City schools 'err to side of safety' in keeping doors closed
-
Jonathan Wilson, a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh, walks a narrow sidewalk path on Clyde Street in Oakland on Wednesday.
Share with others:
The snow mounds dotting city streets are on their way out, but snowy, icy sidewalks remain a problem for Pittsburgh Public Schools officials concerned about getting students to and from school safely.
The school district closed schools Wednesday for the sixth time in two weeks; officials said they were worried that students, unable to negotiate sidewalks still a mess from recent storms, would have been forced to walk in the streets just as a fresh round of snow squalls moved through the city Wednesday morning.
"We want to err to the side of safety," said Ted Vasser, the district's director of student transportation.
Slippery sidewalks and the snow mounds, many of them at intersections and bus stops, have thwarted the school district's efforts to resume a normal schedule since a Feb. 5 and 6 storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow on the city. With subsequent storms, snowfall for the month approached record that would make February the snowiest month ever. Already the snowiest February on record with 40.0 inches, the total was less than a quarter-inch shy of the 40.2 inches that fell on the region in January 1978.
City Council offered help on one front Wednesday, approving an open-ended declaration of emergency that set the stage for an overnight assault on the snow heaps.
The declaration -- an extension of an emergency status triggered by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl earlier this month -- suspends competitive-bidding requirements. It allowed Public Works Director Robert Kaczorowski to hire Wood Waste Recycling and B & R Contractors, which together were expected to deploy around 12 additional pieces of heavy equipment.
The goals of those crews and the city's 50-plus snow-clearing trucks were to widen the drivable portions of main roads, clear snow from areas around schools, remove snow heaps from business districts, clear access to on-street parking areas and get some mounds out of residential neighborhoods.
Yet city officials have balked at reactivating an ordinance requiring property owners clear their walks within 24 hours of snow stopping. Resuscitating the rule, they said, might prompt seniors to try to shovel heavy loads, causing health risks.
Another problem: "In some of our neighborhoods, where are they going to put [snow from sidewalks]? They're going to put it back in the street," exacerbating street clearing, Public Safety Director Michael Huss said.
Mr. Huss said residents who can clear their sidewalks should do so. Last week, the school district issued its own appeal for sidewalk clearing, saying that renters should speak to their landlords about the matter and that the able-bodied should help infirm neighbors get the work done.
First Published February 18, 2010 12:00 am
