D FOR EFFORT

According to reliable sources, by late Thursday, heads were rolling in City Hall. Mayor Tutunjian was outraged that someone forgot the 'removal' portion of his snow removal policy.

The reviews of Blizzard 2007 are in and it's unanimous: Troy's snow removal plan was an abject failure.

As we perused the news on Blizzard-Eve, the one Mayor that made sure to have his face on television was Mr. T. Given the conditions of Troy's roads on Wednesday and Thursday, that television face time could have been spent in a more productive manner.

One could say that it was a nasty blizzard and that all areas had their problems. All true. Yet, as of Thursday morning, it was quite easy to determine the boundaries of Troy. It was where the white was.

On Thursday morning, Route 2 in Brunswick was merely wet and, in some places, actually dry. At South Lake Avenue, Route 2 turned into a white, slippery mess. The same holds true for Route 7. Reports from Fourth, Second, Ferry, Congress and People's were abysmal.

Conversely, reports from East and North Greenbush evidenced a competent snow removal job.

Troy has a Snow Emergency Policy. The Mayor could have ordered Odd/Even parking. That would not have resulted in perfection, but it would have given the DPW workers a better opportunity to perform their work.

If the Valentine's Day Blizzard did not justify calling an emergency, under what circumstances will an emergency be called? Odd/Even parking is a pain in the ass for a day. The failure to utilize it creates a three, four or five day pain in the ass. Two-way streets are now the width of one-way streets. Now, after nearly 2 feet of snow, the administration is ordering people to move their cars. Cars are plowed in and when those people dig out, you know where the snow is going. If the weekend weather wasn't so mild, things would have been worse.

The area media took pains to let us know that the mayor took his turn behind the wheel of a plow. The village peasants eat that type of PR up.* Perhaps, instead of plowing, the mayor should have taken his turn at leadership, declared an emergency and recalled that the really important part of any snow removal plan is the removal.

*A recent study showed that the same percentage that fall for these pr stunts also believe Punky Brewster was the funniest comedy of the 1980's and the Morton Downey Jr. Show a production of a great social significance.