Lava wrote:

QUOTE:
I sincerely appreciate the replies. I was perhaps given bad information leading me to believe that HOA dues contribute to the snow removal.. hence not thinking that the city is responsible, rather thinking they had contracted out the snow removal..so on and so forth. Please excuse my ignorance on that subject. :blush:

That being said, I know we live in UT. I know it snows. I grew up in the midwest, so driving on snow is not a foreign concept to me. Please do not assume that just because I may not want to drive on the snow, does not mean that I don't know how per the conditions nor that I am unable to make sure I have the appropriate tires and such. :P

Sorry about my assumptions. Usually when I hear or read someone complaining about driving on snow it is because they are not used to it and a bit scared. Salt Lake has become a real melting pot of people from all across the country (and world) and I think the snow driving ignorance is showing: there were over 500 accidents this last week alone.

Back to snow removal. Kaysville announced yesterday they are discontinuing snow removal on residential streets this winter due to budget concerns. I haven't heard of any similar plans by South Jordan but wouldn't consider it impossible. Scoop could probably find out if there will be changes to snow removal by the city.

I disagree that it is either a money or organization issue. We have many roads in South Jordan so it does take some time to get to every single road. Granted, they could raise taxes to purchase more plows to take care of all of our roads, but come on folks! We may live in Utah but the reality is that we do live in a desert as well and do not get enough snow in the valley to warrant having more trucks for our few large storms a year. I agree the city is doing the best they can and while our streets may be terrible for a few days, the main roads are clear and all the roads are driveable. Comparing Utah to the midwest or any other city is unrealistic. Las Vegas could raise taxes to ensure they have plows for the snow storm they got this week as well, but does it really make sense to do so? What we have is perfectly adequate for our cities needs.

Comparing SLC to another part of the country is not unrealistic. I did a quick search to compare average snowfall in the eastern and midwest areas I have lived in and discovered Utah was higher than both of the cities I searched for. So I think it is more than fair to compare snow removal and safety here to other out of state areas.

And when it takes my husband two hours to get to downtown SLC from here in light snow, that says to me we have road issues here in this part of UT. What would happen in a really heavy snowfall?? It's amazing what a little salt and sand can do to help makes roads safer after they are plowed. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a residential street to get plowed within 48 hours.

The roads are the city's problem... now lets talk about the sidewalks! I thought our HOA fees went to having them cleared. And before anyone starts saying A- it snows in utah, B- it wasn't that much snow... yadda yadda. The point I am about to get around to making is that even with a little snow someone can slip and fall walking on the sidewalks. The sidewalks around my house were not cleared by any HOA person. My neighbor did it once and I did it once. Ridiculous. The e-mail we just received from the HOA says who they have contracted out to clear the sidewalks and parks, etc. I think I want to know what the "when to shovel" stipulation is on that contract! 1/2 an inch or 1 foot... I want my sidewalk cleared before someone falls and gets hurt. There are too many pregnant women and elderly.. (scratch that.. there are A LOT OF PEOPLE PERIOD) walking around that could get seriously injured if they fall on a slick sidewalk because it wasn't cleared!

If I remember correctly it has to snow at least 4" before the HOA's snow removal people will do anything.

That is a good question JessC. I was under the impression that single family homeowners cleared their own walks no matter what. However, in the past week our sidewalk on our street was cleared. (What a nice surprise!) but other days I got out and did most of it myself. Either way, I stocked up on ice melt so there isn't any falls or slips.