Snow plowing

I haven't heard it directly, but getting some 2nd hand buzz about some snow removal complaints. Nobody has told me directly, but my peeps say there is some occasional grumbling out there. So I want to address it here, because I have a request.

This year is highly unusual for snow, as we all know. The snow is going to stack up in our yards and driveways along the street. For those of us who live on the 32 and 36 foot wide streets in particular, that is a heck of a lot of snow, and it has to go somewhere.

Despite being the mayor, it is no different for me. My driveway gets buried when the plow goes by. So I clean off my driveway, along with the extra snow that came from the street.

I don't particularly enjoy doing it, but it is all part of the deal, when we made that choice to live in good ol' Roland, IA. The city is tasked with cleaning off the streets, and the fact is driveways and yards are going to get snow in them from that task.

The city has another issue this year. The city is down in outside manpower by 50% this winter. So Streets Superintendent Harold Hovick has been working like crazy, generally by himself, to keep our streets in decent shape. When you compare our residential streets to Ames, Roland wins that one hands down. Harold has done a great job this winter, often by himself, and am thankful for the effort he, and other temporary/part-time snow removers have done.

So anyway, my hope is everybody looks at the big picture, bemoan the cruel tricks Old Man Winter has played on us this year, and be thankful we still are pretty much free to move about, despite all the snow.