With almost 50 inches of snow falling on Juneau this month, cleanup is proving to be quite a hassle. Some Juneau residents think the city isn’t doing enough fast enough.
Residents Patrick Owen and Dennis Harris spoke before the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly Monday night.
Owen spoke passionately about the snowy status of the sidewalks. He said he’s lived in Juneau for many years and also other communities and hasn’t seen anything like it before.
“I’ve never seen cities where the streets got this way where the sidewalks were so messed up,” he said. “I’ve been here before on this subject. I’ve been telling people on the street, if they fall and hurt themselves on the sidewalk, sue the city. That’s what gets their attention. There is no reason you can’t budget enough money to clean them sidewalks. I know in the past you’ve done that. You need to do that.”
Harris focused on the overall state of streets and sidewalks.
“Twelfth Street is a major arterial for vehicles and pedestrians. Yesterday it was barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass. Our new director has not assigned the right people to do the right thing at the right time. The whole thing has gone to hell in a hand basket since Grant Ritter retired.”
Harris greeted the Public Works Department’s newest director — Kirk Duncan — who was seated in the audience, by saying he would likely hear more from him.
Harris said it’s important 12th Street is cleared efficiently because it’s an arterial where children walk to school. Instead of walking on the sidewalks, many are walking in the street, he said.
“All over the downtown Juneau area and all over town period, sidewalks are not plowed, there are berms on the sidewalks,” Harris said. “We knew what this forecast was. I presume there’s a budget for snow removal and its time to start removing it.”
City manager Rod Swope and Duncan were asked by the Assembly to address the concerns.
“First of all, I think given the circumstance of a large amount of snow quickly and with changing conditions, I’m going to say on behalf of my staff they do a darn good job,” Swope said. “I spent a lot of time driving out in the valley today. The side streets are a mess, but even as I was going out, crews were out picking up snow. ... We have over 110 miles of road we’re responsible for plowing. Again, it’s not going to be perfect but we’re doing the best we can with the staff and resources we’ve got.”
Duncan said there are two night crews and two day crews — one each for the valley and downtown with three to four people each.
He said the downtown crew noticed that if they had ATVs they could better handle the sidewalks. So, Duncan worked with two departments that have ATVs and they’re now being fitted to plow.
“It doesn’t do us any good now, but it will,” Duncan said. “We’re looking at what we do and how we can do it differently.”
Duncan also said it is the responsibility of property owners to clear sidewalks — not the city unless it is a city property.
Duncan said crews have been out every day and night this past weekend and are continuing to clear out snow.
Assembly member Karen Crane said she was driving home on Egan Drive and passed in front of the Juneau Arts & Culture Center — and saw a person fall into the street because of sidewalk conditions.
“We’ve just got to keep the sidewalks — especially when they’re borough responsibility where there really is no place for people to go,” Crane said. “Those sidewalks need to be a priority as well.”
• Contact reporter Sarah Day at 523-2279 or at sarah.day@juneauempire.com.
Comments (55)
Add commentGreat Job!
Always a whiner in the crowd. Good grief! We received a TON, no hundreds of TONS of snow. And we received in not over a 30 day period but in a 2 week period. The snow crews are doing a great job! Thank you! Harris isn't happy unless he's chirping about some issue. Bike paths, snow removal blah, blah blah. I'm no fan of Swope, and I'll be happy to see him go. But not as happy as I'll bet he will be not to have to listen to these two chirp at future assembly meetings. Although I'm sure 176K helps one sit through these meeting while thinking of retirement. Keep up the good work on the snow!
Resurrection Lutheran Church
... plows the snow off of their employee parking lot at 10th and D street and piles it directly on top of the sidewalk. They've been doing it for years, every time it snows. Leaves a huge mound blocking the sidewalk forcing pedestrians to walk in the street. Sad to see the adjacent sidewalks diligently cleared by the property owners, then this church using a public sidewalk to dump their problem on. They could give up one parking space instead for snow storage. The City won't deal with it. The church won't either, despite being asked by many people.
If you're a member of this church, put some heat on the pastor. No excuse for that behavior.
Embarrassing Job Performance
Plain and simple, the street maintenance department has done a sub-par job this month with snow removal. Earlier this month it took three days of phone calls to the streets dept. to come and plow my road. And all they did was throw down gravel in the snow then on the third day they came and plowed. I have never seen a place that throws down the gravel first then plows the snow and new gravel. Hopefully Swope and Duncan get the message and put more effort into their departments during the rest of the winter season.
I have lived in other snowy locations (that have more miles of roads and smaller departments) where the plow operators and street departments keep clearing the roads through blizzards, throughout the night and even on holidays. They earn their pay and are not just entitled to it for making the morning coffee. I asked other people in town who have lived in other locations that receive significant snow and they all agree that Juneau has the worst snow removal they have experienced. Enough of the “but it’s Juneau” excuse, just toughen up and do a good job just like what other people do across the country.
Anchorage
Try going to Anchorage in the winter, you will praise our plow crew. I was totally appalled at the way the roads are maintained there.
Swope's forked tongue
Rod has been bragging about cost saving for his budget by not filling vacant positions. Last vote for the 3 percent temp. sales tax they said if voted down it would effect street maint. People bought the lie and voted for the tax. The tax is not for street maint. Tell the assembly to authorize Swope to hire people.
When the Bridge Park goes in...
we'll lose another place to remove the snow to. Sanding gravel will have to be stockpiled further from the job.
Snow removal
Some of you seriously need to get out more. A few years back I was in Spokane when they got about 8 inches of snow. You'd have thought it was four feet the way it shut down the town. The city there has big plow trucks like DOT and they ran them up and down Division - the main drag, for hours. Didn't do a darn bit of good though as the blades were at least two feet off the ground. They were, get this - COMPACTING the snow, on purpose, so as not to put wear and tear on the equipment!
Perspective
Come on folks. We received a lot of snow and the city has been working ever since. We shouldn't be set up to remove this much snow in a short time as it would be too expensive. We need snow removal service that can meet the normal snow loads in a reasonable time and then deal with the very very slight inconvenience of a couple of large dumps.
Over building snow removal makes no financial sense.
Good job city. If the snow aggravates you just think about our soldiers overseas and what they are doing at that very moment and maybe you will feel a little better about having to deal with a little snow for an additional week or so. I'm sure you can tough it out.
All B.S.
The two men who voiced thier concerns re; snow removal was correct.
I had a small John Deere with a plow and blower and routinely plowed the sidewalks around the valley (on my own time at my own expense) because I hated seeing kids having to walk in the street to go to school.
I did this for 5 years and only last year did I see the city doing anything re; the berms they plowed onto the sidewalks. In fact many times I was stopped by a city employee on a grader or the Police telling me not to plow the snow from the edge of the sidewalk into the street along the curb "that the street had to remain clear from curb to curb"
The city uses a statistic that insurance companies use. How many times have we been sued, how much have we lost in payouts compared to how much it would cost to do it right.
As Slope said they have ONE crew in the valley and ONE crew in the city day shift and the same on night shift and need to cover over 110 miles of streets.
ONE CREW to cover how big an area? We pay taxes to have the safety of our children considered in the citys budget costs. They should have equal footing to such important things as a parking facility for legislative staff and parking meters downtown.
CBJ will let the snow sit
CBJ will let the snow sit until just before the legislature starts flying to town. Wouldn't want to upset the visitors. The condition of our sidewalks is completely unacceptable. What happened to the piece(s) of equipment that CBJ had that was used specifically for removing snow from sidewalks? I haven't seen that out at all yet this year.
Hey New Life
Yes, ATV's are banned within the city limits of Juneau. But so were slow electric vehicles until the city wanted to use them. They simply change the rukes to accomodate themselves or thier "buddies".
The only difference I have seen between the way Juneau treats it's taxpaying residents and the city governments in Mexico is the language spoken.
Juneau specializes in behind the scene, backdoor, under the table deals, special interests, and the ol you fill my pockets Ill fill yours way of doing business.
Living in Juneau, and being just another victim of the city, makes the federal government look very competent.
Yeah, we're so oppressed
Yeah, we're so oppressed here. The snow doesn't get plowed fast enough and OMG WE'RE A THIRD-WORLD DICTATORSHIP!
I use to live over on Lena,
I use to live over on Lena, we were pretty much the lasts ones to get plowed, which I completely understand because it's a low traffic area. They have their strategy and priorities and I understand. Even now when I leave my house the snow is never plowed when I leave for work. But hey, it's the country we live in. That's why I own an awd car. If you don't like it, move somewhere it doesn't snow.
The are berms on the private
The are berms on the private sidewalks from city plows are made of heavy wet snow mixture with ice that I cannot lift and toss to the side. The bad part of it is when it freezes in mid morning before you get to it is solid or close to it.
I am upset that after getting rid of the heavy snow with ice berm the plowers come back and I am standing right on the sidewalk and the excess heavy ice is back on the sidewalk once again. That has to change, there is no way that anyone can lift that kind of weight, it is back breaking job for many of us who have back problems. I ask that the plowers come back and take away the berm that they have created!
Black Friday
I went downtown at lunchtime on Black Friday and found about half of the parking spaces unusable because snow was still sitting all along Franklin & Front. Over the weekend, I saw a notice saying the free holiday parking in the garages had been eliminated due to the free and abundant 2-hour street parking. C'mon, guys!
Snow removal complaints unjustified
I really don't understand the snow removal complaints. My car is not particularly good in snow yet I have been able to drive over to the hockey rink, out to the valley for Thanksgiving dinners, to Costco, Fred Meyers, Eaglecrest all with little trouble. Yes the sidewalks could use some work and maybe it would behoove the city to take care of those on school routes (there is little place for homeowners on 12th street to put the snow. But all in all considering the snowfall a good job. Thank you.
As for the ATV issue, and ATVs being banned but "not for city employees". It isn't like city employees are buying and using their own personal ATVs in town. You can't have your own personal police car either or firetruck.
By the way I saw the city clearing the sidewalk on the bridge with a specialized little snow removal machine that threw it over the side into the water. Good Job!
Time for enforcement?
Guess the CBJ should start ticketing those who do not clear the sidewalks in front of their property as CBJ code requires. It would reduce the number of whiners and create a lot of revenue.
Snow
This is Alaska and it supposed to snows, be prepared, slow down when driving and pay attention to surroundings such as other vehicles and pedestrians. Considering the massive volume of snow in such a short period of time the city has done fine with the plowing. Maybe those who are displeased with the plowing forgot or never experienced the snow and road conditions in the 70's.
If they hate the snow so much
If they hate the snow so much why don't they move? I think both the city and state road crews have been doing a great job. Like others have said, we just got dumped on in a short period of time.
Sue?? Really
Nice comment on sueing CBJ if someone injures themselves. Guess what, the money does not come out of salaries. It gets paid by CBJ and its insurance co., which in turn will raise rates. Got a problem? Get off your computer and grab a snow shovel. Be part of the solution, not the problem. The exercise may improve your attitude as well as waistline :)
Haters gonna hate
You can all complain about the "whiners" all you want, but did anyone notice that 12th street was clean as a whistle this morning? INCLUDING the sidewalk? The squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say.
CBJ is getting their cake and eating it too......
So let me get this straight.....when the city wants to retrofit our neighborhoods to add sidewalks they reclaim five feet of our front yards and claim it as public property - but then when it comes time for them to pay for upkeep of said property it suddenly falls to the "property owner" to clear the sidewalk and pay for lawsuits from those injured in property they don't own????
This ordinance needs to be repealed!
CBJ can't have it both ways....either sidewalks are public property that they need to maintain, or they are the property of the adjacent land owner - can't be both!
Who is with me on repealing the landowner sidewalk clearing ordinance as a part of the local transportation plan to make our communities more walkable?
Good Job Juneau
I think CBJ has done a great job clearing the roads given what they had to deal with in the period of time. Yes, this IS Alaska! I live out in the Valley and although our street was one of the last to get plowed, it is a lower priority than the main roads. I can live with that. Like cshall says, go to Anchorage and see what road maintenance and private parking lot maintenance is like up there. It's seriously scary at how long they let things go and what they do. I would like to see Juneau homeowners get fined for snowblowing snow into the streets though. That's not only inconsiderate but adds to the problem.
Snop Removel
I have to agree about the New CO in charge of SnowRemovel, he's not doing a very good job, I live out here in the Valley the side streets weren't tackled at all when we got the huge dump and even the main roads weren't being addressed, I've been down town and found all the sidewalks piled high with snow, he talks about the home owners responsible for cleaning those, how lame to blame the home owners, it's a side walk, it's the city and boroughs territory. Getting ATV's with snow plows, ok sounds like a good Idea, what you going to do with the snow, dump it against all those vehicles parked, how about getting a nice small powerful snow blower with a dump truck running ahead so the snow blower has a place to dump.
Come on!
It must be a slow day at work in Juneau! We live in Alaska, it's going to snow from time to time. You cry because the City does not have a plow dedicated to your street? The City is doing a great job at plowing roads. I live on a valley side-street and the street has been plowed at least four times since the snow started falling. This I know because I am still looking for the plow driver who puts the four foot berm of ice and slush in front of my driveway!
Thumbs up
I think CBJ does a great job at snow removal. I see them out there day and night. They aren't slacking, they are moving as fast as they can.
I also see neighbors of mine with their snow blowers moving snow off the sidewalk up and down their block. They don't need to, they do so out of the sense of community that I love about this place. If I had a snow blower, I'd do the same.
Quit whining.
Snow removal
I agree with owen and harris,to a point.I think a more efficient and constistent way of removal is needed.This past week i saw something i had'nt seen in years. Driving down tongass blvd 2 large city plows following one another with the back one sanding.First truck plowed a car lane 2nd plowed the berm left and a sufficient area of sidewalk to walk on.trailing behind was a city p/u tiding up what was missed. 2 passes and done.Amazing (TEAMWORK).Usually its that person on the grader making more of a mess by going over the same area 3 or 4 times.I get so freaking p/od clearing the side walks and 4 ft berms on the driveways around the property only to have the grader driver drive by and bury it all over again.On a more positive note,the mailboxes down the block are still standing,so far.
More Ranting
Considering the amount of snow the City did a good job. I would really like it if the City would plow the Glacier Highway (Lemon Creek) sidewalk a little more consistently. It's a busy location with lots of foot traffic. I would also suggest a better lighting at the crosswalk at Glacier Highway and Alaway. Right now there are only those yellow flags and a street light on one side. It's a poorly lit crosswalk that is used by many. Hopefully some type of improvement could be done prior to someone being struck there. Got off topic a bit...but oh well.
CAUTION: Duncan is a spinner of words and talks out of both sides of his mouth.
AverageJoe...
... It's called a right of way. The city can put a sidewalk on YOUR property along the roadway. Or bury utilities, etc. You as the owner are still responsible for clearing it.
I've only been in the CBJ for about a year, but I've been almost 20 years in Alaska so I know what a daunting and expensive job snow removal is. From what I've seen in my two winters here, they do a great job!
city can do better
I am normally able to walk, but recently have had to use a walking device to get around due to an injury. Days after our big 10 inch snow fall and right after it froze, I went downtown to do a few things. I could barely cross the street at the disabled crossing areas. If I was able to walk, I wouldn't even have noticed. There was at least 6-8 inches of hard frozen snow piled up at the crosswalks, where disabled people are supposed to be able to cross. The city can do better and should do better. Thankfully I won't need to have assistance for long, but others are not so lucky.