Today’s must-read: Seattle Times plows into Snowpocalypse

(December 22 WSB’er photo, California/Lander, looking west)
For an article published this morning, the Seattle Times launched “a review of about 2,000 records, including e-mails and detailed reports on how the city deployed equipment and crews” during the December snowstorms. The article starts off by calling attention to two SDOT managers who made what Times reporter Susan Kelleher calls “questionable decisions,” then provides a window into e-mail exchanges that seem to run counter to the stern tone of some of the official hearings (like this one) — Kelleher writes that Councilmember Sally Clark e-mailed SDOT boss Grace Crunican in January to say her West Seattle-residing colleague Tom Rasmussen was “out of line” in asking whether Crunican was in Seattle for the entirety of the storm (as reported here, she wasn’t), and Christmas e-mail from Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis to Crunican and one of her managers is quoted as saying “SDOT has been magnificent throughout these storms.” Ceis and Crunican also live in West Seattle, as of course does Mayor Nickels, and yet another part of the story says city workers spent more time clearing “sidewalks, landings, and bus stops” here than any other part of the city. Anyway, just go read the whole story.

Michael March 19, 2009 (2:47 am)

….And the worker cost for debating this one-week-in-20-years event continues to climb. (Just wait until we have to pay for the City to budget for this kind of storm every year from now on.)
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I’ve come to believe this is the pinnacle of Seattle whining. When the Big One hits, expect people’s biggest concern being whether they can get to work the next day.

Mr. JT March 19, 2009 (7:14 am)

I’m still glad that Grace Crunican made it to Porland to be with her family. What a waste of a paycheck she is.

Kayleigh March 19, 2009 (7:44 am)

What I see in that article: stuning cluelessness, ineptitude, and lack of communicaton among our city leaders.
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C’mon, Seattle: we can do better.

Scott (no, the other Scott) March 19, 2009 (7:50 am)

Interesting, particularly after all the claims of neglect leveled by commenters here, that the Times found that the bulk of the city’s crews were focusing on West Seattle.

JH March 19, 2009 (7:50 am)

I’m so glad this article was written! Good work to The Seattle Times!

jsrekd March 19, 2009 (7:58 am)

Investigative reporting at it’s best – it’s kind of sad to think it took a reporter to find the truth. What is it we’re paying our city employees for if not to analyze what went wrong and FIX it? Mistakes are one thing – not taking responsibility for them is a whole ‘nother ball game. Good job Susan (West Seattleite to boot)

100KSSD4WS March 19, 2009 (8:48 am)

the Times found that the bulk of the city’s crews were focusing on West Seattle. I would hate to see west seattle if the “bulk of the city crew was not in West Seattle. my question is how many is a bulk to the city? two? the job they did was the worst I have ever seen.

iggy March 19, 2009 (9:06 am)

Though I applaud the Times for the article, I wish they hadn’t made the comment that West Seattle got the “bulk” of the city crew. Considering that for days in many places I couldn’t cross California or Morgan or Fauntleroy on foot, let alone driving, you could have fooled me. Guess the next storm West Seattle will get even less service, since DOT will be scared of being seen as playing favorites.

Jason March 19, 2009 (9:42 am)

I was stuck at home for little over a week during that time, and to me, that snow and weather was so unusual for this area, that I’m willing to give the city a bit of a break on this. I’ve lived here for 38 years and never seen it that bad before. Our city govt will learn from this hopefully and we’ll all move on.

Cami March 19, 2009 (10:21 am)

The Times seems to have a short memory. Remember Charlie Chong? 11 snow plows? One Times writer wrote in ’97 “Seattle snowstorm policy: If it snows, tough.”. We don’t live in Buffalo and our city is going to problems with large amounts of snow.

Save Our Streets Seattle March 19, 2009 (11:43 am)

FINALLY! Susan Kelleher’s article FINALLY brings to light SDOT’s completely disjointed, chaotic, and negligent response to the snow emergency. At least knowing (now) that the Mayor’s streets were cleared explains a small part of HIS complete disconnect with what was actually happening. Also, he was on vacation for part of the storm. I have just two words to sum up this series of articles: FIRE CRUNICAN!

GenHillOne March 19, 2009 (12:26 pm)

I’m a Sally Clark fan from way back, but am glad Dow is asking tough questions and don’t think it inappropriate at all.

Gina March 19, 2009 (12:46 pm)

What street that the mayor lives on was plowed?

I didn’t see any plows on that street, I know charlabob lives on the same street as the mayor, did you or Bob see any?

sa March 19, 2009 (12:50 pm)

I question the depth of reporting that Nickels and Crunican’s neighborhoods got a significantly disproportionate amount of attention. While I don’t live in their neighborhoods, I know that most of West Seattle was virtually ignored. The plow drivers interviewed may be referring to the attention paid to the West Seattle Bridge which got special attention.

SD March 20, 2009 (12:08 pm)

Yes, I was wondering the same thing–if WS really got all that “extra attention”, where did that extra attention go? Because even the Admiral area was in terrible shape. If there was extra attention, it was ineffective, I’d say.