Perspective

[JimmyG]

There’s been a large amount of frustration and griping going on over the snow/ice/missed garbage/bad roads/missed bus schedules and on & on.

Yes, it was a pain in the ass, yes some of the gov’t entities let us down, and yes, not everyone got to their holiday destinations.

Yet as far as I know there were no fatalities, only limited power outages, and no serious injuries. I get the feeling some of this snow-induced bitching has fed upon itself and snowballed (no pun intended) beyond what the actual circumstances were.

Let’s try to get some perspective on the whole thing and learn what we can from this experience.

Preparation is key, and if you think the past 2 weeks were bad, just wait until the “big one” earthquake hits Seattle. Use this snowmare to get a disaster kit together for you and your loved ones.

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[JoB]

JimmyG

this snow event sure made me aware of what i don’t have in place for a disaster.. and i think of myself as the queen of the girl scouts.. always prepared.

but i don’t think people are bitching about nothing. The way snow removal was handled was a major disgrace… the way public transportation was handled was another… and delivery companies didn’t meet their obligations…

but the biggest bitch would have to be the lack of communication about public services and options for those who might need them… including those delivery services who just didn’t show up but said they did.

real time bus reporting would have eliminated more than hour long waits in the snow for buses that never appeared…

and running more than one bus on routes that were passable would have eliminated standing at a bus stop for hours watching filled buses pass you by.

and the same snow plows that created roadblocks at major intersections (lights) could have as easily cleared the intersections so that traffic could move on and off cleared streets…

and….

there is plenty to be learned here for all of us.

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[Diane]

very well said JoB

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[Jo]

TR’s editorial on this subject on home page said it all.

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[JoB]

Jo.. i agree.

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[B-squared]

Thanks JimmyG,, well said! i have been thinking along the same track for a few days now. there are so many things that did NOT go wrong, but sure could have. the incessant whining, bitching and finger-pointing was really starting to get to me.

Puget Sound is located in an area of complex geography and topography, heavily influenced by the cascade mountain range, the olympic mountains and the pacific Ocean. Weather systems develop outside of our area then move our way and converge.

The facts paint a picture a succession of storms full of moisture that also were very cold. this assault really stretched the resources and people that we typically rely upon in these situations.

The agencies that are suppose to work during all these storms are people too. They probably had holiday plans that were thwarted. They would like to do their work safely and efficiently, but conditions made that challanging. Given the resources that the tax-payers are willing to pony up for, i think they did the best they could. metro only has so many non-reticulated buses, and so many sets of chains. and so many plows and sand trucks.

Remember, we are a very hilly region.

We don’t often get the chance to perfect our snow driving skills.

Many, many folks are transplants to this area and are even less accustomed to driving in PNW snow.

Our snow is far wetter than the snow that most experienced snow drivers are used to.

Since all this past experience is still fresh in everyone’s mind, it might be a good idea for the blog to compile a list of how individuals can avoid these frustrations during future storms, as these storms are undoubtedly just starting this season.

Here is a start:

*If you depend on your car for transportation, at least procure some seasonal tires (M+S), studs or chains and know how to use them.

*if garbage pickup is going to be missed, keep a supply of heavy duty hefty bags so that you can manage the waste you are making until it is safe to come pick the waste up.

* when a weather system is announced that will have measureable snow in it, stock up on some groceries before the system arrives.

*Have a snow shovel or flat bottom garden shovel on hand, and maybe some de-icer or salt. keep in your car.

*have a fuel source and cooking stove (colman) in case we lose power.

* wrap outdoor pipes and know how to turn off your water supply if lines freeze and break.

i could go on. bottom line is we need to be a bit more self-sufficent and ease up on the those doing the job. maybe there is some room for improvement amongst the government agencies, but there is plenty at the level of each of us.

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[PDieter]

I’m sorry Jimmy but perhaps you didn’t hear about crusier…he lost his socks.

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[HunterG]

LOL, PDieter. I agree, I don’t think he realizes the enormity of the lost footwear.

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[WSB]

I do think that some of what’s at the heart of this crosses into another thread, “What I learned from the snowstorm” — a point also just brought up in a comment on one of the home-page posts. I would be happy to compile a list of personal lessons learned in the not-too-distant future, from those threads etc. (mine, as I just noted in a HP comment, is that I need better shoes so that I could walk to cover a story in snow/ice if need be – I have a pair that I THOUGHT had decent traction, but quickly learned they do not, and the few places we went during the peak of the snow/ice, I had to take baby steps if there wasn’t deep snow to safely wade through).

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[artbyjody]

I’ll probably provide the not so typical response to the OP’s thread starter. They are just my views and take it only as such – nothing personal.

I noticed there were a lot of posts about tailgating, going slow etc, and while everyone has different knee jerk reactions none of those were the RIGHT thing to do.

It all comes to common sense.

If you are going utterly slow then move over as far as you can to the right without endangering your vehicle or forward motion. Next put your hazards on when you see a faster vehicle coming, and this will be an indication to that over taking vehicle – they may pass you on the left and all is well.

This talk about slamming on breaks and hope you take someone out on your bumper, etc is irresponsible, dangerous, and may end up being more than you bargained for… the rest of the country manages to do that technique quite well and wet snow is alot easier to drive in (I have driven thousands of miles towing a 32 foot Airstream in blizzards all over the country – this past weeks was cakewalk).

If the driver ahead of you is making no indication or movement to move over safe enough to allow a pass. Keep 5 car lengths behind, flash your lights in rapid succession and put on your blinker to the left to indicate you intend to pass. Its really not that hard.

And yeah – I am one that is fortunate to have one of those 1 ton 4wd drive trucks with off road tires – but it doesn’t mean I have to be a jerk.

Secondly – traction is all about allowing the tire to grip over the mounds etc that ice, snow, etc leave on the road.

Deflate your tires to 11 psi. It is a well known off road and driving on the sand technique that will give you traction above and beyond what you think would be possible. That 30-60 psi when it gets colder – because air in your tires has moisture in it – actually expands. Thus making your tires even more unsuitable for gripping.

You can safely run with 11 psi in your tires as long as you are not exceeding 40 mph – and for most that was never an option to begin with. When conditions are better Les Scwabs or any reputable tire place, and select gas stations will get you back to the proper psi free of charge.

Lastly – consider having Les Scwab (forgetting the term) stripe your tires. Basically they put extra cuts into the knobs of the tires (outer tread) and that too will give you better traction in wet, ice, snow conditions.

When the weather forecast indicates that this kind of weather is approaching, then move your car somewhere where you do not have to deal with going uphil. In other words – park so you are facing downhill. That’ll at least get you out even if you may not be able to tread back up. Having someway to at least get to a main thorough fare is more important than worrying about getting back to your parking spot.

Lastly, this is a great forum and resource and glad I stumbled upon it. There maybe should of been a thread that allowed those that had adequate vehicles and skills – to connect with those that needed a ride or a tow etc. I know there were some independent thread – of which one I did respond to – but I would of gladly helped anyone as I frankly had nothing to do other than share cabin fever with my two dogs.

Otherwise – the rest of the common sense mentions previously are no-brainers.

Until the next snow storm :)

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[JimmyG]

Wow–I hadn’t heard about Cruiser’s loss–my condolences.

Truly I hope every person who was so impacted by the storm realizes there are many steps (like those mentioned by B-squared above) that can be taken to make yourself less a victim of the next natural disaster.

You can be angry all you want at the gov’t for not doing what you think they should have, yet realize their response won’t probably be all that much better in the event of a true disaster. So use this experience to your benefit.

And with all of the griping I think some who were house bound thought the experiences they were reading here, were what everyone was going through in WS. I made it to work in Auburn every day (using chains to get out of my ‘hood two of those times) and my car is a smaller front wheel drive, and I live at the top of a hill. It’s true I spent several hours on a couple of those days either digging myself out or in a long slow commute at 30 mph.

The whole of WS was screwed up, but 100% of WS didn’t grind to a stop.

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[herongrrrl]

JimmyG, I agree w/you about what we should expect from city government. I went to a disaster preparedness meeting put on by the city last year and the message I got loud and clear was, when things go nuts (weather, earthquake, whatever), you are on your own so be prepared for that.

The street I live on is a major arterial with two bus routes. It was NEVER plowed throughout snowpalooza 08, I think I saw one bus go by the entire time, and I am grateful that my family was well prepared, didn’t have to go anywhere and we all like each other enough that staying home and enjoying the rare snow was feasible. But I am really unhappy on behalf of the folks who relied upon metro to get to jobs that don’t give them paid time off, and yeah, this garbage thing is getting awfully old.

It does frustrate me that, while other parts of King County and Puget Sound have active CERT programs (https://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/), the City of Seattle seems really resistant to them. Seattle apparently has some kind of alternative program that does not give the same degree of training CERT does, but since the city also does not seem able to provide adequate emergency response even in relatively minor emergencies one would think they would be eager to have willing volunteers take this on.

I did hear of one fatality resulting from the recent weather–a man living alone and in poor health near Ashford apparently froze to death and wasn’t found for a week. For people like that, I think there needs to be a much better safety net. It underscores the importance of community members needing to help each other out, and I think we saw a lot of good examples of that happening in these past couple weeks as well.

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[JoB]

artbyjody…

to pass, you need to be able to pull out of the lane you are driving in and pull around the car in front of you safely.

for the slow person ahead of you to pull over.. that also needs to be true.

that just wasn’t possible for most of us in most of west seattle during the storm. in fact, i saw more than one near miss as people tried to follow that advice…. and one chain reaction that could have easily been avoided had someone not decided to pass and fishtailed.

since many people pulled their cars out of their neighborhoods and onto major arterials and parked them… it was often not safe to pass even if your car had traction to navigate the plowbanks… and those plowbanks made it a real ordeal to dig your car out.

most of us were not driving one ton vehicles and cars that aren’t one ton don’t have the clearance of those that do:(

i had all season tires… i was driving in Minnesota winter a little over a year ago… i did deflate them… i finally put on chains when the frozen slush made it impossible to get out of our alley any other way… and i was still stuck more than once during this snow storm…. never fatally.. but close.

i have driven in a lifetime of pacific Northwest, Colorado mountain, Denver and Minnesota snow with snow in nearly every state in the West thrown in while passing through… and there were a couple of days i didn’t consider safe to leave my driveway during this storm.

TR…

i heartily recommend Yaktrax for getting around on foot…

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[cruiser]

:)) Thanks for the kind thoughts about my socks all!!

I did find them ok but left them at home as I don’t need them here(San Diego). I hope the thaw( the snow one) is going well there.

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[alki_2008]

Thanks Jimmy for posting something that was on my mind lately as delayed garbage pick-up became a huge issue.

The issue of real-time info and better communication aside (already covered eloquently on this site)…the thing that really concerned me about all the comments/rants/etc regarding Metro and other services is the apparent failure to acknowledge that there are real people working to provide those services…and those people may have had the same problems that their ‘customers’ had with the snow. There isn’t someone waving a magic wand to drive buses, collect garbage, deliver packages, or plow snow.

Perhaps there were Metro drivers that couldn’t get to the bases, had their own holiday plans, were stuck in an airport somewhere, or couldn’t get daycare for kids because of the snow.

I’m curious if unionized labor or other employment laws affected the city’s or county’s ability to have employees work extra shifts or extended hours. Also, there are liability issues that affect why some services don’t run normally. Does everyone that had trouble walking on slippery hills think it’s fair that UPS/FedEx/USPS employees should be forced to walk those same hills…and carrying packages, no less?

Of course, a system to prioritize packages (ie, medical supplies are more important than gifts) would be a great improvement.

Sorry for my own rant, but I’ve just been disheartened by the lack of appreciation for all the things we DO have in this society. Instead, there were just rants about the ‘services’ that were delayed. I didn’t like spending 3 hours (and 1 hour walking through snow) to get home from work in Downtown Seattle, but at least I had a job and a home to go to. There are many people in other countries that would appreciate having power to keep their homes heated or a roof over their heads, while we complain about smelly garbage and late delivery of presents. :(

Maybe it would’ve been more appropriate if this happened during Thanksgiving.

PS: I’m certainly not happy about paying for services and not getting them, but that’s another battle…at least the availability of services exists in our society and most of us have the capability of paying for those services.

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[JimmyG]

alki_2008 you said much more articulately part of what I was trying to get at with my original post.

There has been a lot of whining and ranting about what went wrong. I believe all of us need to take a bit more personal responsibility towards taking care of ourselves and our neighbors. The gov’t will not be able to help you for a long time after the expected huge earthquake hits us.

Use the past 2 weeks as a wake up.

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[TammiWS]

Well said JimmyG and Alki…

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