Oops

This week we experienced the fifth worst snowstorm in the recorded history of Chicago. This is what it looked like from our back window:

The 19 or so inches that fell in about as many hours hardly phased us a bit. With the exception of the schools closing, the city was functioning at almost full capacity the following day. To be honest, we were lucky as the blizzard happened during the weekend. Given that the storm was actually worse than predicted, had it occurred during a weekday, it would have been another story.

New York City had the opposite experience the week before. The forecasters predicted a storm of epic proportions for Monday, January 26th. The city government reacted in kind, virtually shutting down the biggest city in the country in anticipation for what appeared to be a Snowpocalypse on top of Snowmageddon. What New York  got instead was a day off and only about eight inches of snow, a drop in the bucket for that town. Mayor Bill de Blasio was excoriated for his perceived over-reaction to what amounted to a slightly worse than average winter storm.

In a sense, de Blasio was the same situation as Pete Carroll, the head coach of the Super Bowl losing Seattle Seahawks. As the snow was falling in Chicago, Carroll's team in case you missed it, down by four points, had a second and goal from the New England five yard line with about 30 seconds left to play in the game. At his disposal was one of the best running backs in the league, Marshawn Lynch, and three chances to run the ball into the end zone to score what would have been the winning touchdown. Instead of running the safest and most obvious play, handing the ball off to Lynch who is deadly in such situations, Carroll chose to call a more risky pass play. The play backfired, as Patriot rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted Russel Wilson's five yard pass at the goal line, game over. For his part, Carroll has been raked over the coals for the call which more than likely cost his team the championship.

Now had the Monday storm occurred as predicted and de Blasio's actions saved his city from much grief, the mayor would have been heralded for his actions, much as Richard M. Daley was four years ago during our third worst snow storm ever when he recommended that everybody in Chicago leave work in the middle of the day, even before a single snowflake fell. Likewise, had Ricardo Lockett, the Seattle receiver been able to out-muscle Malcolm Butler, (who truth be told made a magnificent play), for control of the ball at the goal line and score a touchdown, Carroll would have been applauded for his gutsy call.

I guess the lesson to be learned in all this is as much as we appreciate bold, outside of the box decisions, (when they turn out to be the right ones), we absolutely relish it when people in a position of great authority screw up. As luck would have it, de Blasio and Carroll both got unlucky in a big way.

Oh well, better luck next time fellas.

Snow happens II

Someone just asked me how I handled the snow storm last week. I thought about it for about a second and said: "Actually it was pretty great." First of all I got two unexpected days off of work which enabled me to spend some much needed time with my family, including my son's tenth birthday. Secondly I got to participate in a minor public works project, namely the shoveling of our alley where snow drifts made the automobiles on our block perfectly immobile for about 48 hours.

In his homily on Sunday, our pastor Father Jim pointed out that adversity can bring out the best in people. He noted that during the two snowbound days in our neighborhood, the rectory phone, normally busy with requests for help of one kind or other, barely rung. Instead he saw people helping others, whether it was digging sidewalks and cars out of the snow, bringing food to the shut-in elderly, or whatever they could. It was indeed an amazing time for anyone who chose to leave the security of their homes and commune with their neighbors those two days. The streets were filled with people who had a common problem, were determined to overcome it, and were more than willing to help each other, even perfect strangers. This was especially apparent during the worst of the storm when people who lived on Lake Shore Drive opened up their homes to the folks who were stranded while trying to drive through the storm.

It's times like these that make a neighborhood or even an entire city a true community. I was convinced that our car would remain snowbound at least through the weekend when our alderman reported that the over-burdened snow plow drivers would not get to the alleys until Sunday at the earliest. On Thursday as I was about to walk to the grocery store, I came across some neighbors who were taking the task upon themselves. I went back to get my shovel and started to help. What began as a project to clear a path for two cars, ended up as a project to rescue all the cars in the alley. So inspired were we that not only did we clear a passage through the street, but we also dug out all the cars that were buried in the snow drifts. In the process I even learned the names of some of the neighbors whom I have known for years. As my car would still probably be stuck in the alley today were it not for those good folks, I took it as karma that I should continue the work started by them and dug out the cars of some of my neighbors that were parked on another street. While my muscles ached a little that evening, I haven't felt as good, both physically and spiritually in a long time.

My experience no doubt was common throughout the city.

Then came Friday and many folks by and large went back to being their usual self-centered selves. Father Jim pointed out his experience of drivers jockeying for position on Western Avenue as they navigated the narrowed roadway instead of taking turns in an orderly fashion. I noticed pedestrians barreling full speed ahead when only the day before they would wait for oncoming walkers to clear sections of sidewalk shoveled so only one person could pass. Today, the operator of the L train I was on had to tell boarding passengers to do what they should already know, that is to wait for other passengers to exit the train before entering. Also today, my wife spotted someone claiming dibs on a parking space, the inescapable Chicago tradition of using folding chairs to mark the space presumably shoveled out by the dibs claimer. In this case there was a twist, this Mr. Dibs included a sign explicitly warning that any person who should remove the markers and park in the space faced serious damage to their car. Of course any true Chicagoan already knows that chairs (or other expendable household items) in a parking space in winter already implies such vandalism.

In other words, life has returned to normal.

But for two wonderful days in February, life as we know it was suspended. People were nice to each other.

It was better than Christmas.

Snow happens

As we continue to dig ourselves out of the third worst snow storm in Chicago's history, newsprint, the internet and the air waves are all filled with rants about the city's mishandling of the situation. At the center of the controversy is the incident where hundreds of people were stranded for hours in their vehicles on Lake Shore Drive as the thoroughfare came to a standstill after multiple wrecks blocked the road.

The snow piled up rapidly and in a matter of minutes the stopped cars became stuck, rendering them useless. Not to mention the frigid 70 mph winds coming directly off of the lake that created a truly hazardous condition for the members of the CPD and the CFD who eventually came to the rescue.

There are many tales of people living along the route bringing food and offering shelter to the stranded drivers, and others of the heroism of the rescue workers and hospital staffs who tended to the victims, but those stories took a backseat to the whining and finger pointing about inadequate preparation, and implementation of emergency procedures. First and foremost the naysayers say, the city should have closed Lake Shore Drive before the problem happened.

Perhaps. There is certainly no doubt that when this situation happens again as it certainly will, those who have control over such things will be very sensitive about what happened during the Great Blizzard of 2011 (Snowmageddon as it has been dubbed), and close the Drive pre-maturely which will no doubt bring criticism for strangling traffic by cutting off a major artery. The decision not to close LSD earlier ultimately proved to be the wrong one. It was a judgment call, the type of decision not unlike that of a baseball manager who chooses to walk a good hitter instead of pitching to him. If the next batter up hits into a double play, the manager is a genius, if he hits a home run, the fans demand the manager's head. Taking the metaphor to its logical conclusion, in the case of Lake Shore Drive, the next batter hit a grand slam.

Now I'll be the first to say that I was safe and sound at home by the time those folks were stuck in their cars, so I'm in no position to knock them. However, like the rest of the city I had been aware for at least three days that a storm of epic proportions was headed our way. Here is a link to an article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune the day before the storm. It's predictions turned out to be right on, off only in its underestimation of the force of the gusts coming off the lake.

Admittedly I dismissed the reports as bluster. I thought it was over-reacting when my employer suggested we all go home three hours early and take the next day off, even before the first snow flake fell. As our group had work we needed to finish, we stayed almost the full day. By the time we left the snow was coming down pretty hard and the Loop, at what would have normally been the heart of rush hour, was deserted. My prediction of "five inches at the most" would prove to be way off. When I got off the train nearly an hour later it became evident that this was a very serious blizzard. Mind you this was a full two hours before all the trouble on Lake Shore Drive and in those two hours the intensity of the storm only grew worse.

In all honesty I would say that the city did a magnificent job of assessing the situation and passing along the suggestion in no uncertain terms that people should go home before the tempest began. That action prevented a major catastrophe.

Yet for some reason, nearly 500 people chose to ignore the advice and paid dearly for it. Of course many of them no doubt had jobs that forced them to work into the evening hours. But I would guess that few of them did not have an alternative to driving that day. True, taking public transportation might have been an inconvenience for some of them but not anywhere close to what came to pass.

A Facebook friend posted the following:

You really know something about entitlement and self-pity when you hear the call-in whining of these idiots who ignored all warnings and got on Lake Shore Drive two hours into whiteout and then... surprise!... found themselves trapped without anyone (ANYONE!?! Shocking!) helicoptering in to rescue them.

Strong words to be sure but not off the mark. A commenter to the post noted that in his state of Arizona, when people get in trouble doing things they are warned not to, they must pay for their rescue. As far as I know, the city came to the rescue of the stranded "victims" not to mention their cars, all at the taxpayers' expense. My favorite comment to the post was this:

They see their vehicles as security, comfort, and empowerment. Love seeing Nature teach lessons.

Truer words could not have been said.

From the morning commute...

The Lakefront at Fullerton Avenue, 8:45am Thursday March 5, 2009.
The snow and ice should all be gone by tomorrow.