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JAMESTOWN – Snow from Thursday’s winter storm is starting to pile up in the City of Jamestown as many with the Department of Public Works have been working non-stop over the last 24-hours to keep roads clear.
Now that the snow has stopped falling, Senior Civil Engineer Mark Schlemmer tells us his crews are transitioning to snow removal. In order to help expedite the process, he continues to ask those parked along city streets to heed parking rules.
“We always struggle with the alternate parking changeover,” explains Schlemmer. “Try to stick as close as possible to that 10 a.m. switch over.”
Those who don’t move their vehicles by that time, might get plowed in.
“We get into so many situations where the plow truck will get up to a certain point in the street and can’t pass through,” continued Schlemmer. “He has to back down, turn around, it’s an unsafe situation.”
Although the snow kept many inside during the storm, Lucas Boyce decided to take advantage of the weather and turn lemons into lemonade.
“I’m shoveling, making money,” Boyce says. “Go door to door sometimes you pick up a couple of people who will let you do it because they are older and need the help.”
Local Chiropractor Dr. Bill Schuver, meanwhile, took snow upkeep into his own hands.
“Well it’s obviously an obligation I feel of the city, but for me it’s also a safety issue for everybody including my patiences,” explained Dr. Schuver.
Most area schools, including those in Jamestown, closed Friday morning. However, some locals feel they shouldn’t have opened at all, the day before.
“If the roads aren’t clear, I don’t think kids should be getting on the bus to go to BOCES and school, I think it would be unsafe,” Gabriel Colburn told us.
As for where the snow goes, Schlemmer gave us a firsthand look at what he calls the “snow bowl”.
“This is the snow that we’ve collected from the downtown area and a few other miscellaneous spots, parking lots and those kinds of things, and then we bring it here, and dump it, and let it melt,” Schlemmer furthered. “We’re basically standing in a large area, well you can’t even tell, but we’re talking 50-feet around us is snow.”
As for how long the snow will remain at the dumping site, Schlemmer predicts the winter leftovers to stick around into May or the first of June.
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