How did you get your heart attack?

Shoveling three feet of snow.

Why were you shoveling snow?

So the first responders could reach me if I had a heart attack.

As you can see, I did not have a heart attack.  These words of irony did occur to me as I shoveled our walk to the street.

Why did you shovel out to the street?

So the mail carrier can get to our house.

Has the mail carrier come yet?

No, she hasn’t.  But it is still early considering the conditions.

If she is delayed, won’t the snow fill in again.

Please, don’t make me think about it.  You’ll give me a heart attack.

No new taxes, but lots of new costs

I just came back from the hardware store where I bought my second 50-lb. bag of salt, $21.99 per bag plus tax.

I have put no salt on the garage apron next to the alley, none on the sidewalk to the garage, a little bit on the sidewalk around the house, practically none on the front walk and steps.  I have put almost all the previous salt on the public sidewalk in attempt to get rid of the ice buildup from the street snow plowed on the sidewalk.

Now let's put some perspective on taxes and costs.  Our real estate taxes to the city are about $330, half what we pay to the county and about two-thirds what we pay to the school district.  The city taxes are what many people complain about the most.

Let's see if I can figure out Duluth's 2009 financial report correctly.  From the summary of revenues, expenses, and changes in net assets, page 17, Duluth spent 124.942 million dollars of which Public Works spent 7.616 million.  That's six percent of the city budget, or I paid far less than $20 per year for snow removal by the city.

But I've personally paid over $40 in 2011 for snow reduction.  I've spent many hours working on snow reduction, and there is still much to go.

I assume the city could keep my walk practically clear for far less money and in less time than I have.  But that would mean I would have to pay more taxes.  So, it is a good thing I'm paying more out of pocket for a bit of service than I would pay in taxes for more service.

I think I'll go have a cup of tea.

Snow removal – something only higher taxes can buy

To avoid taxes on residents for clearing sidewalks, cities by law expect that residents clear the sidewalks in front of their houses.  But to do so one must spend time and energy clearing the sidewalk or pay somebody else to clear the sidewalk; either one is a tax by inaction.  If one has a friendly neighbor volunteer to clear a walk, that time and energy is a tax on that neighbor.   Add to the time and energy the costs of snow shovels, ice chippers, snow blowers, and ice melt or sand.  Oh yes, gas and oil for the snow blower.  And in some cases heart attacks or muscle pain.

All of this is inefficient and more.  Hired snow clearers do a couple of houses in one area and move on to another.  Individual homeowners may or may not clear their walks at the same time or even on the same day.  Depending on the size of the boulevard, the sidewalk snow may be thrown into the yard, to become melt water in warmer weather, run across the sidewalk, and then freeze in colder weather.

People who might normally walk now drive for their own safety and comfort.  Parents who are concerned about their children's safety demand school buses, even for walks of less than a half-hour.  School buses are operated with tax money.

This cycle can be repeated several times in any given snow season, the snow pile getting higher and the frozen melt getting thicker.

Wouldn't it be more efficient and cost effective if the city were to remove as much plowed or blown snow as possible after each storm?  The state certainly does it on bridges and underpasses.  What if as soon as possible after plowing, the city came back with large snowblowers and trucks and removed the snow on boulevards?  What if next the city came back again and cleared and removed the snow from sidewalks?  It may be a lot of money up front, but the overall savings to the community might be very large.

If all else fails, let's resort to the argument that snow removal creates jobs.  Gosh, if there is tax money to induce a business to move to a city to "create jobs", can't there be tax money to "create jobs" to make a city more livable?

Government workers aren't productive?? Try this job!

I haven't taken time to read all the stories about the East Coast blizzard, but there seem to be a lot about the various governments not being prepared.  Do these critics want to pay the taxes necessary to have enough equipment and personnel ready to clear the snow?

The people who clear the snow work harder and longer than most of us would tolerate.  I know it's hard enough to drive a bus for eight hours on dry roads; try running a snow plow with obstacles everywhere you look.

In the case of New York City, they assigned park employees who normally took down trees to drive plows on city streets.  See "Obstacles at Every Turn for Plow Crew", New York Times, 2010-12-29.

Snow removal done in the wrong order by the wrong people

The cities and counties clear the roads as fast as they can. In fact, because we want efficiency, they go so fast that packed snow gets thrown on the sidewalks. It is now the property owners responsibility to remove this snow within 24-48 hours.

Some property owners get out promptly, often after removing the natural snowfall. Some property owners are not strong enough to do it at all. And some property owners don't even think about shoveling snow or downright refuse to do so. "The city put it there; let them remove it."

Meanwhile, the poor pedestrian is left to slog through this mess, sometimes with threat to life and limb. Some pedestrians walk in the street, putting both themselves and drivers at risk. Oh yes, don't forget the brave or foolhardy runners who are out everyday no matter the conditions.

In the interest of energy conservation, maybe we should reverse the responsibility. The city should be responsible for clearing the sidewalks of snow, and the property owners should be responsible for clearing the streets of snow.

This would discourage people from driving and encourage more walking and bus ridership.

It would also reduce taxes. Less expensive equipment and operators would be needed to clear sidewalks than to clear roads.

Finding gloves that work as claimed

I have many pairs of gloves, work gloves, dress gloves, and ski gloves and mittens. I sometimes where them in layers, either glove liners or bigger gloves over smaller gloves. Some of the gloves are cheap and some are moderately priced. None of them keep my hands warm in all conditions, even with hand warmers. Do I have to get mountain climber gloves to keep my hands warm.

When I try on a pair of gloves in a store, they seem so soft and cozy. When I start to use them, they sometimes feel almost useless.

I did see an online site for battery heated gloves, $249 for the four-ounce battery pack version and $349 for the lithium-ion version. I would like to find a store that has these. Why pay these prices and find out your hands are still cold?

When I ski, I find that my right thumb get colder before any other finger. This may because I whacked it with a hammer many years ago while in an awkward position. I call the cold thumb my early warning system.

Interestingly, if I'm outside walking or snowshoeing, my hands don't seem to get cold as often. I was using a $9.97 remainder table pair to blow snow yesterday and I had to go in before I was finished; I had done the same on previous occasions with "better" gloves.

I blew snow at the cabin today and started getting cold fingers. The temperature was about 20 degrees F.!! After lunch, we went snowshoeing and my hands stayed relatively warm for the 30-40 minute trek. Later I split wood and didn't get cold hands like I did last week. I wore the cheap gloves for all these activities.

I figured out why the gloves don't always keep my hands warm when I'm active. I'm gripping snowblower handles or ski poles or ax handles. The gloves are being compressed and lose some of their insulation properties, no matter how super-duper the seller claims they are. (I almost said manufacturer, but no matter what the brand, they all are labeled "Made in China".)

Maybe the next time I shop for gloves, I should ask for a warranted rating and not accept gloves with something like "Keeps you hands warm in all conditions" or "Our special liner gives more warmth." I should ask for gloves with a rating such as keeps your hands at 60 degrees F. for an hour or more when the temperature is -10 degrees.

You never know when you might have influence

Today's Duluth News Tribune had an article on the city council having a retreat to get to know each other and discuss some of the issues the face.

It was interesting to note that the council president, Roger Reinert, was interested in two issues that I had published this week: "snow removal and bringing train service to Duluth."

My "Local View", "Streets are plowed, but walkers must tread on ice" was published in today's Duluth News Tribune.

My regular bi-weekly column in the Reader Weekly was titled "Can even Superman stop this speeding locomotive?"