By Tribune-Review

Published: Monday, December 31, 2012, 9:01 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Apparently the Dec. 26 snowstorm caught those responsible for clearing the streets by surprise. Funny, that always seems to happen.

The fine people at the National Weather Service told us several days before that it was coming. Yet, at 2 p.m., my commute from Clairton to Mt. Oliver was a sheer horror.

On a series of main roads, I passed stuck, abandoned and out-of-control vehicles. Virtually the entire ride home was on what appeared to be untreated streets.

Is there a salt or plow shortage? Many people believe that the streets are cleaned only when school is in session; it certainly seems that way.

But what of us taxpayers? Do we not deserve a safe commute to or from work regardless of the status of the schools? Are the lives of commuters so unimportant to the state and municipalities that they provide serious road clearing only on the days when there's school?

I remember hearing a joke that a “government worker is a contradiction in terms.” I'm beginning to think it's true. Not only can the state and municipalities do a better job, we should demand that they do.

James Sluk

Mt. Oliver

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