[Grovenet] council meeting to discuss city's (lack of) response tosnow

Sun Jan 4 18:41:49 PST 2009

allen-

those are great suggestions.  I  agree it doesn't make sense to equip the city for this kind of snowfall, when it only happens every 40 years.

honestly I don't know what the answer is - but then again, I don't work for the city.  but if I did, I would have done something.   first of all I would have answered the public's phone calls.  then when I realized this wasn't going to thaw out in 2 or 3 days, I would have tried to find a creative solution - maybe one of yours.

as far as I can tell, the city did diddly to help us.  

gary

________________________________
From: Allen Warren <osubuckeye59 at yahoo.com>
To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 4, 2009 2:05:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] council meeting to discuss city's (lack of) response tosnow

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

_______________________________________________
GroveNet mailing list
GroveNet at rdrop.com
http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet

_______________________________________________
GroveNet mailing list
GroveNet at rdrop.com
http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet

_______________________________________________
GroveNet mailing list
GroveNet at rdrop.com
http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet