Snowzilla Progress Report - Office of Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau

This morning's briefing from the Mayor:

The District is making progress, but it's slow going. In the 36 hours since the snow has stopped, the crews have almost reached their goal to have main and secondary arteries passable. We have over 4,000 lane miles of roadway and we are making our way through all of it, plowing it, moving it into dump trucks and getting it out of neighborhoods.

Now crews are moving onto the residential streets. They are using different equipment for smaller residential roads, including bobcats and other equipment we have received from all across the country. They have experienced crews who have also come from across the country. 

The roads are still dangerous. With the temperatures warming during the day and freezing at night, the sidewalks and roadways are slick. 

The District is still operating under a Snow Emergency. Cars in emergency routes will be ticketed and towed. Please stay home if you can, parking lanes also need to be cleared. 

Trash collection is suspended for today, tomorrow and most likely on Wednesday. The District is hoping to resume pickup Thursday. We are getting to public trash cans as soon as we can, but please be sure not to put your residential trash in them. 

The city is working to get District government and schools open tomorrow. Their status for tomorrow will be announced at 5pm. 

The District provides meals to almost 400 people who are homebound. They were given extra meals to get through the weekend and a new delivery today. 

Metro is continuing to dig out rail and is opening some above ground routes, now running on Severe Status rather than Lifeline Status for rail. Lifeline bus service today will run from 12-5. (Note from Brianne: bus service is especially challenging as it depends on all jurisdictions to have cleared their roads.) Metro’s website will have updated information as more stations come online throughout the day. 

Police response time has not been impacted by the storm, their staffing has remained steady. 

No major PEPCO outages, but they are addressing some smaller outages. 

The best place to monitor plowing is still snow.dc.gov. 

Ward 1 Updates:

Yesterday, Claudia and Tania from my team were out with the Mayor's team, assessing the issues, and helping people dig out. Claudia even got to try the snowblower (look out Ben!). We know that those of you who live on side streets are getting stir crazy, and we appreciate your patience. The Mayor's team is trying to get to everyone ASAP. We know some of our neighbors have health aides and others who need to get to you. I even heard from a new Dad who is trying to bring his family home -- welcome to our newest Ward 1 resident. Your parents will have lots of stories to tell you!

Although DC Public Schools are not operating today, the meal program is operating at Columbia Heights Education Campus and Cardozo Education Campus. Maricela on my team is helping out at her alma mater, CHEC, and she has reported to me that they're not getting many children. Please help spread the word that food is available until 2 pm. 

Some of you have gotten in touch with me to let me know about businesses that haven't shoveled the sidewalk, which has allowed me to call them and remind them about their responsibility. Keep it up, or if you feel comfortable, stop by or call yourself. I've found a polite reminder goes a lot farther than an angry reprimand, but that's just me. You do you. 

If you see neighbors in need of help, please please help them shovel. We have heard from so many of you who are already doing this, and all I can say is, Ward 1 rocks!

Finally, if you have elderly or disabled neighbors please check in on them, make sure they have food and care. It takes a village!

I'm headed out with Claudia and Elizabeth from my team shortly to walk the ward, and look forward to talking with you all in person about what you're experiencing. We'll have a shovel! 

If you are a new subscriber and this is your first update, you may wish to read our earlier snow updates which provided much more info about services and status: www.brianneknadeau.com