Winter storm tests St. Paul residents' patience, mayor's shoveling skills

A lot of snow.

After a late start Monday morning, more than a foot of snow fell on the Twin Cities, turning streets impassable as schools let out. With anxious parents scrambling to locate the whereabouts of children stuck on stranded buses or snowed in at school, the mayor lent a hand shoveling out Farnsworth Elementary School on Arcade Street on the city's East Side.

Carter then stayed into the night with kids at the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Elementary School on Marion Street until St. Paul Police officers drove the last of them home around 11 p.m.

The city's snow-removal efforts — often a subject of debate — drew positive reviews on social media. Some praised St. Paul Department of Public Works workers who followed downtown snow plows, shovel in hand to improve streets and pedestrian walks.

After a slow, slippery commute home, others were frustrated.

"I'd give kudos to St. Paul Public Works," said Hamline-Midway resident Jeff Christenson on a neighborhood Facebook page. "Arterial streets were well plowed as of 9 AM, which is no small feat (pun intended) given the foot of snow we got!"

The city declared its second snow emergency of the season at 2 p.m. Monday, giving residents seven hours before they had to remove their vehicles from posted "night plow" routes.

Shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, plowing — as well as salting, ticketing and towing — began on non-posted east-west residential streets and the non-posted side of north-south residential streets.

The city posts updates about the snow removal — which was expected to continue into Tuesday evening — online at stpaul.gov/snowupdate.

A previous snow emergency was declared Jan. 15 when a relatively minor 2 to 4 inches fell in St. Paul.

"They were out working hard yesterday, but the snow was coming down fast," said Ellen Biales, administrative programs manager for St. Paul Public Works. "When it's coming down that fast, you can plow a street and come back 20 minutes later to accumulation."

Some 80 plows — the city's full contingent — were deployed for the effort. Biales noted that cars can be ticketed or towed for up to 96 hours after a snow emergency is declared if a street has not been cleared full width from side-to-side.

"We're asking people to be patient," she said. "It's a lot of snow to remove. If they can remove their vehicles from day plow routes, that's critical for us."

Carter on Tuesday said the city will continue to study how to improve street clearing, and local residents showed character by helping out strangers in need.

"I got a chance to see neighbors coming out of the woodwork with shovels and with snow plows and pickup trucks to help pull school buses out of snow drifts," the mayor said.

On social media, Hamline-Midway resident Thomas Wempner described coming to the rescue of a "very low riding" four-door sedan with a single emergency light on its roof.

"We helped push it out once," Wempner said. "Then it came through the neighborhood again and we got it unstuck again."

After discovering the same car stuck in the center of the street a third time, Wempner "told them driving was not advisable tonight and they should get to their destination and just park and not endanger lives."

Fellow Hamline-Midway resident Christine Brinkman posted: "The past five to seven years has been incredibly frustrating with St Paul snow removal efforts, especially when compared to surrounding city and suburbs. I'm not sure what is different this time, but they did a great job! Snow emergency routes were kept in a passable condition during the storm and were cleared down to pavement by 6 a.m. this morning. Thanks snow plowers!"

St. Paul residents are expected to plow their own alleys or hire someone to do it for them, which can pose a problem for blocks with standoffish neighbors, absentee landlords or cultural and language barriers.

Cynthia Suzanne, who lives on Thomas Avenue, woke Tuesday to find her street clear but her alley blocked in.

"The guy who is paid to plow our alley didn't," said Suzanne, responding to a reporter's question in a Facebook post. "We couldn't get the car out! But thanks to the Green Line I made it into work anyway. The trains run great in the snow!"

If the snow is getting to you, just hold on until Friday. Forecasts call for a relatively balmy high of 41 degrees — winter weather warm enough to splash through.