Jason Joyce
A scene from the 2007 blizzard on Madison's southwest side.
A scene from the 2007 blizzard on Madison's southwest side.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway called the recent storms and resulting road conditions unprecedented. I regret — gosh, do I regret — to have to point out a precedent.
In the winter of 2007-2008 Madison recorded its highest snow total ever — 101.4 inches. I had Rhodes-Conway’s job at the time. The first storm of that season was just like this one. It was a lot of heavy, wet snow falling on relatively warm pavement and then quickly followed by an extended deep freeze.
What happens is that the melting snow binds to the pavement because the salt stops working below 15 degrees, the moisture-laden snow freezes, and car tires polish the stuff like Zamboni machines. I’m not a meteorologist, but given my work history, I do watch snow storms pretty carefully, and I think the mayor is close to being right. This may not quite be unprecedented, but the last time I can remember it happening just like this was 16 years ago.
The mayor had been taking heat, which unfortunately was only metaphorical, over all this, leading to her claim of unusual circumstances. Back then I claimed that as well but I went a step further and took personal responsibility. I did that because I wanted to take the heat off the Streets Division and because I had, in fact, made a decision that contributed to the problem. Near the end of the storm the fire chief reported that her paramedic units couldn’t access residential streets. We had obvious concerns about that so I asked Streets to start diverting its trucks off the main routes to the side streets. That allowed more time for the slushy snow to harden up before plows could get back to them.
I had a vague notion that taking responsibility would show me to be a stand up guy. Instead, the predominant public reaction was something like, “See?! It WAS all his fault! It’s because of his damn trolleys! Resign, you bastard! Resign!”
People and radio hosts (I make a distinction) reveled in reminding me how Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne had lost her reelection over a storm like this. They were wrong. It was Michael Bilandic who lost to Jane Byrne over a storm like that. But there wasn’t much point in pointing that out.
I didn’t even get credit from the snow plow drivers who somehow got the message that I was apologizing for the job they had done instead of for the results of my own decision, a decision that, by the way, I still think was clearly right.
That history aside, this wouldn’t be the headache for Rhodes-Conway that it was for me if other municipalities were experiencing the same problem. But as the Wisconsin State Journal pointed out last week, most surrounding municipalities had relatively clear main thoroughfares. That can be explained in part by simple scale. Even with more equipment, getting to 780 lane-miles of street on the Madison salt routes repeatedly before things freeze up is a lot harder than getting to a few dozen miles in smaller communities.
In any event, I don’t see a link to anything this mayor has done and the condition of the streets last week. Pointing fingers can be a satisfying exercise but it won’t solve the problem when this happens again in another decade or two.
If I still had Rhodes-Conway’s job I’d ask a few questions.
How did other large cities, like Milwaukee and Green Bay, fare in this storm? If it was better and the conditions were roughly the same, what is different about their policies?
How much of this is attributable to our reduced salt policy? When I was mayor we used fewer tons of salt per mile then most places and I assume that’s still true. How much did it matter in conditions like this and, if it does matter, could we change the policy to allow more salt when things are looking to set up like this?
After that storm in 2007 we implemented a policy of laying down a brine solution before a storm hit. Why didn’t that work this time?
Was the problem that we couldn’t get plows on pavement fast enough before the temperatures plunged? If that’s the case, how much additional equipment would it take to get there faster and what would that cost? Is it worth that investment for something that happens this rarely given other priorities?
The city shouldn’t have to hire a consultant to answer those questions, but we used to have the in-house capacity in a position we created called the fiscal efficiency auditor. That was a kind of inspector general who could dive into these things, free of the usual internal departmental biases, because the position reported directly to the mayor. Unfortunately, after I left office Mayor Paul Soglin eliminated that position.
Most of this controversy is melting away as quickly as the warmer weather activated the salt and dissolved the snow-cement on our streets. But Rhodes-Conway, whether she deserves it or not, will carry the scars. Welcome to a very exclusive club, Satya.
Dave Cieslewicz is a Madison- and Upper Peninsula-based writer who served as mayor of Madison from 2003 to 2011. You can read more of his work at Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos.
