off those side streets before they were finished, ..and quite a few of them, like Pope Street, wouldn't see another snow plow before the following Monday or Tuesday ..night.
The efforts of the Adrian Fenty Administration to keep drivers and pedestrians off the streets, through a series of press conferences, radio announcements AND the 24-hour Mayor’s Citywide Call Center, was truly commendable. Considering the scale of this storm (and it was BIG), whether or not parts of River East, like Penn Branch or Fairlawn, were underserved or lost in the shuffle is pure speculation. There may be as many of us, who were dazzled by the hi-tech tracking devices the Mayor's Office used to pinpoint the locations of Public Works crews to the press, ..as there are those forced to park their cars several blocks from their homes, because they could not safely drive on their own streets.
There may be just as many of us, who felt a little slighted by the D.C. Government, when our friends on Capitol Hill told us their streets had been plowed and salted, hours before the snowfall stopped, ..as if a long caravan of trucks had been lined up along the Eisenhower, waiting for the first opportunity to service them. Makes you wonder...
But, Penn Branch got through it. Branglers always do.
We look out for our neighbors, when a snow comes--drop by and offer a hand. If we're able, we shovel the walks and driveways of some of our older neighbors, people who've kept this neighborhood the best, East of the River. We do what we can and hold fast to our optimism, even in the face of bleakest adversity—we always have. It doesn't matter that we sometimes feel like Downtown has forgotten about us, because when we're up against something that takes everything we've got, ..Penn Branch has what it takes.
This is a great neighborhood, folks, ..and it’ll take more than any freak blizzard to lick us. Happy New Year and good luck in 2010!
Mel Dyer
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