Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer-If DC Area Can’t Learn to Cope with Snow – Maybe Capi
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:08:41 EST
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

If DC Area Can’t Learn to Cope with Snow – Maybe  Capital Should be Moved 
to Midwest Where They  Know How 

Either the Washington,  DC area needs to learn how to cope with serious 
snow storms, or maybe we should  move the capital to the Midwest, where we’ve 
been dealing effectively with  massive snow storms for decades (and we’re not 
such weather wimps in  general).  Bottom line: time for the  DC area to 
snowman up. 
So far this week, snow  has closed the Federal Government for three full 
days.  Each day the Federal Government is  closed, it costs the taxpayers $100 
million in lost productivity.  So far that’s a cool $300 million.   
Now there is no  question that this week’s storms have been serious from 
anyone’s point of view.  It is referred to locally as a  “snowpocalypse”.  As 
I look out of the window of my DC  office, snow is still coming down pretty 
briskly as I write. But coming from the  Midwest where it snows all the 
time, it’s pretty clear to me that the reason the  government had to close 
Monday and Tuesday of this week was entirely because the  Washington, DC area is 
unprepared to cope with large  quantities of snow.  The first storm  ended 
Saturday night. But by Monday morning – 36 hours after the snow had  stopped 
-- many residents of the area were still virtual prisoners in their  homes. 
 Side streets had not been  plowed.  Some main streets in the  suburbs were 
impassable – others had only one lane plowed.  
It wasn’t because  local officials weren’t trying. There simply aren’t 
enough plows or enough crews  to deal with heavy snow.  Some might  argue that 
the infrequency of heavy snow in the DC area just isn’t worth the  price.  
But how many $100 million  days do you need to pay for a significant increase 
in the snow removal  fleet? 
DC’s snow removal  budget for this season was $6.2 million.  Chicago’s  
budget, where the city does a very good job of dealing with large snow falls, 
is  only three times greater -- $17.2 million. Of course three decades ago a 
Chicago  Mayor was defeated for reelection because he botched snow removal 
in a major  storm.  That tends to focus the  minds of public officials.  
There is little  question that the DC area has experienced wide variations 
in snowfall. In recent  years it ranged from 3.2 inches of snow (2001-02) to 
40.4 inches (2004-05).  Last weekend a single storm dropped two  feet of 
snow. But remember – one day of the Federal Government being closed  costs 
$100 million in lost productivity.  And this doesn’t count the massive losses 
associated with closing the  schools – thereby forcing parents to stay home 
from work – and absenteeism at  private businesses.  
In other words, for  every day the Federal Government closes because of 
snow, we could pay for 16  years of the current DC snow removal budget. The 
productivity lost during the  three days the Federal Government has been closed 
this week is equivalent to 48  years of the DC snow removal budget. 
Of course inadequate  snow removal in DC proper is only part of the 
problem. In the suburbs the  problem is far worse. But, even after you figure that 
we need to increase  expenditures both in DC and the suburbs, the economic 
argument for assuring that  the DC area is prepared for snow is obviously a 
no-brainer. And much of the  increase should come from the Federal Government 
– which would be the principal  beneficiary of adequate snow removal. 
Of course you can just  hear the Republicans complaining that they don’t 
want to pay the taxes for more  plows and salt trucks.  This is a  perfect 
example of where ideologically-rooted unwillingness to invest in public  sector 
activity costs everyone many times over. Congressman Barney Frank defines  “
government” as the things we choose to do together.  Snow removal on our 
streets and  sidewalks is certainly one of those things – and if we do it 
well, it benefits  everyone – both in convenience and in our pocketbooks.  
While we’re on the  subject of ideologically-based Republican falsehoods, 
we should give honorable  mention to the TV spot that the Virginia Republican 
Party ran in the districts  of Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, and Rick Boucher,  
D-Abingdon—bashing them for voting in favor of the cap-and-trade climate change 
 legislation that passed the House last year.  
The spot, titled “12 Inches of Global Warming” urges viewers to “call  
Boucher and Perriello and tell them how much global warming you got this  
weekend.”   They seem to  believe that more snow somehow implies that there is no 
climate change.  Of course, many climatologists argue  that just the 
opposite is true. They say that one of the major effects of  climate change is 
altering weather patterns – generating more rain and snow in  some areas, 
creating deserts in previously wet sections of the country, and more  violent 
storms in general.  
But whether it’s about  the importance of public investment, or the effects 
of climate change, the  Republican slogan machine never lets the facts get 
in the  way. 
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and  
author of the recent book:  Stand Up  Straight: How Progressives Can Win, 
available on _Amazon.com._ 
(http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Mother-Straight-Progressives/dp/0979585295/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213241439&sr=8-1)

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "big campaign" group.

To post to this group, send to [email-masked]

To unsubscribe, send email to [email-masked]

E-mail [email-masked] with questions or concerns
 
This is a list of individuals. It is not affiliated with any group or organization.