25598772
If you were looking to park earlier this week, you could just about forget it. If you were looking for a snowball fight, you could have a blast.
Anthony Dean, of 13th and Porter streets, used the corner where he lived as a battlefield for a friendly snowball smashing on Tuesday afternoon. The sides were a little lopsided, as Anthony only had the aid of his friend Nicholas Giangiulio against four youths who stood catty-corner from them, lobbing their icy weapons. Anthony, 9, and Nicholas ducked behind parked cars to protect them from the incoming shots.
"The stuff on top of the cars makes the best snowballs," Anthony said.
Passing cars were also targets, as were buses for kids throwing snowballs along South Broad Street. Still other youngsters sledded down the hill next to the Broad Street and Packer Avenue overpass.
It wasn’t fun and games for everyone, including one reporter who lost his footing in the snow, sending a nasty freeze up his already-cold arm. But he journeyed on, eager to hear how local residents were surviving the latest volley in this winter of Philadelphia’s discontent.
Officially, the total snowfall from Sunday to Monday was 18.7 inches — the sixth-largest storm recorded in Philadelphia history and the most severe since the Blizzard of 1996, which dumped a worst-ever 30.7 inches on the city.
Accu-Weather put South Philly’s total at 19 inches, but it might as well have been 19 feet for the many residents who could barely see their cars or their sidewalks under the mountains of white.
Mayor John Street and other officials toured the city Tuesday to check on snow-removal operations.
"By and large, we are making a lot of progress," said Managing Director Phil Goldsmith. "The mayor was in South Philadelphia and thought we had made a lot less progress."
As a result, the city mobilized a convoy of major snow-fighting resources — 97 pieces of equipment and more than 150 workers, Goldsmith said — to roll into South Philly on Tuesday night.
There were backhoes, dump trucks, front-end loaders, skid steers (a mini-front-end loader also known as a bobcat) and one of the wondrous melting machines that made the national news.
Goldsmith noted the city has "particular issues" to deal with in South Philly.
"The small plows we are using elsewhere aren’t doing the trick in South Philadelphia," he said. "There is so much snow there. We first have to lift the snow and get it out of there."
Once that happens, most of the snow is getting dumped in the Navy Yard and the Schuylkill River.
Just how much snow is the city clearing out?
"The mayor said that 12 inches of snow could fill Veterans Stadium 180 times," Goldsmith said. "We have a little less than 2 feet. It is a huge amount of snow."
He rated residents’ level of cooperation with the cleanup as "good," save for some illegal parkers who were ticketed and towed.
"The public’s frustration is the same that we have — what do you do with the snow? We ask them not to put it in the street, and they ask, ‘What do you want us to do with it?’" Goldsmith said. "We empathize with that. We basically have the same issue."
As they waited to be dug out by the city on Tuesday, most residents and merchants were putting their best shovel forward, trying to clear walkways and streets.
Dan Walls, who manages the NovaCare outpatient rehabilitation center at 2401 S. Broad St., was busy shoveling the sidewalk and the west side of the street to make the facility more accessible for patients.
"This is definitely one of the worst storms," Walls said.
Yet, in front of the center on Broad Street, the road was clear and drivers were having no problem getting around.
"The advantage of being on a main street versus a side street is at least Broad Street is being plowed," he said. "The disadvantage is not having a parking lot."
Residents on smaller one-way streets were still dealing with various levels of snowy imprisonment. Neighbors along the narrow 2400 block of Iseminger don’t expect to see a city truck clear their street, so they broke out the shovels to do the job themselves. It’s an all-day project, but with people home from work and the kids off from school, there were plenty of recruits.
By 5 p.m., cars and a big mountain of snow filled the center of the street Tuesday, preventing outsiders from coming in.
When a storm like this comes around, even the time-honored tradition of double-parking takes a hit. A patron parked in front of Good Flavor Chinese Restaurant, 12th Street and Moyamensing Avenue, thought running in to pick up a take-out order would be no problem. Who would’ve thought a giant red plow truck and a Mobil Oil truck would drive down the street at the exact time he was picking up his order? BEEP! BEEP!! BEEP!!!
With food finally in hand, the driver returned to his car, ending the brief but significant commotion.
David Faenza, owner of L’angolo Italian Restaurant, Rosewood and Porter streets, found Sunday and Monday to be bad for business. On Tuesday morning, he was outside shoveling at 8 a.m., with hopes that customers would soon return.
"This is going to kill me," he said. "People can’t park, and the little streets aren’t clear at all."
At 12:30 p.m., he was still outside, clearing the path in front of a neighboring travel agency.
"I am trying to shovel this out so people can get to the restaurant," Faenza said. "I tried calling the city many times, but they keep hanging up on you."
Goldsmith said residents have been calling his office and the Streets Department to request that snow be removed from their blocks.
"We take the request down. We are going to get to it, but we are not going to get to it right that minute," he said. "We have a game plan. Every street is laid out. In South Philly, we have a different plan of attack. We are asking people’s patience and understanding."
Goldsmith, who is dealing with his third storm just two weeks into the job, acknowledged the snow will have an effect long after it melts away.
"The mayor has said the impact is probably $750,000 to $1 million a day," he said, adding a transfer ordinance will be introduced in City Council to allocate more money to the Streets Department.
The more immediate complications will come as the temperatures begin to rise this week, Goldsmith noted.
"As we get into the warming weather, we have to make sure the inlets are clear to avoid flooding," he said. "If people are healthy enough, we ask them to help clear the inlets so we have a place for the water to flow."
�
Managing editor Sheri Brenner contributed to this story.
