Anonymous wrote:I would love to see some of these “walk over it, it’s not slippery” people try to walk 1/2 a mile with a 20lb backpack on. Or with two kids and a dog. Or across East West Highway, or a service road along University, or even down Tuckerman. And not in your fancy boots and warm coat. In like a $35 Amazon shell with worn out New Balances.

Have some empathy, you jerks!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see some of these “walk over it, it’s not slippery” people try to walk 1/2 a mile with a 20lb backpack on. Or with two kids and a dog. Or across East West Highway, or a service road along University, or even down Tuckerman. And not in your fancy boots and warm coat. In like a $35 Amazon shell with worn out New Balances.

Have some empathy, you jerks!

+100

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Anonymous wrote:Because that compacted snow is covered with a thick layer of ice. If it were just snow, it could have been shoveled. It’s the ice that’s the problem.

The point is you can walk on it even if it isn't shoveled.

It’s as slippery as ice. Where do you live?

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Anonymous wrote:Took another trip around our Rockville neighborhood. Roads are not cleared wide enough for the school bus even around some turns. Schools will be closed all week

Are they going to close schools all month?

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see some of these “walk over it, it’s not slippery” people try to walk 1/2 a mile with a 20lb backpack on. Or with two kids and a dog. Or across East West Highway, or a service road along University, or even down Tuckerman. And not in your fancy boots and warm coat. In like a $35 Amazon shell with worn out New Balances.

Have some empathy, you jerks!

Anonymous wrote:I would love to see some of these “walk over it, it’s not slippery” people try to walk 1/2 a mile with a 20lb backpack on. Or with two kids and a dog. Or across East West Highway, or a service road along University, or even down Tuckerman. And not in your fancy boots and warm coat. In like a $35 Amazon shell with worn out New Balances.

Have some empathy, you jerks!

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Anonymous wrote:Because that compacted snow is covered with a thick layer of ice. If it were just snow, it could have been shoveled. It’s the ice that’s the problem.

The point is you can walk on it even if it isn't shoveled.

Anonymous wrote:Took another trip around our Rockville neighborhood. Roads are not cleared wide enough for the school bus even around some turns. Schools will be closed all week

When is this "snowcrete" nonsense going to finally MELT?

Wouldn't surprise us if some of it is still hanging around in MARCH.

The prolonged cold has largely prevented the frozen conglomeration that fell from melting, and there’s no sign of a meaningful thaw or rainstorm to erode it anytime soon.

As temperatures moderate next week, some limited melting may occur along the surface of the snowpack — especially on sunnier afternoons. But the concrete-like slabs of snow and ice will refreeze each night when lows fall back into the teens and 20s.

The amount of frozen precipitation that fell Sunday contained water equivalent to roughly a 20-inch snowstorm, but in a far more compacted form. What remains may only be 4 to 6 inches thick, yet it is so dense that it will require a significant amount of heat energy to melt. Unless the region experiences a rapid warmup and/or a soaking rainstorm, much of it could linger well into February.

And those towering piles in parking lots? Some of them may still be around in March.

Photo by Joe Flood

Posted 140p Friday

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Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Rock Creek Forest parking lot is untouched and no work being done on a Friday afternoon.

I drove by Quince Orchard high school today and the sidewalk just near the school on QO Road was shoveled but the sidewalks leading up to the school was half done - it was patches of clear sidewalks and mounds of snow in between. I think Monday will definitely be a closure - the streets off of QO Road were like one lane roads with no sidewalk to see, so how can the walkers walk from a mile away? And assuming parents will drop off the kids it will be a mess in that parking lot.

If the sidewalk isn't shoveled, walk on top
of the snow where the sidewalk is. Leave extra time.

This is the county that said it would be too much of a liability risk to have 16-18 year old kids shovel school parking lots. You really think they are going to be ok with the liability and lawsuit potential of 10k kids from ages 6-18 walking to school in roads and on top of ice mounds?

DCPS has been open since Thursday despite having to walk in difficult conditions to school. No one has died or gotten injured as far as I heard.

And parents in DCPS were pissed at went to the news about how irresponsible it was to reopen. Nice comparison!

No option makes everyone happy.

+1. I have friends with kids at DCPS who were thrilled they went back to school Thursday. Arlington public schools were open today too and people I knew were happy about that too.

There's a huge difference between "happy" and was it a safe decision? It wasn't. Numerous council members have saying Bowser made the wrong decision due to the unsafe conditions. You might not like having your kids home and it might make you happy they can go to school because YOUR neighborhood is safe, but start thinking about other people. The lack of empathy and narrow worldviews in this county is astounding.

No one in DCPS or APS reported major injuries due to the snow. And kids got educated. And received meals from the cafeteria, which is critical for the neediest students. The parents I know there were thrilled their kids went back.

You sound like you have a pretty narrow worldview and lack empathy if you can’t see that plenty of people are thrilled that DC and Arlington schools opened.

My colleague with DCPS school kids said after the first reopening, they switched to virtual because it was so bad.

Also keep in mind DCPS does not provide school buses. Colleague said the city bus never came and the kids walked a mile in the streets to school. High schoolers, but still.

Bowser called in the National Guard to help clear sidewalks. Crickets from Wes Moore…

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Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Rock Creek Forest parking lot is untouched and no work being done on a Friday afternoon.

I drove by Quince Orchard high school today and the sidewalk just near the school on QO Road was shoveled but the sidewalks leading up to the school was half done - it was patches of clear sidewalks and mounds of snow in between. I think Monday will definitely be a closure - the streets off of QO Road were like one lane roads with no sidewalk to see, so how can the walkers walk from a mile away? And assuming parents will drop off the kids it will be a mess in that parking lot.

If the sidewalk isn't shoveled, walk on top
of the snow where the sidewalk is. Leave extra time.

This is the county that said it would be too much of a liability risk to have 16-18 year old kids shovel school parking lots. You really think they are going to be ok with the liability and lawsuit potential of 10k kids from ages 6-18 walking to school in roads and on top of ice mounds?

DCPS has been open since Thursday despite having to walk in difficult conditions to school. No one has died or gotten injured as far as I heard.

And parents in DCPS were pissed at went to the news about how irresponsible it was to reopen. Nice comparison!

No option makes everyone happy.

+1. I have friends with kids at DCPS who were thrilled they went back to school Thursday. Arlington public schools were open today too and people I knew were happy about that too.

There's a huge difference between "happy" and was it a safe decision? It wasn't. Numerous council members have saying Bowser made the wrong decision due to the unsafe conditions. You might not like having your kids home and it might make you happy they can go to school because YOUR neighborhood is safe, but start thinking about other people. The lack of empathy and narrow worldviews in this county is astounding.

No one in DCPS or APS reported major injuries due to the snow. And kids got educated. And received meals from the cafeteria, which is critical for the neediest students. The parents I know there were thrilled their kids went back.

You sound like you have a pretty narrow worldview and lack empathy if you can’t see that plenty of people are thrilled that DC and Arlington schools opened.

My colleague with DCPS school kids said after the first reopening, they switched to virtual because it was so bad.

Also keep in mind DCPS does not provide school buses. Colleague said the city bus never came and the kids walked a mile in the streets to school. High schoolers, but still.

Bowser called in the National Guard to help clear sidewalks. Crickets from Wes Moore…

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Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Rock Creek Forest parking lot is untouched and no work being done on a Friday afternoon.

I drove by Quince Orchard high school today and the sidewalk just near the school on QO Road was shoveled but the sidewalks leading up to the school was half done - it was patches of clear sidewalks and mounds of snow in between. I think Monday will definitely be a closure - the streets off of QO Road were like one lane roads with no sidewalk to see, so how can the walkers walk from a mile away? And assuming parents will drop off the kids it will be a mess in that parking lot.

If the sidewalk isn't shoveled, walk on top
of the snow where the sidewalk is. Leave extra time.

This is the county that said it would be too much of a liability risk to have 16-18 year old kids shovel school parking lots. You really think they are going to be ok with the liability and lawsuit potential of 10k kids from ages 6-18 walking to school in roads and on top of ice mounds?

DCPS has been open since Thursday despite having to walk in difficult conditions to school. No one has died or gotten injured as far as I heard.

And parents in DCPS were pissed at went to the news about how irresponsible it was to reopen. Nice comparison!

No option makes everyone happy.

+1. I have friends with kids at DCPS who were thrilled they went back to school Thursday. Arlington public schools were open today too and people I knew were happy about that too.

There's a huge difference between "happy" and was it a safe decision? It wasn't. Numerous council members have saying Bowser made the wrong decision due to the unsafe conditions. You might not like having your kids home and it might make you happy they can go to school because YOUR neighborhood is safe, but start thinking about other people. The lack of empathy and narrow worldviews in this county is astounding.

No one in DCPS or APS reported major injuries due to the snow. And kids got educated. And received meals from the cafeteria, which is critical for the neediest students. The parents I know there were thrilled their kids went back.

You sound like you have a pretty narrow worldview and lack empathy if you can’t see that plenty of people are thrilled that DC and Arlington schools opened.

My colleague with DCPS school kids said after the first reopening, they switched to virtual because it was so bad.

Also keep in mind DCPS does not provide school buses. Colleague said the city bus never came and the kids walked a mile in the streets to school. High schoolers, but still.

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Anonymous wrote:Just drove by seven locks es and the student drop off lot is still untouched. Can other people report what they're seeing at their local schools here? Yesterday it mentioned only 30 percent of schools were done. Like WHAT?!

Maybe it's time for community to come to the rescue. If one parent of every enrolled child at a school showed up with their ice pick and snow shovel, the parking lots and sidewalks of all schools could be completed in a few hours. Yes, some families have 2 kids enrolled at a school and an infant at home so only 1 parent for 2 students could show up. And yes, there are single parent households with kids in both ES and MS so they shouldn't have to shovel 2x. And I'm sure there are families with multiple children and one parent who has to go to work and cannot help.

My point is, maybe the parents who want kids back in school need to take control. Volunteers could get this done quickly. Many hands makes light work.

“The parents who want kids back in school” — shouldn’t that be all parents?

No, some of us prioritize the safety of our kids over free daycare.

But there is no safety issue at this point.

Are you dense? Not all neighborhood sidewalks are cleaned. There are neighborhoods with narrow paths because of the snow and kids walking on those roads at 7:00am to get to school on top of ice is a safety issue. They slip and fall on that one mile stretch and who is going to cover the bills? You?

Get off your high horse and go to other neighborhoods and see for yourself and stop going on and on about kids needing to walk on ice to get to school because you are not capable of taking care of your kids at home and want free daycare on the pretext if education.

How is walking on top of the snow where sidewalks are a safety issue? Walking in the streets is a safety issue, yes. But on top of compact snow on sidewalks? What is the problem?

I don't know about other neighborhoods but in ours, even if you walk on the compacted ice - which I don't have an issue with actually - you can't cross at instersections because the plows in some places made small mountains. As in vertical 5 feet of snow blocking the exit from the sidewalk, taller than many of the kids. Fun to climb on in boots, not fun to cross when going to school. So the kids are forced to walk in the street, which sucks because cars don't respect the conditions and whip around corners despite not being able to see around the snow piles.

Walk around the mounds and wear boots (though, you ought to be able to follow tracks where you won't sink in much, so boots shouldn't be strictly needed).

What is it about snow that makes people give up so easily?

It’s not snow, it’s the ice. What do you not understand?

put down the dcum and go outside. you can do this. it isn't ice

You’re talking to adults here when the problem is aimed at children. You expect 5-10 year olds to troubleshoot like an adult? “Wear boots!” isn’t the advice (or zing) you think it is.