Mayor says KC survived storm well

Mayor says KC survived storm well; plowing continues

By LYNN HORSLEY The Kansas City Star

Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser said today that city crews and residents should be proud of how they’ve weathered one of the worst blizzards to hit this area in decades.
“We just went through what everybody said was a storm of historic proportions, and did a pretty good job by all accounts,” he said in a press conference this afternoon. “Nobody was hurt….Things went incredibly well.”
About 250 snow plows are operating in the city. Public works officials said all arterials and collector streets should be plowed by 6 p.m. tonight.
Smaller pickup trucks have been moving through the residential streets since 6 this morning and will continue until 6 p.m. After that, the bigger trucks will pick up where they’ve left off in the residential streets tonight. Crews will continue working 12-hour shifts and hope to get through every residential street by Saturday.
Assistant City Engineer Greg Bolon, manager of snow removal, said that normally the smaller trucks with plows go individually down the residential streets. But because of the volume of snow, the city is sending two plows in tandem down each residential street. That means they only cover half as many streets at a time, but each street gets a wider swath plowed.
About 30 city snow plow drivers camped out in their offices last night — sleeping on floors, chairs and benches — so they could resume plowing on time this morning. And when a snow plow got stuck this morning in the Northland, nearby residents helped the plow get unstuck.
“This city has come through this historic storm very, very well,” Funkhouser said.
Most people stayed home like the city asked them to and didn’t need to be rescued from harrowing situations.
Funkhouser said he was lifting the “state of emergency” that was declared Tuesday. That emergency declaration means the city may be eligible to apply for state and federal funds if those become available. Budget analysts have not yet calculated the cost of this storm, but most snow storms cost the city about $150,000 per inch.
City trash and recycling are expected to resume Thursday with a one-day delay schedule similar to holiday operations. Wednesday’s trash and recycling will be collected on Thursday, and Friday’s trash and recycling will be collected on Saturday.
To reach Lynn Horsley, call 816-234-4317 or send email to lhorsley@kcstar.com.

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