As Christmas and snow emergency season approached, it seemed a good idea to the folks at St. Paul's Public Works Department to gauge residents' perspectives on how their streets are plowed. Brave souls those public works employees must be.
But, as it turns out, many St. Paulites say they are pleased. Really.
On Tuesday, the department released the results of a citywide survey that asked more than 1,300 residents to share their opinions about how well, and often, the city plows its streets during snow emergencies and snow events. The results, said Public Works Director Kathy Lantry, were not cringe-inducing but, rather, eye-opening.
"We are pleased to learn that residents are generally happy with our work," she said. "But we know we can always do better. A big concern is a gap in understanding between the services we provide and the services residents think we provide."
One example of that gap: Most of the more than 400 residents who responded expect residential streets to be plowed within 24 hours of any snowfall. Mind you, St. Paul has more than 1,874 miles of streets.
"We have never made a focused enough communications plan saying, 'Here is what we do during a snow event and here is what we do in a snow emergency,' " Lantry said. "We have people who think that if Maplewood is plowing residential streets, ours must be as well. But many suburbs have complete parking bans after a snow, or night parking bans. In St. Paul, we have a really tiny window."
Generally speaking, 3 inches or more of snowfall triggers a snow emergency. But not always.
And while plows can be on arterial roads when snow starts to fall, residential streets may not get plowed for days. It all depends on weather conditions and if streets are considered passable, Lantry said.
