Government’s response to early storm was snow job
The November snowstorm hit with a punch. Yet for all the talk about how unusual this nor’easter was, three things emerged that were eminently predictable.
First, weather forecasters were wrong. Again.
Second, the response from government was reprehensible, causing nightmare commutes, in some cases upwards of
12 hours. In fact, snow removal efforts were so nonexistent that students in one New Jersey town didn’t have a snowball’s chance to make it home – and were forced to spend the night in school.
And third, the pass-thebuck blame game is in full swing: politicians are absolving themselves of culpability by blaming meteorologists, while weather folks are hammering pols for their poor response. What both fail to realize is that we the people paid the price for their malfeasance. The big question is whether anything will change.
Let’s look at this storm debacle:
1) Forecasters were for the most part full of “sleet” regarding storm predictions.
If they had any brains, they would have begun their “post-storm” news with a mea culpa:
“We were wrong. Dead wrong – and not just regarding this storm. Accurately predicting the weather is a complex task, but all too often, we either shamelessly hype storms that we know won’t materialize into the ‘monster event’ du jour, or under-report storms that could cause problems. In both cases, we realize that our irresponsibility severely interrupts every facet of your lives, from canceled meetings to closed schools to parents forced to take vacation days. For that, we apologize. Moving forward, we pledge our loyalty to more accurate forecasting – not appeasing the ratings gods.”
Stormtrackers, Weather Authorities, Mobile Weather Labs, Double Scans, and Mega Dopplers: when is enough enough – especially when they can’t provide accuracy when it matters most?
Newsflash: we don’t know, nor care, what Alberta Clippers and polar vortexes are. We can’t tell the difference between high and low pressure, and we understand that sleet, ice and freezing rain are all bad. We only need to know what it’ll be today, tomorrow, and the next few days.
We don’t need “team coverage” bringing us the same old pictures of salt being loaded into trucks, plows being readied, and people saying how cold it is. But most of all, we don’t need the patronizing condescension of weather-folks and bureaucrats telling us to “be careful,” “take it easy,” “slow down,” and “stay off the roads.” Gee, thanks, because we wouldn’t have known that had you not shoved it down our throats eight times over the last half hour.
Under threat of snow or ice, most people will slow down or, if possible, remain indoors. Sure, there will always be morons who drive 80 miles per hour in snow because they think SUVs are invincible. No amount of platitudes will prevent that, so let’s stop with the nannystate commands.
The problem is that too many news directors spend more time trying to keep their jobs than doing them, subscribing to the herd mentality of copying their competitors. So good luck waiting for that apology, since they see nothing wrong with how they performed. The fact that ratings continue to decline, and the remaining viewers watch with palpable disdain, is completely lost on them.
2) Forecasters’ incompetence notwithstanding, the response of government was atrocious. In municipality after municipality, roads weren’t brined, salt wasn’t laid, and roads remained unplowed. The result was a vicious circle of unprecedented gridlock: Accidents snarled traffic for miles, alternative roads were undriveable, and vehicles at a standstill ran out of fuel – creating yet more gridlock. Emergency crews could not respond to 911 calls, and tow trucks were unable to reach disabled vehicles. Many eventually abandoned their cars to relieve themselves, seek warmth, or feed their small children.
And all that because the region got a few inches of snow. It’s not like Philly and New York are Houston, which understandably shuts down when the first flurry falls. We are the northeast. We get snow – a lot of it. Even in November. So why the massive government failure?
Because incompetent bureaucrats have forgotten for whom they work, and haven’t a clue about how to handle an unanticipated crisis.
But commissioners, mayors and governors report directly to the people, and they should be held accountable for failing their constituents.
So the snowstorm didn’t go as planned. Big deal. Instead of mindlessly watching forecasters, township managers and state transportation officials should have used common sense – namely, looking out their windows! Had they done so, they would have realized that things had changed, and the rain and warming temperatures weren’t coming as quickly as expected.
Rather than remaining impotent, they should have ordered the plows to immediately hit the roads. Of course, had they brined beforehand, their job would have been measurably easier. But in too many places, none of that occurred.
Laughably, one of many excuses was that people would have frowned upon salting and plowing where only an inch or two was forecast. Wrong. That might have held true if the snow was light and powdery (which occurs when there is limited moisture). But since everyone knew this was a moisture-laden storm, people would have absolutely, positively rewarded those with the foresight to be prepared. “Better safe than sorry” should rule the day for damn near everyone in winter. The fact that “seasoned” government officials still don’t understand that should be remembered in the next election.
Conversely, there’s a reason why many shopping centers and parking lots got plowed: private enterprise. Free-market business owners have a responsibility to ensure their patrons’ safety (and protect themselves from liability), so they take no chances. Too bad government officials forgot about those to whom they owe safety and security – taxpayers. Maybe if citizens could hold the government liable for financial losses incurred because of willful negligence, there wouldn’t be such unmitigated disasters.
3) In 1979, Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic didn’t effectively plow the streets after a snowstorm. As a result, he lost his primary election several months later. Comparatively, after similar snowstorms in Philadelphia over the years, where streets were always in deplorable shape, voters continued to say “job well done” to their mayor. Ditto for New York City. And that’s the difference: Chicago has always been “the town that works,” whereas Philly and the Big Apple are increasingly paralyzed when it snows even a few inches.
A smart politician, even after attempting to do everything right, would still take blame for what went wrong. By “manning” up, he’d demonstrate that indelible quality called humility, and ingratiate himself with people who just went through hell – people, by the way, without the benefit of police motorcades and helicopters to whisk them around.
But such an attitude was nonexistent with New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Instead of apologies for the pandemonium they helped cause – people locked out of NY/NJ Transit bus terminals, the George Washington Bridge effectively shut down, and school students being dropped off at 3 a.m. – they instead blamed forecasters, showing just how out-of-touch they are.
Both have been justifiably buried under an avalanche of criticism. Yet, incomprehensibly, they have responded with pure arrogance while dismissing any notion that they should be held accountable.
The political graveyard is littered with incumbents who crashed and burned not because of monumental policy changes, but simply because they were too proud to say two words – “I’m sorry” – when they screwed up.
In the age of social media and unprecedented political activism, the adage that you “can’t fight city hall” isn’t true anymore. The snowballing question is whether citizens will roll over and accept the snow job that was dumped on them, or if they will boot their leaders into the cold at the next election.
One thing’s for sure: if they allow their fury to melt, they’ll be the biggest flakes of all.