City Council: Where Are The Plows, Mayor?

DENVER -- Denver City Council members say they've been inundated with complaints about ice, snow-covered sidewalks, and streets with deep ruts, and took those complaints to the mayor Tuesday morning during a regularly scheduled City Council meeting.

Many residents, they said, simply want to know when snow removals crew would get to their neighborhood because the streets have been so difficult to navigate.

The mayor said he understands the frustration and appeared frustrated himself.

"It's frustrating enough to have deep ice ruts in your street but coupling that with uncertainty about exactly what's going to happen and when there's going to be relief," Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said.

All the officials agree that removing ice from the streets is proving to be a long and difficult process. But City Council President Michael Hancock said he just want to see communication improve so that all residents can see where plows have been and what's been cleared.

"We're pretty much walking in the dark when it comes to communicating with constituents about where crews are, when they're going to arrive. We're guessing at best," Hancock said.

Council members said they're losing credibility.

"When you hand in a priority you do expect that somebody's going to get to it fairly soon ... That area still hasn't been plowed today and the constituents think I don't know what I'm talking about," said City Council member Jeanne Faatz.

Denver's Public Works manager said crews are clearing 100 blocks a day, working 12 hour shifts to get rid of the ruts that have been built up over the past six weeks.

"We've had a plan. But Mother Nature has dealt us a pretty difficult hand," said Public Works manager Bill Vidal.

It took a road grader, three front-end loaders and numerous trucks hours to clear just a few blocks in one Denver neighborhood, he said.

On Tuesday, the crews were in Cherry Creek.

"It's great to see it. It's long, long overdue. I mean this is just absurd over here," said driver John Quaiel.

"We have to struggle when we deliver flowers on these side streets because it's like riding a bucking bull," said resident Sally Galley.

Vidal said in addition to removing ice, work crews are having to repair 10 times as many potholes as normal because the ice has bonded with the pavement and is causing much more damage.

"It's been painfully slow. But we also have to understand the reality right now. As temperatures begin to drop, we are dealing with ice. We want to be real careful not to rip up our pavement but we want to address the safety concern of our residents in Denver," said Hancock.

Vidal estimates that Denver streets have suffered $16 million in damage because of the freezing and thawing. He said that's why road crews working as deliberate as possible to keep from causing more damage.

Vidal said he will provide daily updates to council members about where the crews were, what they did and where they're going next. However, he cautioned that these estimates aren't promises written in stone, just best estimates and that could change if the weather changes.

Hickenlooper said he promised to double the number of plows that are on the streets when the next big storm hits.

The city will also begin posting the locations where the ice-removal crews are working, beginning Feb. 1. The location and schedules will be posted on Denver's Web site.