\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Listen to the audio edition here:<\/p>\n
Side streets are still not passable; cars are still plowed in. People are pissed. Like this amazing North Philly woman, whose profane Network-like I\u2019m Mad as Hell and I\u2019m Not Going to Take it Anymore<\/a> spirit just might speak for more residents than Parker realizes:<\/p>\n She is all of us<\/a> First, I totally want to hang with this woman. Love how she interrupts her rant to thank the snowplow driver \u2014 calling him \u201cbaby\u201d \u2014 before returning to her attack on Parker when she realizes the truck has no city markings. Second, the reason the clip has gone viral is that it touches a nerve: Two weeks after the storm, snow removal remains frustratingly inequitable.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a reminder that, while Minnesota Mayor (and Villanova law grad) Jacob Frey deals with some much-publicized civic unrest, a different kind of ice has historically been the most potent form of mayoral kryptonite. In 1979, Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic was famously upset at the polls<\/a> by Jane Byrne after botching the response to a 20-inch blizzard. Bilandic didn\u2019t just fail to plow; public transportation stalled, leaving residents stranded in the cold for days. Ever since, Bilandic\u2019s political demise has served as a cautionary tale for every big-city mayor.<\/p>\n In 2010, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg plummeted in the polls after he vacationed at his home in Bermuda<\/a> while his city\u2019s botched cleanup led to TV news footage of ambulances stuck in the snow. That same year, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl was also on vacation when a storm hit,<\/a> yet city workers somehow managed to clear his street while the rest of the city remained buried. That same storm prompted Philly\u2019s own Chris Matthews to eviscerate Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty on national TV, ultimately helping to seal Fenty\u2019s political fate<\/a>: \u201cWhy can\u2019t a government town do a government job?\u201d Matthews spat out. \u201cIt looked like Siberia without the Siberian discipline. We had the weather of Buffalo with the snowplowing capability of Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, other mayors are receiving similar crash courses in the politics of snow. In New York, Zohran Mamdani is learning on the job. He was everywhere during the storm, flashing that pristine smile of his in interview after interview. Video was even posted of the mayor shoveling a Brooklyn street. But outer-borough residents complain they haven\u2019t seen plow trucks anywhere near as often as Manhattan or Brooklyn; worse, 14 dead bodies have been recovered<\/a>, many of them homeless people \u2014 a tragic echo of the 42 deaths under Mayor John Lindsay during a 1969 storm<\/a>. Celebrities like Michael Rapaport and Debra Messing have blasted the new mayor<\/a> for being all sizzle and no street-clearing, as have even his left-leaning allies<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Pittsburgh, new Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor also had a tough week<\/a>. When the storm hit, 37 plows were found to have been broken down. Side streets weren\u2019t plowed because drivers hadn\u2019t been taught how to navigate them.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t plan the weather, but you can proactively manage its political ramifications.<\/p>\n By comparison, Parker has fared better\u2014 but problem spots remain. (She was notably booed at Tuesday night\u2019s Flyers game.) At her press conference, the Mayor made her case<\/a>, noting that the City had deployed a record 800 pieces of snow equipment and brought in a snow-melting machine from Chicago. To her credit, she has engaged private snow-removal contractors \u2014 perhaps like the one our favorite North Philly resident caught on her phone. Parker has also braved the ire of District Council 33<\/a> \u2014 the municipal workers union she tangled with last summer, and with whom she still has a frayed relationship \u2014 by hiring some 300 \u201csame-day pay and work\u201d laborers at $25 an hour to shovel sidewalks.<\/p>\n Standing alongside the Mayor was Carlton Williams, the City\u2019s first-ever Director of Clean and Green Initiatives. Traditionally, snow emergencies fall under the City\u2019s managing director \u2014 the City\u2019s de facto COO. However, Managing Director Adam Thiel has until recently been on paid military leave<\/a>, earning his full $300,000 salary while getting paid more taxpayer money for a secret deployment somewhere else (all while earning approximately $300,000 more in outside consulting income<\/a>.) I honor his military and public service, but if you can\u2019t dig your car out a week after a snowstorm, you might wonder where the hell the guy is who used to handle that for you.<\/p>\n Under Parker, the sanitation department has moved into Williams\u2019 portfolio. So you also might just wonder about the guy who is now charged with removing your snow. \u201cThe Mayor really likes Carlton,\u201d one insider tells me, even though Williams \u2014 a Kenney administration holdover \u2014 was arguably the least impressive of her hires.<\/p>\n Remember when trash was piling up on city streets during the Covid lockdown? Williams, then Kenney\u2019s Streets Department commissioner, penned an excuse-laden Inquirer op-ed<\/a> explaining why the City had been so derelict in picking up residents\u2019 refuse: His excuses included workforce shortages, more residential waste, even \u201ctorrential rains.\u201d<\/p>\n All true, but somewhere Harry Truman was gyrating in his grave. A classic case of buck-passing; not a single solution proffered. That\u2019s who now is charged with one of the most politically dicey tasks in government. Before the storm, Williams warned residents they\u2019d face $300 fines if they didn\u2019t shovel within six hours. Yet, a week later, his own team still hadn\u2019t cleared City-owned parks.<\/p>\n Even worse? The NBC10 report of a City snowplow driver who posted footage of himself maniacally laughing as he purposely dumped snow on top of cars in Kensington, burying them. \u201cHappy snow day, motherfuckers,\u201d this jerk of a city worker shouted. \u201cWe tearing this shit up. Allegheny don\u2019t need to go nowhere. Go in the fucking house!\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s your $6.8 billion taxpayer funded budget<\/a> at work, Philly. Williams\u2019 response? To say his team has identified this perpetrator and will handle the matter internally. Why not charge this city worker with a crime \u2014 theft of services or harassment comes to mind \u2014 and send a signal that you\u2019re on your taxpayer\u2019s side?<\/p>\n There are better ways to do this<\/p>\n At least Parker is willing to try some stuff, like paying those laborers in the face of union opposition. But is Williams going to come up with innovations that move the needle?<\/p>\n Look at Kansas City, Missouri, for example, which won an American Public Works Association Excellence in Snow and Ice Control Award for its digital technology solutions. There<\/a>, every snowplow is equipped with tablets that guide drivers through optimized routes and enables them to photograph and report road hazards in real-time. The program has saved millions and increased citizen satisfaction by 17 percent.<\/p>\n The city of Holland, Michigan boasts of the nation\u2019s largest heated road network<\/a>, with over 190 miles of pipes beneath city streets melting snow before it accumulates. Laying the tubing cost all of $9 million and has more than paid for itself since the late 90s. It was the brainchild of a local entrepreneur, who seeded the project with an initial investment of $250,000. Rather than starting at \u201cno\u201d or stalling over union objections, city government made a first-of-its-kind investment, despite the fact that there was no track record to point to. They saw it not just as a quality of life cure, but also as an engine of economic development. It gave the city an amenity that allowed it to better compete \u2014 and it is expanding still.<\/p>\n Perhaps Holland\u2019s solutions aren\u2019t a perfect fit for Philly, but its heated network is a prime example of the type of forward-thinking leadership we\u2019re desperate for \u2014 and that Parker seems open to. She just needs the staffing around her to help dream up and implement such big picture ideas.<\/p>\n Meantime, our Mayor would do well to resist coming off as defensive. In St. Louis, then-Mayor Tishaura Jones gave herself a B- last year after a storm kept residents inside for six days. The electorate didn\u2019t agree with Jones\u2019 stubborn self-assessment; in fact, voters were pretty pissed off by it. She finally apologized for her performance<\/a> in an election-season debate, but by then it was too late. She was voted out of office<\/a> in a landslide.<\/p>\n Major snow events can permanently wound \u2014 or even end \u2014 mayoral careers, perhaps even more than rising homicide rates. Cherelle Parker\u2019s reelection is two years away; she will most likely cruise to a second term. But will an event emerge that diminishes her and imperils her agenda? She should take heed: You can\u2019t plan the weather, but you can proactively manage its political ramifications.<\/p>\n Correction: Snowmaggedon 2026 took place 11 days ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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