Storm Cleanup Wrapping Up, As Jamestown Crews Work Side Streets

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JAMESTOWN – Much of the cleanup from Monday’s snowstorm in Jamestown is complete. However, some slick spots remain as crews turn their attention to the city’s side streets.

“I remember a time where I could dig out my car, probably about four years ago, but it was not quite like this,” explained Jamestown resident Michael Smoker as he looked back at this week’s winter blast. “The papers are saying we got eight to 10 inches, but after taking my shovel to this, I think we got closer to two feet down in this area.”

City of Jamestown street crews started late Sunday night to try and stay ahead of the flakes. The longevity of the event, according to Senior Civil Engineer Mark Schlemmer, made things difficult.

“You are basically just keeping the streets open, keeping them passable, not really getting too much pushed back to the curbs,” explained Schlemmer. “Then when it starts to let up, like we saw starting last night and this morning, then the guys can go out there and start to cleanup.”

The biggest challenge now is to maneuver parked cars on both sides of residential streets.

“We’ll have cars on both sides of the street, making it impassable for the plow to get through,” said Schlemmer. “Just today, there was numerous calls in from our drivers to our dispatch saying they couldn’t get through.”

In addition to moving cars from one side of the street to the other, city leaders say it’s also important to help clear sidewalks, because they only have so much manpower to go around.

“Our sidewalk plows and our routes are designed to just circle around the schools,” continued Schlemmer. “Especially the lower grades where you have younger children possibly walking.”

Now that his property is cleared out, Smoker, an avid drone pilot, was able to have some fun.

“I took it up, it was still snowing, that was pretty fun, I got some great shots of a storm system actually, which was just south from here,” said Smoker. “I also got a great shot of the hills, what they refer to as Swede Hill.”