Town buried by Nor'easter
Published on December 10th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - Though things looked a little less white on Wednesday, but a brutal weekend blizzard resulted in school closings, streets full of slush and snow, sore-backed Stonehamites shoveling out their driveways, and 24 inches of pure, unadulterated white stuff that cost the town roughly $100,000 to clean up.
According to DPW Director Bob Grover, the town budgeted $160,000 for sand/snow removal in FY2004, and is well on its way to being overbudget.
"I don't think we're the only town in that boat...we've got a lot of company," said Grover, referring to surrounding towns that have also depleted much of their snow removal funds. "Snow is a four-letter word, you know."
According to Grover, the snow removal budget has been at $160,000 for the 18 years he's been with the DPW, and he said the snow removal job was "fair" for this storm.
The roughly two feet of precipitation resulted in the Stoneham school system being closed on Monday and Tuesday, as DPW workers worked round-the-clock to clear the sidewalks and streets in town.
"We started on Friday sanding the streets around midnight and -- aside from a couple hours of sleep here and there -- they were working until about 7 or 8 p.m. on Sunday night," said Grover of the 23 DPW workers and 20 contractors operating the snow and sand equipment clearing the 85 miles of roadway and 30 miles of sidewalks. "We really could have used a second shift."
All the school systems were back in session on Wednesday, however, much to the chagrin of many a South, Colonial Park or Robin Hood child.
"I'm sure this will be to the disappointment of many Stoneham kids out there, but there will be school tomorrow," said Stoneham Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Connelly with tongue planted firmly in cheek on Tuesday afternoon.
As late as Tuesday night, town workers were clearing off sidewalks and side streets to allow pedestrians to move back to the sidewalks.
"We ran into a lot of problems because the mounds and banks of snow where residents shoveled onto the sidewalks are 8 and 9 feet high," said Grover.
Grover also suggested that residents could make the plowing job a little easier if they could follow a few simple guidelines:
*Wait until the snow has finished coming down to shovel at the end of the driveway.
"We had a lot of problems with people shoveling their driveways, and then the plows came by and dumped more snow at the end of the driveway," said Grover. "The plows are just doing their job, and it saves a lot of frustration to do it all at once at the end of the storm."
"We're generally done with the removal about three hours after the storm is over," added Grover.
*Refrain from parking in the street during an emergency.
"Parked cars make it that much more difficult for our plows to do their job," said Grover. "We had a close call when our sidewalk plow was trying to clear an unusually large snowbanks, and they decided to be careful and take a scoop of snow. They found a car buried underneath the snow."
Grover also added that storefront windows were damaged at the Travel King and D'Agostino's during the DPW's effort to clear off the Franklin Street sidewalks.
"Those things make so much noise and they're jostling all around, that the drivers wouldn't necessarily hear breaking glass," said Grover. "It's like a little tank; you can't tell whether you're hitting a fence or a window."
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