*snerk*

[icepixie]

Hey, Northerners: Here is what you need to deal with your excess snow! Apparently it can double as a weed-whacker. Er, weed-burner. For when you really do have a scorched earth policy.

In a similar vein, I recently wondered why cities don't just collect the worst of the snow and dump it into a convenient lake/river/ocean, but I suppose there's salt and motor oil and whatnot in it that the fish wouldn't appreciate. Though maybe if you could run it through a wastewater plant first or something...

Comments

[nickless.livejournal.com]

Here is what you need to deal with your excess snow!

"Quick starts fires!" Oh, I'll bet it does...

The other issue with dumping the snow into "holding pens", whether it be rivers, swimming pools (ours tend to be full of their own snow), fields, whatever, is that you have to GET it there. It takes a ton of time, equipment, and manpower to actually pick the snow up and transport it somewhere else rather than just shoving it out of the way. That's actually what they spent all day doing at the high school today, since the kids weren't there - taking the huge piles out of the middle of the street so it can be used for parking again. But it took a LONG time to move four blocks' worth.

I do know that for the bridges and areas right next to the river, the city has just dumped it over the side. But otherwise, it's just way too inconvenient.

[icepixie]

"Quick starts fires!" Oh, I'll bet it does...

Yep. I liked the "Clears stairs (except wood)" caveat.

I can see why public works wouldn't move snow on a regular basis, but I've heard from people in the northeast that the piles of snow along the side of the road are starting to impede sight down cross-streets at intersections and access of emergency vehicles on particularly narrow streets. That sounds like a prime time for some economic stimulus in the form of hiring some day laborers to help cart it somewhere safer, even if budgets are already strapped.