[Grovenet] council meeting to discuss city's (lack of) response tosnow
Katie Allnutt
allnutt at verizon.net
Sun Jan 4 15:56:39 PST 2009
Good suggestions Allen.
I like the options of contracting out the services so the city
doesn't have to pay for and store equipment that could potentially
sit idle for several years in a row. However I doubt that the
liability aspects would be cost effective to have citizens
'volunteer' or 'donate' time and equipment. I think what makes this
issue so pressing is that the bad weather hits around Christmas time
when so many businesses are dependent on the end of year sales to
boost their revenue. If we got ice and snow that closed the roads
around May Day we wouldn't care quite so much.
Several people that I know who live "in" FG but on a county road said
their roads were cleared right up to the city limits so maybe we
could talk to the county about it since they have some of the
equipment already.
Katie
On Jan 4, 2009, at 2:05 PM, Allen Warren wrote:
> A few points to ponder prior to the meeting . . .
>
> * how many times in the past 10 years have we received snowfall to
> the extent we did recently?
> * how many times/year do we receive snowfall to the extent we did
> recently?
> * should Forest Grove purchase/retrofit one or more trucks to have
> the snow-clearing capability to handle the snowfall we recently
> received, what would be the cost, where would the funds come from,
> and would we have to NOT spend in other areas to free up funds for
> this use? Would funding to have this capability in reserve require
> reduction in other services?
>
> * if Forest Grove had rented/contracted to have snow removal/
> plowing done, where would the funds come from, would we have to NOT
> spend in other areas to free up funds for this use? Would funding
> to clear streets cause a reduction in other services?
>
> Since moving to Forest Grove almost 12 years ago, there have been
> at least 4 occasions I can remember where we've lost electric
> service to our home for longer than 5 minutes. Of those 4
> remembered occasions, 3 occurred during late night hours in winter
> months during severe storms when our basement drain system was
> requiring our sump pump to turn on every 45 seconds. After each
> occasion we pondered getting a generator system that would
> automatically turn on with power failure, run on natural gas and
> provide power to our home. But each time the cost of purchasing &
> installing that system was clearly not a good ROI. We finally
> purchased a small gasoline-powered generator to provide power for
> the sump pump and other appliances such as the furnace and
> refrigerator. Now here's the catch: we have not yet used the
> generator. In the strictest financial sense we have zero ROI. And
> the outlay of several hundred dollars is not trivial. But given my
> memory of
> the last time we did lose power, from 11 PM to 12:30 AM, and the
> fact I was hand-bailing water out of my sump hold just as fast as I
> could possibly bail, I think the generator purchase is a relatively
> inexpensive insurance policy.
>
> As I walk the streets of Old Towne every evening with my wife and
> our dogs, even today I still see large piles of snow. And then I
> think back to the first 25 years of life growing up in Ohio, where
> every winter meant shoveling snow, until the day when my father
> said enough-is-enough and purchased a snow blower/thrower.
>
> When I think about the record snowfall we recently experienced, I
> ask myself if there's anything Forest Grove (or any other community
> in the Willamette Valley) can or should do. And the biggest
> questions all center around the City's budget and what services
> both could and would eventually be hit to gear up for the
> potential, I repeat "potential" of another one or more snowstorms
> of the magnitude we just experienced.
>
> A question for Gary Duncan-Gates: what is your proposal or
> suggestion(s) for what the city should have done differently and
> what they should do today to prepare for another winter weather
> event as bad or possibly worse than what we just experienced?
>
> Here are a couple of suggestions for what could potentially be done
> today to prepare for a similar/worse weather event in the future:
>
> * City request for and keep a list of local resident volunteers
> owning tractors with buckets who would agree to hopefully volunteer
> or, worst case, rent out their time and machines to plow/push snow
> off the streets. The city could provide a "donation" receipt (I
> have no clue on donation finance rules related to this) for any
> volunteering.
> * City contact local farm implement and heavy equipment
> businesses, requesting their commitment and support to volunteer
> or, worst case, rent out their time and machines to plow/push snow
> off the streets. Again, the city could provide a "donation"
> receipt for the volunteering.
> Allen Warren
>
> ________________________________
> From: Louise Rickard <louise_rickard at hotmail.com>
> To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 4, 2009 11:19:16 AM
> Subject: Re: [Grovenet] council meeting to discuss city's (lack of)
> response tosnow
>
> Hey, I truly believe they did the best that they could.
> Louise
> -----Original Message-----
> From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-
> bounces at rdrop.com] On
> Behalf Of Gary Duncan-Gates
> Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 8:13 AM
> To: Grovenet
> Subject: [Grovenet] council meeting to discuss city's (lack of)
> response
> tosnow
>
> Monday, January 12th. I will be there and hope you will, too.
>
> gary
>
>
>
>
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