Discussion: Why Did The Blizzard Shut Down DC While NYC Is Up And Running? (PHOTOS)

Learning to drive on slippery, snowy roads is an acquired skill. Many who work in DC come from down south.

Asked why New York schools are open while the District’s are closed, Washington’s emergency management director, Christopher Geldart, said ā€œIt’s a total unfair comparison.ā€

I grew up in the Baltimore-Washington area. DC has many wonderful things going for it. A competently managed infrastructure is not one of them.

My usage of commas is terrible, but the use of affects here seems fine.

I meant to write ā€œthe greatest of the issues, caused by snow, affect motorists and suburbia dwellersā€ i.e., talking about the issues affecting motorists. Essentially, I’m talking about how ā€œissuesā€ affect motorists…

Even simpler explanation: New York is able to scale up its response because even though it budgets the same per capita, its much larger population results in a lot more dollars per mile of road to be cleared. It also has a much more extensive public transit system than D.C. does. Just observationally, New York also has more highways and parkways that are not surface roads and that are much easier to clear because no one parks on those roads. Once you are in D.C., you are basically on surface roads, with only a very few exceptions. But really, I’ve been driving to work in D.C. since Monday. It’s not that bad.

NY also takes advantage of non-dedicated plows, example garbage trucks have plows, makes for a better use of resources.

…and how well do each of those independent municipalities work together in tandem?

DC is south of the Mason Dixon line. In my experience living in the area 12+ years…it likes to think of itself as way more ā€œcosmoā€ than it really is (unless something really has changed fundamentally since then)

You can thank Pierre Charles L’Enfant for that. NYC (Manhattan) is a grid system as are most older NE cities which make for easier plowing. DC in that respect is a nightmare (actually it was designed to be confusing in anticipation of possible enemy invasions). Everything is built around the Capital Buildings…so just because you are on 17th st doesnt mean you are anywhere close to the correct 17th st (the NW, NE, SW, SE all have important meaning).
Then again…I had a friend who said you are never really lost in DC…you’re only 3 blocks from where you wanna be…its just knowing which 3 blocks.