With snow squalls in the forecast for Thursday night through Friday, Mayor Lovely Warren and the City of Rochester on Tuesday announced their snow removal plans for this season.
New this year is the "Adopt-a-Hydrant" program, which Warren hopes will encourage citizens to play an active role in snow removal operations in their neighborhoods.
"When you walk down the street after a heavy snow, you see hydrants that have been shoveled out and sidewalks that have been cleared. And those hydrants and sidewalks tell a story. They say this is a neighborhood whose residents care about their neighborhoods and their neighbors."
Barbara Kennedy is a resident of the Corn Hill neighborhood where the idea for the city wide hydrant program came from. She said she’s been shoveling for her neighbors for about a decade now.
"I feel it’s pretty important that the fire people are able to put out a fire rather than shovel out the snow first. So I’ve just continued to do it and we do the sidewalks pretty much around here and someday I’m going to find some nice, young, stronger people that can take over for me."
Mayor Warren also announced an online tool called Snow Trax.
"We know what our citizens don’t like to do is go out and shovel the snow and then 10 minutes later the plow truck comes through and pushes the snow back at the end of your driveway."
Snow Trax will allow residents to follow plow trucks in real time, giving them a better idea of where the trucks have gone, where they are going, and when the best time is to shovel their driveways.
The "Clear the Snow so All Can Go" campaign asks residents and merchants to shovel sidewalks in front of their property and be mindful of the challenges snow and ice present to citizens with physical disabilities.
The city also announced it has designated 65 parking emergency streets, where on street parking will be prohibited when a parking emergency has been declared. Signs have been posted in those areas and free parking will be available in the Mortimer Street garage. The Regional Transit Service will also provide free services between the garage and the effected streets.
More information can be found at cityofrochester.gov/rocsnow.