back to top

  back to top

Last edited on Fri Feb 5th, 2010 07:46 pm by Helen here

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top

Last edited on Mon Jan 25th, 2010 08:04 pm by tell all

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top

Last edited on Wed Dec 30th, 2009 06:20 pm by CLAYTON LIFER

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top

Let me see if I have this right after reading your article about snow removal in Smyrna.

The street boss said the roads were plowed and plowed, but people shoveling out their cars threw that snow that covered their cars back in the roads that were being plowed and plowed. There are private contractors who apparently take all the snow in the parking lots and spread it on the streets, if we are to believe that, and then, the snow gets packed down by all the truck and car traffic in a blizzard. That’s hundreds of pounds of heavy snow that plows cannot scrape off the roads properly. All the while, the roads are being plowed and plowed.

Come on; this guy’s got more excuses than a guy going to jail. Those butts that just got a 3% increase in pay should have been in that equipment and stayed in it till the roads were completely cleaned. You start a job and you finish a job; you stay on the job till it’s done. What happened to that idea?

I saw too many pieces of equipment throughout the town idle and groups of men standing around.

I think a new attack plan and general are in order.

John Smith

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top

Rough roads remain as residents, town try to dig out

By Al Kemp

Delaware State News

SMYRNA — Three days after a wallop­ing snowstorm left most of the state at a near-standstill, cars and trucks bounced, lurched and swerved to navigate deep ruts and glacier-like ice slabs in the business district here.

Those roads were plowed, and plowed repeatedly, said Public Works Director Da­ryl Jester.

But because much of downtown Smyr­na is a blend a businesses and bedrooms, a lot of that snow has simply been pushed back and forth between the town and the residents, Mr. Jester explained.

“People act like it’s the town’s snow and the town put it on their sidewalk,” he said.

It’s a cycle that Brenda Proud sees re­peated again and again from her Com­merce Street barber shop.

“The plows come down the street, but people shoveling their cars out just push it back out there,” said Ms. Proud, who owns A Lil off the Top at 7 W. Commerce St.

“They can’t get all the roads all at the same time. There could be more done but they just can’t keep up,” she said. “A lot of people complain, but if they had to work night and day for three days, they wouldn’t do it.”

When residents toss snow back into a plowed street, it is packed hard by numer­ous cars and trucks, Mr. Jester said. That’s why a drive down Main Street can feel more like a thrill ride at the Delaware State Fair.

“It’ll knock the front end out of your car if you’re not careful,” he said.

Mr. Jester said the town deployed 12 pieces of plow equipment, as well as 22 people from two departments, for 39 straight hours during the height of the storm, from about 1:30 a.m. Saturday until about 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

“We got all the main roads plowed, and we had no equipment failures,” he said. One employee was treated for a concus­sion he suffered during a fall.

“One of the biggest problems we have is people out riding around in it. I personally pushed three cars out of the snow on Sat­urday,” said Mr. Jester, who measured the accumulation at 20 inches near the new Public Works Building on Artisan Drive.

Another factor is a sort of ongoing turf war between town crews clearing the roads and private contractors clearing park­ing lots, he said.

Ms. Proud said she watched out her window as a private contractor cleared the parking lot of a nearby business, shoving the snow into Commerce Street before driving off.

“There’s a lot of that going on,” Mr. Jester said.

Angie Brinkley spent Wednesday morn­ing watching cars bounce their way along Main Street. She is a volunteer for Word of Mouth Ministries, which was distributing free oven-stuffer roasters next to the office of Dr. Clyde Maxwell, 17 N. Main St.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Smyrna streets like this,” she said. “This is ridiculous.”

Leon Johnson, who works for a private contractor, spent more than 20 hours Sat­urday and Sunday clearing the parking lot at the Smyrna Mart shopping center on Glenwood Avenue.

“I did the shopping center, and that park­ing lot is better than these streets,” he said Wednesday.

At Monday night’s Town Council meet­ing, Smyrna Police Chief Richard Baldwin announced that until the snow is cleaned up, his department would not ticket any vehicles trapped by snow or parked in no-­parking zones.

The town’s Web site lists 75 streets that the town does not plow. Those streets are in the neighborhoods of Bon Ayre, Cam­bria Village, Eagle’s View, Gateway North, Hickory Hollow, Huntfield, Juanita, Lake Como Woods, Sunnyside Village, Sunny­side Village Apartments, Woodland Manor and Worthington.

Staff writer Al Kemp may be reached at 741-8296 or akemp@newszap.com.

  back to top

Who is in charge of snow removal in Smyrna? Whoever it is, they should be fired.

As of Monday night, going down Main Street was a chore unless you had a monster truck.

We thought we would write and mail a letter in the afternoon, and I saw half of the roads in front of the post office blocked and all the employees standing around doing nothing, and all that big equipment standing idle. At least pick up a shovel, or move that equipment anywhere else to remove snow. What a waste of equipment and manpower!

And these guys got a pay raise? I know a lot of guys that would love to have their jobs and would work instead of standing around.

Then, you go to Clayton, with no equipment like Smyrna, and all their streets are clean. It makes no sense at all. That manpower and equipment should have been going full throttle since Friday night.

Very unprepared, lazy, inept snow removal program this has. Town officials must not live in Smyrna.

Jim Simpson

Smyrna

Last edited on Thu Dec 24th, 2009 03:27 pm by tspong

  back to top

  back to top

  back to top