I say sorry to the unions, but the idea to privatize snow plowing might make sense — with one caveat courtesy of Garrard McClendon: Let it only be on side streets.
McClendon on his Chicago Now blog was one of the first to say we should all get in the “Yes” line.
“I’m going to take a stance and agree with the mayor on this one, as long as we don’t have a Bilandic blizzard. For sure, these contractors better be “johnny on the spot” when the snow hits at 2:00 a.m,” he wrote. “But if a few of Daley’s friends get paid in the process…so what…as long as the streets are clear of the white stuff.”
We have never had a problem on main thoroughfares except when Mother Nature decides no one should have a quick drive to work. But the side streets — where we dig out a hole hole to exit the curb only to be stuck by a foot of snow left in the roadway — can be where a plowing company’s money is made.
According to the Chicago Tribune, “Mayor Richard Daley had aides call Aldermen on Sept. 3 to say the city would seek private contractors to remove snow — a job that’s historically been reserved for the city’s unionized truck drivers.”
Currently, union truck drivers earn overtime pay when snowfall blankets the city, but Daley has asked the unions to give up overtime payment and accept compensation time to cut costs, the Trib reported.
Last winter, Daley seemingly issued a moratorium on plowing side streets and we all suffered. And then in early December, the Mayor admitted that mistakes were made.
“There are some complaints,” he told the Trib. “We’re taking those complaints very seriously. Why is it the rest of the block is OK but that little corner is not? Like anything else, you try to find out, ‘Did they skip it?’ That’s what we’re trying to figure out, and we will.”