Despite temperatures Monday in the 80s, about 50 workers threw their minds back to February's frozen zone to talk about ways the city can better cope with blizzards.
The 80 inches of snow that stormed the city last winter was unprecedented, so Streets Commissioner Clarena Tolson gathered about 50 employees from nine city departments to thank them for their work and discuss what they learned.
"It's good to talk about snow when you don't have snow around your ankles," Tolson said.
She gathered employees from departments including Streets, Parks and Recreation, Police, and Fire to discuss ways to improve.
Digging out from mountains of snow is a giant puzzle, in which the city must put the right people and equipment in the right places.
"I don't think people understand that it's a logistical nightmare," said Managing Director Richard Negrin.
Some of the suggestions were practical, such as making sure all city locations have lists of which employees are assigned where.
During last winter's storms, some employees reported only to find their names weren't on the lists for those particular locations, Tolson said.
Edward Kenney and Donald Carlton, both sanitation administrators in the Streets Department, recommended that the city ask residents who have driveways to bring their trash to the curbs when they know a big storm is approaching.
That seemingly small change could prevent bigger problems, they said. About 200 trash trucks got stuck in unplowed driveways last winter, Tolson said.
Kenney also said the city should do more to teach drivers about where to put snow when they clear their parking spaces. Too many people throw it in the street or on the sidewalk, clogging traffic and forcing city trucks to repeat plowing. People should put the snow in between parked cars, he said.
Mayor Nutter, who recently returned from a vacation in Mexico, could not attend the meeting but called to express his gratitude.
"It's an incredible service," he told the group, "and I could not be more proud of the work that all of you did."
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