Ann Arbor slips up

Snow emergency declaration came too late

While snow storms had buried many of Ann Arbor's streets at the end of last semester, returning students found most streets cleared. This was due to the efforts of dedicated city crews to remove excess snow that was dumped on Ann Arbor on one of the snowiest months on record. To encourage people to move their cars and make plowing the roads easier, the city declared a snow emergency and put certain parking regulations into place.

The snow emergency, which went into effect on Dec. 26, was lifted on Tuesday, a week ahead of schedule.

Before the emergency was declared, city plows encased many parked cars in massive snow mounds. With snow, slush and ice filling the streets, many area drivers on two-way thoroughfares found themselves competing with oncoming traffic for a way through the clogged mess.

And although most streets were at least crudely passable, for about a week much of Ann Arbor was trapped by the snow.

The need for the snow emergency was obvious, but its timing was wrong.

By the time city crews were preparing to attack the excess snow, most students had left campus for the holidays, many leaving their cars in the streets, complicating the snow removal process on many streets close to campus.

Toward the end of the final exam period, Jim Kosteva, University director of community relations, sent an e-mail to all students, faculty and staff members, to inform the University community of the upcoming snow emergency.

The University did its job disseminating information regarding snow removal procedures and parking alternatives, but by the time most students, especially those from out-of-state, received news of the snow emergency, they were already at home, unable to return to Ann Arbor to move their cars.

If Ann Arbor City Administrator Neal Berlin, who has the power to declare a snow emergency, would have taken action in the days following the first massive snowfall Dec. 12, more University students with vehicles would have been able to move their cars and they would not have impeded the necessary snow removal.

All in all, the city issued 124 parking citations and towed 166 cars. And although cars were generally just temporarily moved out of the way, the cost of towing could have been greatly reduced if most students would have been notified in time to move their vehicles out of the way.

The University should be applauded for its efforts not only to keep campus sidewalks and driveways clear.

Even during the height of the massive snow storm that took aim on Ann Arbor and southeast Michigan on Dec. 14, University snow removal crews kept a good portion campus parking lots, driveways and pedestrian pathways clear.

Although battling city streets and the bitter cold was quite a challenge, traversing campus was relatively painless. Once on campus, students were able to navigate campus sidewalks thanks to University crews.

As it did in January 1999, when the city declared a snow emergency after more than 17 inches of snow fell on Ann Arbor, the University opened its parking facilities to students and city residents so city crews could clear area streets. The University needs to continue to play an active role in providing parking alternatives in snow crises.

Since predicting the effects of massive snowfall can be difficult, the city needs to be prepared for any situation. City administrators need to use this past emergency as a lesson so snow removal can run more smoothly in the future.