OT - Atlanta snowstorm

Watching all this coverage of the Atlanta snowstorm, and watching the public officials there get beat up by the public and media alike, then watching them point fingers at each other and the weather forecasters, is giving me heartburn...

First off, no matter where you live, the highway department can't be everywhere at once. Some roads get plowed right away, some later on. Complaining that your road isn't clear and dry 10 minutes after it starts snowing is just STUPID, yet it's a popular game for news crews to go out and find the loudest most obnoxious person they can to go on camera and make a stink.

In this case, we're talking about ATLANTA. They get 2" of snow every 10 years. Why would they have anywhere near the snow handling capacity of a city like Syracuse or Buffalo?

People LOVE to complain about wasting taxpayer dollars, and I'm sure every other day of the last 10 years, old men have sat around restaurant tables drinking coffee, complaining about the City of Atlanta "wasting" money on snowplows and salt spreaders.

Now EVERYONE is complaining because they didn't have enough equipment?!?! Do they think the mayor's pet dog can just poop out snowplows and salt spreaders on demand?

I feel bad for the mayor of Atlanta. It's not his fault that it doesn't snow there but once every decade. It's not his fault that the city doesn't/won't keep enough snow-handling equipment on hand to instantly clear every road in the city. It's not his fault that EVERY person in Atlanta decided to go home right after lunch. It's not his fault that people with diabetes and other serious medical conditions didn't bring their medications and snacks along LIKE THEY SHOULD, EVERY DAY. It's not his fault that people there have no idea how to deal with snow and haven't got the foggiest idea how to drive in any sort of winter conditions. Yet he can do nothing but sit there, take the blame, and make excuses.

What's worse is the media is just feeding the ignorance, hypocrisy, and stupidity. I just have to turn the channel.

Let's be honest. They didn't know how to use the
equipment they do have.

I road grader could have accomplished part of the
task.

They went through this 2 years ago and NONE of
them came up with a plan. I could understand if
they had not been through the problem before, but
they had been.

Kids were left at school overnight because they
didn't call for an early release. Think about
that.

They should get bashed. They deserve it. They
are the leadership that didn't lead.

i watch enough tv news to stay informed about
important matters then i turn it off, after a few
minutes of other crappy tv i turn over to a music
channel, typically what i referred when i was
younger as "elevator music".

It was 2" of snow. Why did they even need equipment and why was everyone stranded and walking? I may not understand their situation because I live where it snows, but c'mon. Grow up.

Here in Southside Virginia we do not usually have real serious winter weather. Only once in a blue moon will we have over 6" snowfall. However I am really proud of the job our local VDOT takes care of our roads. For one thing, they do own a lot of snowplows, graders, sand/salt boxes. Another thing is that they have a lot of contracts with local farmers and construction companies to plow, salt, etc. VDOT loans extra plows, sand boxes to them. These companies are glad to do the work since they seldom can do their regular jobs when it snows.

Stop watching the stupid TV and it wont bother you.

They mix their asphalt out of sand down there. Pretty snotty stuff with a little dab of snow on top. :>)

BTDT,

Allan

Last I checked, road graders don't spread salt, and the main problem was ICE.

They *DID* send everyone home early. All at once. The city was gridlocked because 5-1/2 million people all tried to go home at the same time, and not a bloomin' one of them had snow tires or knew how to drive in those conditions. They just panicked, stomped on the gas, and flailed at the steering wheel until they hit something. If the kids didn't stay at school they would've been stuck sitting on a bus somewhere. At least they were safe, warm, and fed.

Its the FEMA syndrome, people have been spoon fed pablum about what their ''rights'' are and what they are ''owed'' by government until it has become routine. The only rights that a US citizen is supposed to have, those granted under the constitution and bill of rights, have just about been usurped due to the quest for so called ''security''. As far as feeling sorry for a politician I don't think I can muster up any sympathy because you can rest assured he got elected by promising people the world.

I stayed at school overnight during a storm here in 1971, stayed in a nearby home the next night then got home. Older siblings got out of high school by way of the military (troop carriers). Nobody complained pointed fingers or anything. Our society today wants everything NOW and any inconveinence is a disaster.
I sympathize with the Officials in Atlanta etc. They were trying do do what they could I am sure but those in charge often end up as targets.
How many of those complainers do you suppose voted in the last municipal election?

Reminds me of when I was living in Seattle 23 years ago when they had they their first major "snowstorm" in 25 years (5 inches). I called my wife to tell her I was staying at work overnight. She was confused over my apparent inability to handle driving in 5 inches of snow (we're Canadians). The problem was all the other people out there that had no clue how to handle the snow. Cars abandoned in the middle of major streets, drivers just flooring it and spinning out everywhere, traffic literally not moving for three hours, etc. I spent 10 minutes trying to explain to a driver the concept of "rocking a car" out of being stuck. Huh?? They couldn't get it. Its simply a lack of experience in handling the weather. The next morning when I did drive home the streets looked like a war zone with vehicles abandoned everywhere, and not a person in sight. I was driving a rear wheel drive Astro Van with no snow tires, and while the city was very hilly, it was still possible to navigate the ice and snow if one knew what they were doing.

Most of the trouble was the ice in it. The other
thing is the Mayor and other officials are blaming
the weather service for not warning them earlier.
They only talked about the possibility for a week,
and then told them 21 hours before the stuff
started. So it was the NWS's fault......

I mostly agree with you.

I saw the mayor of Atlanta, and I hope they do better in the
next election. While what he says is mostly true, he is not
displaying the attributes a person of leadership should have.

He is not leading, and that is his sole job. He is sidestepping,
blaming others, and tossing up his hands not my problem.....

That doesn't cut it.

He needs to lead. Take responsibility, set up meetings, get a
plan in place, and so forth. Let the people know something is
being done, let the. Know they can help each other, let them
know that the world has not fallen apart.

I see this often, when there is a disaster in the South, well all
heck broke loose, it is everyone else's fault, there is nothing
that can be done, we need to bash the fedral govt until they do
something for us...

That comes from the 'leadership' down there, and the average
joe just naturally follows along. People are the same all over,
not saying anything about people.

We have a devastating early snow storm in South Dakota, or a
blizzard, or minus 25 degrees in the north, and there is just as
much loss, just as much pain, but the leaders lead, the people
follow, and the issue gets dealt with.

A very big cultural difference there in leadership and dealing
with things.

Paul

OK I blame the school officials for not sending the kids home BEFORE it go t that bad. The mayor had little to do with anything except when city workers were sent home. As far a civilian places of employment they decided when to send people home. It just happened that they all did it at the same time.

Be honest. If you lived someplace where you seldom if ever needed snow shoes on your car or truck would you spend the extra money?

And what would you have them do? Send people up north every winter so they can learn how to drive in it? They would just forget anyway. Look at here in MN. First snow in the fall you can see where about 70% of the drivers forgot each year.

Ft Riley KS area use to get real bad because of the military there. You had people who had no choice to be out in it to go to work who didn't know how to drive in ice/snow conditions competing with others who got really frustrated because they did and to them it wasn't hard.

Rick

It's a southern thing. LOL I worked for Burlington. Ind. Starting in the late 70's and worked at the Brookneal Va. plant. We did not shut down for weather period. Cross the line to NC. and if they had a dusting of snow no one would show up for work and if it started snowing during a shift they left and went home. Next thing is many of those states have no snow removal equipment and get snow so seldom no one knows how to use it.
They just panic when anything other than rain falls from the sky.

Yup. When I was in school in Memphis, TN, a wet snow started about 2-3pm, with about three inches accumulation overall. By the time the six-o-clock news came on, there had been over 400 fender benders within the city limits.

I stayed home and watched TV that evening. You couldn't have paid me enough to go into town.

Saw the Today show interview with Atlanta mayor- Mayer got ------ off at Matt Lauer saying Atlanta stuck, disaster, etc- pointed out City of Atlanta street 80% cleared and the picture on today show were NOT in Atlanta, were outer suburbs and state road that were out of Atlanta Jurisdiction, not Atlanta responsibility. Lauer part back tracked but said Atlanta problem was- And Mayor jumped in again and repeated- it Wasn"t Atlanta that had the problems, why is Today show still saying the traffic jam was in Atlanta instead of true location? Lauer reads from script again and Mayor points out city street cleared, the City had spent 2.5 million on snow clearing equipment and Today show was misstating City capabilities, not getting to State and School district decisions that City didn"t have Authority over. Mayor got a couple minutes uninterupted then to state the multiple jurisdiction problems and suggestion for a future staggered go home now policy he had brought up but hadn"t the authority to impose on others. One of few times a politician got to stop a false fact stating media mutt, Today show deserved it. RN

Ever drive through Atlanta? It's tough enough in June.

Yea,but it's probably a whole bunch of politicians who have preached the climate change gospel and made people believe that none of us,no matter how far north,would ever have to deal with winter weather again.
If you listen to politicians preach about it long enough,why wouldn't you be more than just a little ticked off when it doesn't quite go that way?

That must be where our new school superintendent is from. lol
No school all week despite nothing but cold and wind yesterday. Pushing 30 today and the roads are clear,but they're predicting 1-3 inches starting late afternoon. (after school would have been released)
This is Michigan,if you ain't from around here,don't come here looking for a job is all I can say.

Matt Lauer is a tool, always has been.

I think they still have an election there every four years or so for mayor. We seem to have many qualified to handle the job posting on here. TDF

I am going to disagree with OLD Tanker. The one truth about living in the far north is that summers are so short that we do not have time to forget how to drive on winter roads.

All they needed was to put some salt-sand mixture on the roads. You don't need years of experience to put a salt spreader behind a dump truck and drive down the highway.
The city of New York does not keep a fleet of snowplows on hand. They have fitted a snow plow on the front of any city vehicle big enough to push it and when it starts to snow they start to plow.
These southern cities are always unprepared for weather problems because they don't want to spend the money to be prepared. Good, I like to watch them slide around, into the ditch and into each other. Best realality show ever.

Now let us see..just HOW do you spell "MORONS".?

Now, THINK...just how much "Snow Equipment do you NEED for 2" of SNOW..??

Those people (most of them) have the BAD Habit of driving with ONE foot on the gas and ONE foot on the BRAKE (at all times)..!!

I have been there (NO trouble with my Empty full-grown semi) when they got 3" of snow..
I had to get out of my truck in stopped traffic and walk up to cars and tell them to ONLY use ONE FOOT..!! Then they got along fine..
I ran (Empty) from Peach Tree City, Ga to Dalton and waited for morning, to get a load.
The evening rush-hour traffic was still jammed up on I-685 at 2:45 in the AM.. People were afraid to drive off the off-ramps and abandoned their cars (leaving them still in the freeway lanes) and walking off the freeway..!!
I called to get my trailer loaded the next morning and the guy said"we're CLOSE..!!
I said but it is only 3" of snow..!
He said YES..we will CLOSED for 2 or 3 DAYS..!!!
So, I ran (empty) back to PTC, to pick up a different load..
You rally cannot FIX STUPID...
(Obviously)..!!
Ron.

I agree. The problem was the ice, not the snow. Ice covered interstates can cause problems regardless of the location. Errors were made but there was more to it than 2 inches of snow. ICE, ICE, ICE!

We were discussing this at work today. Seems we had about the same stuff
here in North Central Iowa, ice and 2-4 inches of snow. We did alright and
everyone got to work except the two idiots that drove their cars into the
ditch (darn Winnebago employees) Did okay through the day except the Semi
truck accidents (one drove off an overpass and two flipped over between
work and home) Some folks at work were skeptical when I explained this
wasn't much more than an August flurry for Upper Michigan. Yes I do feel
us Northerners are a little more self reliant when it comes to the
weather. I also wonder if the reason we don't go looking for federal help
during the snow storms is we're also smart enough not to want the feds
involved in SROs (Snow Removal Operations) if we take their money they
might want to tell us how to do it, in that case the snow won't get moved
until it melts (waiting for a study to be completed). However when I was
with the county's public works department I do remember we got state aid
after big snow storms that were trickle down from the Feds, it's just we
took care of the problem first then asked for reimbursement.

I"m going to disagree with you. Witness Metro drivers- they forget between snowfalls. Countless fenderbenders each time.

I agree with whoever said "It's a southern thing." Has to be, it's the only explanation for people re-building New Orleans, for panic over an inch of snow and little ice, for all the stuff we see every year in the news.

Same reason you Yanks would panic over a 'little'
Hurricane.Anyway its on the news all the time about less then a foot of snow bringing everything to a halt in the midwest.Heck the Gov't with helicopters had to feed the cattle for farmers a few years when it snowed out in places in the West.I go thru 2ft of snow to feed cattle easily and we rarely get that much snow.

Been through lots of hurricanes and typhoons, not much panic on my part. Maybe you meant the citiots? The ones that panic and go buy cases of water and racks of bread every time the news tells them there's a storm coming?

Nobody mentioned the fact that he and the Governor
of the state were man enough to take the blame and
not weasel out.