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Question of the day

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* Let’s go the post-blizzard route: What does your neighborhood and drive to work look like today? Any big problems? Explain.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 7:48 am

Comments

The sun is up.
The sky is blue.
The snow is shoveled.
And I’m still not going in to work.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:05 am
There is no place to put the snow, while main routes are clear, side streets are poor enough to catch me in a drift and get me stuck for a few minutes. Fortunately I knew how to get unstuck on my own. Anyone assuming a typical commute will find themselves out of sorts today.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:07 am
the metra electric is working (as it was yesterday). in fact, it ran all night during the blizzard. my condo’s parking lot is plowed, as are the major roads down here. situation normal…

Comment by bored now Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:07 am
All systems go.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:09 am
No problems. I had cleaned off my driveway yesterday morning. The Will County Highway Department snow plows have done a pretty decent job of keeping our county roads clean. No complaints from me. What was ironic is that I live in a rural area of Will County and I had no problem since yesterday morning. My daughter lives in a large subdivision with lots of people in Plainfield (Will County) next to Naperville, Illinois. She and her husband never saw a snow plow go down their street until after 4 PM yesterday so they were snowed in all day. I teased her that she needs to move out into the country to get fast snow removal.

Comment by Beowulf Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:13 am
I have to say I am impressed with Springfield’s response. Went to Meijer yesterday, only iffy spot was the road in front of my house. By lunch time it was still snowed over, but after a bit of effort I got the car to the main street. After that, it was smooth sailing.

Last night the city did plow our street, which means I had to dig out the driveway at the end.

Zero problems driving on the interstate this morning, and all main roads passable.

Awesome job for city plow crews!

Comment by How Ironic Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:21 am
I-57 to the Dan Ryan was a breeze at 7:00AM. Kudo’s to IDOT’s snowmen.

The parking garage had six inches of snow indoors in spots near the windowless openings.

Comment by What's in a name? Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:23 am
Getting in on the BNSF was fun this morning (limited trains that were 20+ minutes late, blew past stops since they were full) tonight should be a laugh riot.

However getting home last night, the Rt 59 parking lot was clear, Aurora streets ok just sometimes they would lose a lane.

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:32 am
I woke up sneezing and have a slight temp, so I don’t know, I’m not going out there. The (side) street looks much the way it did yesterday–lots of cars covered in snow.There’s maybe one car that was dug out and it’s gone, so unless he got stuck up the street out of siight, the street is passable.

Comment by Cheryl44 Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:35 am
Our suburban residential street is only half plowed. Passable but they still have some work to do. The major streets are in good shape. They are still catching up but by and large our Public Works did a great job.

Comment by Stones Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:42 am
Here in Woodford Cty the county guys worked all day and night yesterday. Our Cty road is passable, the drive is shoved and dry…all 60 feet of it. Even got mail service yesterday….Congrats to our Rep and Cty workers to GET the JOB DOne.

Comment by Siyotanka Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:44 am
Chicago side street still not plowed.

Comment by Don't Worry, Be Happy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:48 am
I live in downtown Chicago. CTA was running normally I’d say. The only problem was the three foot wall of snow along State Street that made it hard to get to the bus. I think CTA really deserves kudos for the way it operated during this emergency. I was actually able to get into my office yesterday by taking the Orange line.

Comment by LouisXIV Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:48 am
All’s sunny and plowed in Deerfield, but my wonderful boss (me) is letting all her employees (me) work from home today anyway. I do have to go help my dad dig out in Vernon Hills where the streets are plowed, but not the alleys or his garage driveway. Carl’s still digging out in at the farm in Indiana and I hear the chickens opted to stay in the coop. My concern is that I have to take Zoe to the vet and it’s pretty cold out there for a sick 18-year old cat.

Comment by EllenBethGill Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:53 am
Chicago alleys are impossible. Don’t know how my trash will be collected. Can’t get cars out of the garage. Public transport is the way to go, but how long can it be the only way? When will our streets be cleared and when will snow be removed?

Comment by Anon Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:55 am
The daughter (Plainfield in Will County) just called in this morning and said a snow plow finally cleaned the snow out of their plugged up street in the Plainfield subdivision sometime between 10 PM- 12 midnight last night. Now, she and her husband are finally able to get out and go to work today. That is they can leave after they shovel out the end of their driveway again that the snowplow plugged shut on them last night. Oh yeah, they also have to go out buy and erect a new mailbox this weeked since the snowplow destroyed their mailbox as well as their neighbor’s mail boxes. Ah, the joys of living in the city instead of living out in the country. Ha-ha.

Comment by Beowulf Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 8:56 am
Side streets in my corner of the 43rd ward have not been plowed. While it would be great, as suggested in an earlier thread, to get the neighbors together and dig ourselves out, it is not practical: many elderly folks, wind chill below zero, no place to put the snow, no way out anyway because adjoining streets are impassible. I appreciate that it was significant storm but this seems like a long wait for a basic service.

Comment by And I Approved This Message Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:00 am
we have a friend who went down our side street and alley with a plow and all our neighbors from us north to the side street snowblowed to allow us to get out. Many people in our area have the plow on their truck and out of goodwill just plowed out to the main street so we fortunately can get out - there is no way the buses will be able to make their way through to the schools because there are snow piles everywhere - we ran out of place to put the snow

Comment by NW sider Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:04 am
Street is in good shape, cars pinned in not in such good shape. Alley is a fantastic obstacle course of 8 foot high snow mounds, efficiently created by our band of neighbors, yesterday afternoon.

Comment by Corduroy Bob Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:11 am
My subdivision roads were plowed by 3 or 4 pm yesterday. I did get to shovel street paths for my neighbor so she could get around the block only to park back in her garage, so that was nice.

Comment by Leroy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:13 am
Took the Brown line today (no problems) since side streets and alley not yet plowed. Family is digging out the garage and our part of the alley today in hopes of getting out. I was hoping mayoral election would get our alley plowed but I am not holding my breath.

Comment by 32nd Ward Roscoe Village Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:13 am
First off - VERY impressed with the work that all of the crews did in the Chicagoland area. It’s probably no fun at all to be out plowing snow in this #$&!

Back to the question……..Mostly very good. There are still a few places where right turn lanes are not cleared and there will need to be some clean up. The interesting part is what all of the snow does to the intersection visibility. There are a number of locations where there are 8′ piles of snow right at an intersection corner so you can’t see around a corner. Think about that when you drive - other motorists may not be able to see you. The crews will have to go out with some front end loaders to clear these intersections.

Comment by Ghost of John Brown Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:20 am
we live in rural rochester. all electric, but didnt lose power. plowed tuesday, incl 3 neighbors. then got a #%**+ flat on the garden tractor. so wed i had to shovel 200 ft of drifts to go get the tire fixed. twp roads all ice but plowed. county roads pretty ok. stores empty–of people and product. garbage pickup delayed a day.

Comment by Langhorne Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:21 am
couple of whiners here… it’s called a shovel, and we should help our neighbors, even if you’re the only one below the age of 60. In fact, even more reason that you get your butt out there & help. Or if you can’t do it, hire someone!

I live on a street on the north side of the city and it dead ends at the lake, so my street was like a wind/snow tunnel with special delivery directly from the lake.

Neighbor with the snowblower was a popular guy this week, but within a half hour of his first round, it was completely covered up. This was a strange & windy storm in chicago.

Seems to me the city did a great job of preparing and dealing with the storm. In a city of over 3 million, if the only snafu was 800 cars stuck on LSD, that’s a job well done. Life seems to be getting back to normal, but it’s a great excuse to stay home today & tomorrow…

Comment by bootstraps Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:26 am
My street is impassible. Kids schools are still closed so I didn’t have to drive and instead took the “L” to work which was fine. Hope to be able to get out of the alley with my car tomorrow. Wife’s SUV - no prob.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:35 am
Well, I almost jog every morning and this morning was no exception…I almost jogged!

Driveway is is clear, now roads are clear, now driveway is clear, again. All in all a beautiful balmy below zero day in the great state of Illinois!

Comment by Justice Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:42 am
In SPFLD. We live on a side street near SHG/Pasfield CC. Snowed in all day, no plow. Decided to call my alderman at home around 7pm. Left message and he returned call. Assured me it should be plowed by morning. While I would’ve preferred to scoop the junk in less frigid temps, I understand the delay. I was impressed with the return call and yep, our little street was plowed at 7am this morning.

Some people tend to get unglued with aspects of the weather, but I would like to give thumbs up to Springfield PW employees. Not every single lane will be clear, and garbage pick-up will probably be an issue for some, but overall, good job. And being an alderman, taking calls at home…it’s a thankless job sometimes. Thank you to my alderman.

Comment by PaGo Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:44 am
Decent; Spfld streets dept did a good job once htey got to the neighborhood sts. Just had to dig out about 6 ft of the driveway again. I would have stayed in but the Mrs. has a Drs appt.in a few minutes.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:48 am
Rogers Park side streets are still pretty bad. Still drifts a few feet high on the streets, cars snowed in, and stuck cars. I had no problems getting on the train, but heard there were 1+ hour waits for the blue line.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:49 am
38th ward, northwest side of city. Main streets are great but looks like side streets have not been touched. No Mayor or Alderman to hold accountable, my Alderman Tom Allen got the gift of being a judge. I will not vote for his relative Cullerton because of this.

Comment by bob Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:52 am
Spent six hours on a tractor yesterday clearing my drive and the drives of my two neighbors. The lane to the hard road was drifted shut by midnight Tuesday(3′+).

I am fortunate that one of my neighbors is a bailiff at the county courthouse. He called his boss to tell him that he was snowed-in and ten minutes later, there was a v-plow coming down the lane. Otherwise, we would probably still be snowed-in. My ghost of a road Commissioner did absolutely nothing during this storm. I am thinking of trying to run for the job, as I can ignore phone calls with the best of them and the pay is pretty sweet.

Kudos to Springfield and Menard County road crews, as the roads into town were clear and dry. My fear is all of the yahoos that are still in storm mode. This morning I passed a woman that was driving 25 mph (white knuckles and a look of sheer horror on her face) and was almost t-boned by a truck that was plowing a parking lot.

Comment by Slick Willy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:53 am
Elgin Public Works crews did good job in getting roads open. Lots of work still left to do, but in general roads are driveable. Now if we can get the knuckleheads who park on the street rather than use their driveways to move their cars, the plows could really do the job. Good work by Elgin’s “Toughest”, the PW Dept.

Comment by WRMNpolitics Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 9:57 am
Only a slight dusting in and around Carbondale. Some snow still on the ground, but you gotta look for it. Sun is shining brightly…should be a nice winter day. We usually see that daffodils poking up about the third week of February. Drive to work was normal, no problems.

Comment by Deep South Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:00 am
My neighbor across the street uses s tractor to push snow out of his driveway and parks it in the street in fron of my house about 3-4 off the curb. The snowplow comes by, cannot get to the curb and I now have a MUCH larger pile of snow at the end of my driveway than my other neighbors. I have spoken to him in the past and he just doesn’t care that by solving his problem he creates one for his neighbor.

“We solve our problems and it will be up to others to solve theirs.”

Comment by Joe from Joliet Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:10 am
Most streets OK here. Mains are passable and sides are getting better. Local crews were at it a long time doing a very nice job despite the volume. Love the two neighbors who see no reason to shovel their driveway but feel it is their right to park in the street making less than a car width passage. They got upset when the plows buried their car. Probably got a nice ding too. It was a shame.

Comment by zatoichi Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:10 am
Still snowed in completely. Winter wonderland out the window. Suburban street plowed but looks barely passable. Have to rely on private plow service for our very long driveway which is drifted and blown and ends in 3 feet of snow piled up against the garage doors from wind. Cannot safely walk from shoveled front porch out to street, so we plan to relax and hunker down for another day and wait for rescue. This storm’s snow removal job at our place is just not possible to do by human hand shoveling or blower alone. Too much snow and nowhere to put it. Have seen the plow guys around but not at our house yet.

We have to be able to get out and resume normal life tomorrow morning, though. And, we’re hosting a birthday party Saturday evening. So I hope the reportedly picked clean food emporiums are adequately re-stocked by the time we can get out. I have to assume the miles and miles of the storm’s size and wrath across the country may have had a big impact on transportation delivery systems that will show up in stores.

Comment by Responsa Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:19 am
Roscoe Village - some dude with a truck and plow came down our little side street yesterday, so the street’s open to the main artery, but most cars are plowed in. The alley is a disaster - six foot high drifts in places, but I live close enough to the end that a band of us shoveled a very narrow way out yesterday. Feel sorry for those in the middle of the block. Like others, the neighborhood snowblower man cleared the walks - gotta get that guy some cookies or bourbon or something.

Comment by Thoughts... Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:23 am
Main streets from SW side of Chicago to tollway where great. Side streets in Chicago were still a mess. Going through a couple of suburbs this morning the ones that don’t allow parking on the street overnight were in great shape. That is the key difference between Chicago (and older suburbs) and the suburbs where most of the houses have driveways. You can plow an empty street in 30 seconds. If you live where cars are parked it is going to take a lot longer to get back to normal.

Comment by Been There Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:25 am
Waukegan, still haven’t left my house though the street is plowed. School is canceled, so I don’t have to work today. Spent over six hours with my husband shoveling sidewalks and driveway yesterday, he’s off work, too. We now have a mountain of snow 12 ft high covering half of my front yard, but they did pick up the trash, today.

The sun is shining, things can only get better!

Comment by Wensicia Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:33 am
Logan Square side streets and alleys still not cleared. Not going anywhere by car for a while. You’d have thought plows would have gotten to the side streets at least once by now.

Comment by ThinkerBelle Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:48 am
good neighbors helping plow sidewalks and street are a nice balance to idiot neighbors who think their property is not the place to put the snow that they shovel from their property. face it, no one is looking at your fancy landscaping and lighting system now….

Comment by amalia Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:52 am
Hard to feel sympathy for people who ignored the warnings of the meteorologists that were posted for 2 days before this storm. Why anyone would venture out on the outer drive with NE winds over 30mph and snow falling 1″+ per hour is beyond me. Should have left before the storm hit, IMO. And it started exactly at 3PM, as advertised. Regarding folk helping neighbors out by shoveling walks, driveways and even the street, that was SOP in our neighborhood in suburban DuPage Cty. Don’t wait for someone else to solve your problem, get out there and do it!

And I Approve This Message @ 9:00am says that there was no place to put the snow even if neighbors shoveled. Where do you think the city is going to put it? And the cold? That’s why mittens were invented. I worked outside in a shipyard in northern Wisc in the ’70’s. Below 0* outside was the norm. I worked outside. Proper clothes are the order of the day. BTW - use layers.

Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 10:58 am
Has anyone considered revisiting the continuation of the February primary date yet? This could easily have been election day!

Comment by irv & ashland Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:14 am
I shoveled out my car and around the house yesterday. Today I jumped in the car, got stuck for a moment and drove to work. My friend, a former Chicagoan, sent me sarcastic messages from south Florida. He told me to “enjoy” the aftermath.

At least this is not a hurricane or oil spill. I hope I don’t have to contact my friend next fall, if the shoe is on the other foot during hurricane season.

Comment by Grandson of Man Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:16 am
On Lincoln Park, main roads plowed. CTA BusTracker not doing so. Waited 45 min for bus, but it arrived and normal commute. Walk from stop ok w/ maneuvering around mounds of snow. Now, who wants to help me shovel out the car??

Comment by D.P. Gumby Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:24 am
Great job by IDOT and local crews. This was one of the worst storms on record. It’s not an instant fix. Hopefully everyone remains patient. To the folks on Lake Shore Drive who were quoted complaining about their dilemma in the Trib, you were the problems. You went against warnings to stay in. You drove in a blizzard on a road next to a massive lakefront. Maybe this will teach people a lesson for next time. Glad no one was killed due to the freezing conditions.

Comment by Plows Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:25 am
Driving to work was cool because of the light traffic and long snowbanks on the sides of Chicago’s main streets. Side streets range from bad to driveable. Neighbors were great with help!

Comment by Grandson of Man Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:30 am
Kudos to IDOT and city/county crews. The roads look good on my commute. Minor icy spots but that is it. Not bad for one of the worst storms in history!

Comment by Plows Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:34 am
On a nice residential street in the 4th ward, no car has been moved since the storm and no plow truck has come through either.

Comment by Bebe Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:35 am
Three foot drifts against my garage door. If I didn’t have a Jeep, I wouldn’t be here. I ran up and down the driveway yesterday - I can’t shovel due to back problems. I had to break out again today since the plow came by. Road to the highway was one lane. Kinda rough if you meet somebody coming the other way.

Comment by Dead Head Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:38 am
Lakewood, a suburb (believe it or not) of Crystal Lake had open streets at 6:30 Wednesday morning, but there was no traffic along our normally 6500 a day main street.

Comment by Cal Skinner Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:39 am
Got out of the driveway only to get stuck crossways in the street. Made me glad my wife has cats. Kitty litter is a wonderful traction media.

Comment by Springfield Skeptic Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:47 am
Suburbs pretty clear but some of the two-lanes were snowed down to one-lanes.
Biggest problem was the 49″ of drifted snow that stacked against my garage door and front door.
All I can say is my neighbors rock, even the new guy across the street whom I met for the first time yesterday. Storms sometimes bring people together even more efficiently than a block party, although not nearly as much fun.

Comment by Jake From Elwood Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:48 am
Not able to get out of the house waiting for help. Street is a mess on my block,looks like my car will be there a couple of weeks.

Comment by Cherrita From Chicago Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:53 am
Isn’t cancelling city bus service (Springfield) kind of a strange response to a snow storm?

Comment by girlawyer Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 12:19 pm
In Lakeview (on Southport) in Chicago the main roads looked good. Side streets and alleys are still untouched - except by occasional snowmobile!

Met several new neighbors yesterday - all shoveling. Along with them and neighbors we already knew, we managed to shovel a workable exit from our alley. People have been very helpful so far, but city has its hands full with main roads.

Saw a CDOT crew of 6 or 7 guys working its way down Southport Ave shoveling sidewalks at intersections to alleviate the plow piles. Kudos to them. Great idea.

Only issue, if you dig your car out of the street, don’t throw the snow on a freshly cleared sidewalk! LOL

Comment by jayhawk97 Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 12:31 pm
The Veteran’s Memorial tollway was a bit of a mess this morning. It was backed up from Boughton Rd Biesterfield. The plows ended up pushing the snow into the right lane, so in some spots the roadway was reduced - made for some confusion because of course there was no way to let drivers know the lanes were reduced. But, all in all it wasn’t too bad considering the amount of snow we got!

Comment by The KQ Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 12:31 pm
My Frankfort neighbors are great. Even the four foot drifts were no match for a gang of shovelers and a gaggle of snowblowers. The Village attacked Lincoln Highway and LaGrange road and everything is clear. I-80 was a breeze this morning and downtown Joliet is in great shape also.

Comment by Kyle Orton's Neck Beard Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 1:42 pm
Streets in Streeterville are pretty clear. Sidewalks are hit and miss. Amazing that a bunch of properties on Michigan Ave. cleared to the exact edge of the property and then stopped. That means climbing a two or three foot high mound to get across the street, so walking has been difficult.

Comment by Jasper Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 1:54 pm
All hail the CTA trains and those who ride them. While the sidewalks are a mess, and I don’t dream of using the alley anytime soon, the trains have taken me everywhere I’ve needed to go since yesterday afternoon with no problem.

Comment by Boone Logan Square Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 2:26 pm
Barely functioning, the roads are passable, but rough sledding for many who still need to shovel out. The drop in temperature did not help things.

Adding insult to injury, the postman delivered property tax bills to Cook County residents today!
Ouch!

Comment by Honest Abe Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 2:47 pm
Had to drive around some going to the Dr, then getting the specialty dog food at other end of town. Spfld. is decent overall but some major roads are missing a lane here and there. Now if someone would just teach the idiots not to tailgate … I blew through a couple of changing lights because there was no way the person behind could have stopped.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 3:00 pm
I walk to work. It was a beautiful day for a walk.

Comment by jake Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 3:15 pm
Metra Northwest line was an absolute horrorshow this morning.

Comment by Go Stillers Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 3:19 pm
Saw an amazing site about 2pm today — they had closed part of Franklin Street in downtown Chicago and were clearing the snow away with bobcats who were taking the snow to dump trucks. It was a pretty impressive show of machinery. I don’t know if they plan to do all the streets this way or what.

I also saw crews of CTA employees with shovels tackling parts of the boulevards. It wasn’t 100% clear why they were doing the spots they were doing — the only thing I could think of was that they were trying to uncover fire hydrants.

Comment by Lakefront Liberal Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 3:40 pm
I didn’t call my plow guy because I work out of my home and didn’t want to take him away from people who really needed him. Driveway is long, so I couldn’t shovel it myself.

Cabin fever is starting to kick in a bit, though, so I just called him. He’ll be here in a half hour. Great guy. Excellent service.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 3:41 pm
I don’t understand people who love Mother Nature enough to drive a compact electric car and disrespect her enough to thing their tiny car is going to man-handle its way through 12 inches of slushy snow.

I’m fortunate to have a nursing home on one end of my block and school on the other end, so our street’s been plowed twice and I just got back from Jewel…the chili’s on the stove.

Other folks might want to order Peapod.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 3:50 pm
Come on Rich, how long can it be? … Since Tuesday night we did 130 ft by about 12 feet, average 1 ft deep - twice, plus city sidewalk & front patio & cleaned out after the 2nd plow - by taking it a little at a time.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:09 pm
I am unemployed, so my morning commute to the front door via the kitchen stove for the morning cup of coffee and newspaper went pretty smooth.

Comment by Huh? Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:09 pm
Lakefront Liberal, I saw the same thing in downtown Spfld. by the Old State Capitol.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:10 pm
…And he’s here. Right on schedule. What a guy.

And RNUG, it’s long. And there’s no “we” here. Just me. Wife is trapped in Chicago.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:11 pm
Rich,

We was just me … wife has a heart condition so I wouldn’t let her get out and help.

Comment by Retired Non-Union Guy Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:14 pm
RNUG, I take my role seriously in helping small businesses stay profitable. lol

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:16 pm
I agree with the above posters re: the CTA. Their performance during this storm was exemplary.

RE: the LSD shutdown, it happened in 1967, it should not have happened again 44 yrs later. The city’s response was arrogant. “We told you, we told you, we told you…” What a slap in the face. I don’t care if Roy Orozco has never seen this kind of weather in 35 years. You should’ve put more salt down and you should’ve talked to the CTA.

Comment by Budlong Woods Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:17 pm
===Has anyone considered revisiting the continuation of the February primary date yet?===

The date was changed back to March last spring.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 4:19 pm
Not too impressive–LOTS of snow still left on even main throrougfares, such as Touhy, Oakton, Dempster and Milwaukee Avenues in northern suburbs, which remain quite slippery in many spots; side streets remain in poor to below average shape in at least 4 northern suburbs I’ve personally been in and still in BAD shape, on the whole, in neighborhoods of Chicago…at least the Kennedy and Edens Expressways were in fair to good shape, all things considered (but watch out for “Black Ice!”).

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 5:51 pm
I got stuck out of town until this afternoon. Thank God for good neighbors, who worked together to clear the sidewalks and alley. Unfortunately, no snow plow has graced my street yet. It’s still a mess and completely impassable.

I feel bad for my neighbors who’ve cleaned off their cars and shoveled them clear. Once the plow finally arrives, they’ll be back to square one. Looks like tomorrow will be a “work from home” day.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 6:24 pm
Perfect opportunity to gripe…thank you!!!

Woke up the AM of the snowstorm to find a truck strategically buried in the driveway behind my car–which you can barely see–and which I purposefully left out so that the whole driveway didn’t have to be done immediately. Snow removal came by, couldn’t do anything because of the truck, and left…without doing anything to driveway.

The solid 4 feet of snow on the front porch, the walk leading up to the house and the sidewalk from the neighbor’s house on the left to the path leading up to my house is cleared, so I can get junk mail. However, the sidewalk to the right ISN’T, so you can’t get to the driveway without advanced burrowing skills which I do NOT possess.

Would have been late for the train this AM because I had to “zig zag” to the street–and then found that the path from the church to the train’s parking lot hadn’t been cleared–so I had to walk an additional two blocks to get to the station.

“Luckily”, however, a train broke down so everything was running late–by about an hour. Made myself comfortable on the “local” train that was waiting–which eventually took off as an express straight downtown. However, it chugged along at a snail’s pace, blowing it’s horn the entire way.

On the way home, one of the train conductors, who was obviously a bit grumpy (and who can blame him), shut the doors on the train I was planning to take, a minute or two earlier than he was supposed to. So, I waited an hour for another local that took another hour to get me home.

Soon figured out that the sidewalks had turned into a giant four-foot maze with a bunch of deadends, so I hit the streets, almost getting run over by a sliding car, but finally got home. Truck’s gone now, so part of the driveway is cleared, but my car’s still buried.

So it’s planes, trains–but no automobiles for me–until Spring arrives, or I decide to hijack the truck when it reappears in my driveway again.

MY car keys will be on the dining room table–and the car is somewhere under the snow.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Feb 3, 11 @ 11:47 pm