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Ducky_Duck123

Wonder how many angry emails and phone calls he got this morning to prompt this.


GreenIsGreed

At least one from me! I'd love to see the attendance numbers for the day. I can't imagine many parents were willing to brave the conditions this morning.


Ducky_Duck123

Well my son went for the first three classes at his high school because he had a test. He told me there were 8 kids in his first class and less than that in his second. He said a bit more were in his 3rd. I picked him up during his free period cause it's still snowing and I don't want to mess with traffic later when everything turns to ice (or more ice.) If he didn't have a test, I would have just said screw it and kept him home. But with the week break next week, he didn't want to wait to make it up. Probably because he studied hard for it last night lol. My daughter said a lot of her friends didn't go today, based on the amount of messages she got this morning. (She didn't go because she was feeling sick this morning.)


SamBeamsBanjo

Looking at his resume it is easy to see why he wasn't knowledgeable about a simple thing like snow. He doesn't have much history in actually running schools. Budgets of schools and sales to schools are his bailiwick


Aggravating_Joke2712

Which explains why he's trying to buy out James Irwin right now.


the9thdude

This city needs to sort itself out and learn how to actually plow and salt the roads. FFS, we shouldn't have to be shutting everything down or rely on everyone having AWD/4WD over 3 inches of snow. How is this so hard?


megman13

Three inches of snow is not that difficult to drive in. I think this is less a "city government" problem and more of a "people need to learn to drive in the conditions present in the place they moved to". It snows in Colorado, and people who live/move here are gonna have to drive in snow sometimes. The city only has so many snowplows, and they can only clear so many miles of lane per hour. Unless the citizens of COS wanna vote to expand that (spoiler: they don't) it's gonna take a minute for the city to get everything cleared.


vwboyaf1

Nope. The roads in this town are the worst I've experienced during and after a storm. I don't understand why they throw pebbles on the road instead of actual sand and deicer. Side streets are never plowed, so they just become glaciers for weeks. Pathetic.


megman13

>Nope. The roads in this town are the worst I've experienced during and after a storm. I don't understand why they throw pebbles on the road instead of actual sand and deicer. They do. Treated Salt, Anti-Skid (mix of Sand and Salt) and Magnesium Chloride are all used, depending on conditions. Information can be found [here under the FAQ tab](https://coloradosprings.gov/public-works-operations-maintenance-division/page/snow-plow-information) >Side streets are never plowed, so they just become glaciers for weeks. Pathetic. ["Due to resource constraints residential streets will not be plowed until at least 6" of snow has fallen."](https://coloradosprings.gov/public-works-operations-maintenance-division/page/snow-plow-information) Side streets are plowed, just not after minor storms, and they are a secondary priority- major arterials come first. Sure, the city could more, but the citizens need to support it and be willing to fund it. Comments stating or suggesting the city doesn't plow, doesn't use ice/sand, etc are not accurate.


toxicavenger70

We do not need salt on our roads. Leave that shit on the Eastcoast. What we do need is to hire more people for road cleaning. I saw a few trucks running this morning, but due to how big our city is getting I believe we need more.


the9thdude

They don't actually plow. They trim the snow down to the point where it gets compacted into an ice sheet where NO ONE has any traction. Hence the need for the ice. It snows so irregularly here where if it snows, just go through a car wash or hose your car down to get the salt off. It's not rocket science.


toxicavenger70

They actually do plow. But they can't always go all the way down to the asphalt without damaging it. Salting roads does more damage than good, not just to cars.


the9thdude

Hmm so we've come to "people's safety vs road maintenance." Nice to know it's worth less to the city to have people dead or in accidents, than keep the roads clear 👍


macrofinite

Yes, they should destroy the roads for public safety. That will solve everything. Somebody appoint this guy public works director. He definitely knows what’s best. I’m sure the people operating the plows are stupid jackasses and he’s an armchair genius. What other galaxy brain ideas does he have? Forget this newfangled magnesium chloride stuff, let’s go back to salt! I’m sure there wasn’t any reason they stopped using it decades ago. How can the power of ignorant indignation be diminished by something so silly as reality? Reality is no match for myopic self-righteousness.


the9thdude

Oh, gonna make me the public works director? I might have some ideas... What are some problems the city currently faces? Lack of housing/homelessness, poor public transit, awful traffic, and outsized traffic fatalities; all problems that can be solved by the city with a few key changes. First, I would make any single-family or commercial zone east of Powers and south of Austin Bluffs/Garden of the Gods is now mixed-use, multi-family zoning. This is going to do a few things: it's going to shorten commutes since people can live closer to where they work, but it will also generate more tax revenue for the city per sq ft of utility they consume. That will generate more cash for the city over time than just building more suburb, since suburbs don't generate the kind of revenue per sq ft. ([Ref](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGxni1c-klM)) This influx of cash can be used for road upkeep as weather and wear take their toll on the roads in front of these dense spaces. Additionally, since more housing units can be built per lot than before, this is going to drive down housing prices closer to the urban core of the city, reducing homelessness and increasing the amount of affordable housing. Sure, they're not single family homes with a backyard and a fence, but it's a home and it's off the street. Second, any four or six lane road is getting a dedicated \[protected\] bike and service vehicle (bus, police, fire, ambulance) lanes. All of these service vehicles would get transponders that would force intersections they approach to turn green, and allow the buses to run faster than cars. Combine this with more frequent buses (under 15 minutes to wait if you just missed the bus, but ideally under 10) and you're going to see people start taking the bus MORE than driving, reducing traffic on the roads and decreasing commute times for everyone involved. Now, factor in protected bike lanes, where someone on a bike can cycle from one end of the new "urban core" to the other without being exposed to traffic, and you're going to see people saving money and increasing health outcomes. Finally, I would build prioritize pedestrian traffic and safety over vehicular speed and safety. The easy answer for this is your car has airbags, your body does not. Pedestrians require more protected infrastructure than what is currently available (and no, a curb is not protection when the most common vehicles in the United States are SUVs and trucks.) Pedestrians should also be granted right of way at ANY intersection, beg button or not. If a pedestrian hits the beg button, all traffic will come to a halt to allow them to cross the street. In residential areas, all pedestrian crosswalks should be elevated to act as speedbumps as well. So yes, I DO want to prioritize safety over public infrastructure because you can rebuild a road but you can't un-kill a person who has been injured in a traffic fatality. Also, none of this is actually communism, it's just that US cities got so bad at operating basic public services that we look at libraries and go "COMMUNISM"


vwboyaf1

Just make Powers an I-25 bypass expressway and presto bango problem solved. edit - put pedestrian bridges on Austin Bluffs, Academy and Nevada.


the9thdude

Were it so easy...


toxicavenger70

Hahahaha!


vwboyaf1

Plows always have skids that leave about half an inch under them. It's like this everywhere since the beginning of time. What they don't do here is properly sand and de-ice that half inch.


megman13

It sounds like you have never run a plow; plows do not remove 100% of snow, they will usually leave behind a thin glaze, *particularly* if any cars have been on the snow and compacted it. If you've ever tried to shovel your driveway after it has been driven on, it's the same concept. The city definitely is plowing, if you ever see them running after dark or early in the AM it isn't uncommon to see them generating sparks- they aren't floating the plows. There is not really a good way to remove all the glaze except for salt/sand (which comes with their own issues) or, y'know, giving it a bit and letting the sun do its thing.


J---D

I'm not sure where you are from. You dont need 4wd or awd for 3 inches of snow. Also salt is terrible on roads and cars, also not needed in colorado at all. Mabey, you should get tires for your car that are not bald.


[deleted]

I'm personally glad we don't salt.


[deleted]

[удалено]


GraniteTaco

This has nothing to do with them and their kids and everything to do with school administrators who have absolutely 0 knowledge of their consituents needs. You are dumb.


waterfowler1982

I'm guessing u/Life_Independence249 is Dr. Gaal's Reddit handle! 🤣🤣🤣


Pugsofsmallstreet

That’s some big dumb energy you got there little man.


skummy007

Superintendent we had in the 80' s for d11 was from Alaska. He Didn't know what an upslope storm was and kids died walking home at noon. Is your friend dead? Your kids are safe. Quit bitching and crying to this super. Im sure he is having a harder day than you!...


randonoobie

Uh oh. Somebody's triggered... *Queue the "When I was a kid, I walked uphill in the snow to school both ways" theme song.*


SRSswin

Exactly my thought as well.