The small streets off Harford Rd.-in Baltimore County- were plowed as well. The contrast at the City line was undeniable. Sad. Bet Ashburton got plowed too.

Wow, don't you think you're special... The government is targeting your specific neighborhood on purpose - get real!

So you grew up in Baltimore and the streets were always plowed - yeah, every other time we had two 20"+ snowfalls in 5 days they were plowed - oh wait, that hasn't happened since you've been alive...

If you're out today, you street must be passable, let's be patient, don't think you're so special to be specifically targeted by the government, it's all over the city, pockets of unplowed streets. I'm sorry but it's more important to have two full width lanes on roads like Harford and Belair than scraping your already passable road to the bare road.

Very appropriate captcha - cuckoos cooperate

You are very right to be angry, my neighborhood isn't clear yet too, luckily I'm within short walking distance the essentials. However, I have heard that Homeland also was tired of waiting for the city and may have hired a private company to plow the street. I think the entire city regardless of neighborhood can agree that city and new mayor have dropped the ball on this storm.

I'm getting a little tired of hearing people complain that the city "should have" done this and that. This is a record-breaking, historic amount of snow that just got dumped on us. If the city had the capacity to respond to it the same way it does to a more typical 6-12" snowfall, that equipment would sit idle for 9 winters out of 10, and you would be complaining about the additional amount you're paying in taxes, as Mr. Dresser has alluded previously. While I'm sure the city's response leaves room for improvement, it's ludicrous to suggest that they are in some way failing to meet a reasonable standard. My car has been stuck on a small side street adjacent to Federal Hill since last Friday, and now that I have found a hardware store that still has shovels, you can bet I'll be out there doing it myself tomorrow because the city has bigger problems than mine to worry about.

To respond to your opening questions:
1. Nobody is suggesting that you need to pay extra for these services. Your tax dollars are still paying for them, but if there is one side street where they have ten requests for service, and one street where they have two - maybe because everybody is stuck trying to get a flight home from Orland, maybe because it just isn't that bad there - guess which one is getting plowed first?

2. By reading the paper (online if it isn't getting delivered), listening to the radio, or watching TV. How does anyone ever get information?

3. Because everyone else wants to get their street plowed too.

4. Sometime after everybody stops complaining and picks up a shovel to lend a hand already.

I am confused by Ms.Allwine's letter. If she shoveled out her street, why does she need it plowed? My street was plowed to a barely passable condition after the first storm and I suspect her's was as well. I don't know why anyone would say they have paid to have their street plowed to the asphalt, you pay taxes for city services not specifically for snow removal on your street in Hamilton. I think the city could have done a better job but I think Maria should learn to be much more patient. The day after the second storm backhoes and plows got my street to asphalt so I think calling for the heads of the mayor and governor over these unprecedented storms is totally outrageous and should not have been propagated by Mr. Dresser. Finally, how about an update when her street is cleared?

Maria is ABSOLUTELY correct. Anyone who would defend the actions/decisions the city makes is either under the sway of theses wretched politicians, or so relentlessly positive and fuzzy that they are out of touch with reality. This is ONE thing that unites the city (record snowfall), that enlightens those who are have nots/non-political players to the fact that these people are incompetent and NEED TO BE GONE. The citizens need to remember this come election time. Seriously could a bunch of newly elected politicians do any worse than these seasoned veterans. My answer is an unequivocal NO. After they were not behind the wheel of the plows. The crime, the schools, the trash, the thieving politicians (caught or not), the vacant houses/derelict entire neighborhoods. One thing I can tell you about Baltimore is regardless of whether our leaders have been black or white male or female, not much has improved over the last 20 years for the average citizens. The rich got richer, new shiny buildings went up, property values went up, then DOWN (while for tax purposes they only went UP). Crime has remained rampant, our schools have shown little progress (although I think Alonozo is the man for the job. Remember this well come November, and think about making a clean sweep of these BUMS. The time has come Baltimore, I'm sick to death of it and am working to change it. While I have spoken in generalities, I have spoken only the truth. Thank you Maria, and to poster FRANK this local government targets and doesn't target as it pleases and as I said before which are you, connected in the pocket, or way out of touch. The Dixon fiasco was like looking into a keyhole, but the view and problem are FAR bigger ...

Plowing certainly hasn't been terrific with this storm, but what struck me was how much of an improvement it was over the first blizzard. Side roads notwithstanding, the main roads in Charles Village (St. Paul, Charles, University, etc.) were all cleaner Thursday morning than Tuesday afternoon. We hardly saw plows after the first storm, but they were hard to avoid this time around. Where were they the first time? The City learned something (credit to them!)--but I'm still curious what they learned.

COMMENT: The first storm generally brought more and heavier snow. That could account for it.

How about adding any of the streets in Bolton Hill to that list? Haven't seen a plow here yet - and it's already Saturday!!!!

My neighbors and I did our street both days. We live on the border of the city/county in Gardenville. The city side. As far as we all could guess, it's been at least 5 years, more likely 10 years since a plow has been by.

SO WHY WAS THERE A BOBCAT REMOVING SNOW IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD AT 5:30 SUNDAY MORNING, ON A ROAD THAT WAS ALREADY MADE PASSABLE?

Done with venting. Sorry for yelling.

I completely agree with Maria's outrage at the absence of street plowing in the city. As a long-time city resident, I was willing to cut the city a break for the first couple of days after the storm. But, it's now four days since the last blizzard and our streets still aren't plowed. I find it absolutely ridiculous that city leaders, including our new mayor, choose to chastise the public for complaining when we are paying for these services with our incredibly high property taxes. I hadn't noticed the city offering to cut me a break on my taxes b/c of their lack of responsiveness. It's absurd.

Maria's last name is quite apropos.

She can't expect to receive a positive response with an attitude like that. She should have slept on it before sending this letter. It's way too long and rambling for a simple request (plow my street, please), unless the only goal was to vent.

Plus, the personal problems seem way too "convenient" - bad back, elderly neighbors, no job, increasing mortgage payment... Not sure I buy it.

I drove around the city today and in general the street clearing job is pretty pathetic. But no one ever got a street plowed by insulting the people who are responsible for clearing it.

My street wasn't plowed, so I got a ride to work for a week until is was passable. An alley behind my building wasn't plowed, so neighbors teamed up and cleared the entire alley without the city's help so they could get their cars out. Almost everyone was negatively affected by the snow. It sucks, but we can all deal with it without the pervasive attitude of entitlement. In all your years in Baltimore, you have never seen snow like this, so don't expect everything to go according to your plan or what you think you remember.

If the city is going to choose not to plow some streets, I only hope they choose the streets where the residents share this poor attitude.

Gimme a break. I lived on the 2900 block of Westfield for 15 years. That street was NEVER plowed, and in speaking to my old best friends parents, who still live there...it still isn't. Such is life. The city didn't plow the alley where I park my car, the residents of the alley shoveled their front walk INTO the alley...but knowing I had to go to work...I shoveled the alley. I didn't wait for the city to come along and do it. Oh, and O'Malley is right, quit complaining, and be patient...they are getting to it. Seriously how fast do you think that something like claering the snow from every city street should actually materialize??

I feel the need to respond to a couple of the comments here. Everything in my letter, especially regarding my husband and myself is true and I find it odd that anyone would question that. It seems to me that only someone who is not experiencing hardship would do so. In fact I have left out some salient points that would dismay most because they are too personal. But what's really sad is that many people are far worse off than we are.

My husband and I, along with the people we paid and a few neighbors further up, cleared our street twice so no one here was waiting for a plow. It is now well over a week since the initial snow and our neighborhood has yet to see a plow or anything resembling a plow. Some of the streets in our neighborhood are still impassable.

This is not about me or my husband, it's about the undeniable fact that this city's government does not serve its citizens; it serves the economic and political elite and my point about tax breaks for developers is but one item that underscores that. I think people who understand what has happened regarding how this city's government functions - or to speak truth - does not function understand what my letter is really about. As long as people remain passive in the face of the continuing corruption of government (which results in the ongoing decrease of services on the federal, state and local level), our society will continue to deteriorate. That this city has been unable to provide the essential service of plowing away snow while lying about it should anger everyone. Don't you wonder just where your taxpayer dollars are going? Don't you think you should demand your elected officials provide this service? Don't you wonder as you drive over streets with even larger and more dangerous potholes (requiring more front end alignments) how long it will take the city to fix them? If we don't demand our taxpayer dollars benefit all of us, then they will continue to benefit the few. If we are afraid to get angry and hold our elected officials accountable, then we will get nothing, which is what we will deserve if we remain passive.

This writer is absolutely correct. The wealthy neighborhoods are plowed to exceptionally clear conditions under the circumstances. I drove throughout Mount Washington and was astonished at how clear it was from the wide lanes to the most narrowest of lanes. The snow has been plowed all the way to the curb. On my street in upper Northwood, and streets in Govans nothing was plowed. We have been shoveling and shoveling the streets ourselves as best we can. The mayor needs to be aware that her Public Works team has failed her.

Interesting range of responses. Frank and Phil tell us more about themselves than they might feel comfortable about on reflection. It's true that some parts of the city get poor plowing - and have done so for a long, long time. It's also true that the wealthy areas get first-rate service. However, I agree with Maria; the plowing in the northeast areas around Hamilton has been in recent years extremely poor, and for people in neighborhoods trending more and more to a mixture of elderly, disabled and simply lazy residents this puts a big burden on those who can and will shovel not just the sidewalks but the streets as well. 30-40" of snow is simply asking too much for 3-4 people on a block to handle. The city, I am pleased to say, sent out crews with front-end loaders and dump trucks starting last Friday afternoon and were still clearing as of this morning. I sympathize with Odie, but I'm just glad to see the roads get done - many had not been touched since the first storm started. Hopefully we won't be faced with such a situation again any time soon.

I'm sure that the Homewood residents probably paid to have their roads plowed privately this time around. I was housesitting in that neighborhood after the December snow and it wasn't plowed once.

My issue is that I left my car in my downtown garage from Feb 4 until this weekend, and now I don't have anywhere to park because the snow emergency is still in effect, meaning that I can't utilize any of the street parking available. Our back roads (Oakenshawe, N or Charles Village) are barely passable and the few spots there are being claimed with lawn chairs. Where am I supposed to go?

I think the city needs to have a more targeted approach to clearing the snow emergency routes, because having them all restricted while few areas are actually being cleared is not efficient. They also should have started towing sooner. There are cars that still haven't been touched on University Parkway.

Frustrating! I thought I was helping by keeping my car off the road, but I think next time I will park on a side street so that I can claim parking after digging out.

I can't agree with the threatening and grandstanding stance of this letter, but I can sympathize with the emotions that brought it forth. I live off of Glenmore Avenue in Hamilton (Glenham Belford to be precise) and the response has been frustrating to say the least. The only clear parts of our street are the sections which were dug out by hand. I'm anxiously awaiting the shipping and delivery of the propane torch I ordered to try and do something about the 3 inches of ice on the street in front of my house.

My frustration comes from the response from the city. A call to 311 got me the information that they've had a ticket in their system since February 6th to try and do something about the condition of our roads, and as of Sunday night, it hadn't even been looked at. Today was the first time I've been able to leave a message for Councilman Curran's office. Up until this afternoon, his voicemail had been full.

This was a historic storm, and we have to expect some difficulty in digging ourselves out. But don't have our new mayor on TV every night asking people to come out and help shovel out schools, and talking about how great the city is doing, when some of us are still risking our persons and property trying to get to and from our homes.

I live on Burgess Avenue off of Westfield in Hamilton. We have not received a plow in either storm. We have cleared our sidewalks but the street is iced over and impossible to clear with shovels. We have all but beggged Curran/the mayor/311 to give us help, no-one has even bothered to respond to us. Many of us missed work AGAIN today because we cannot get out. I don't think our policians realize just how furious this neighborhood is about this lack of response. They will find out at election time.

I'd like an update on this story by a reporter. Has the street been plowed now? When? Thanks for not posting my earlier comment btw Mr. Dresser. Do all Sun bloggers have a political ax to grind?

My street has stillnot been plowed. I live in Cedonia/Belmar/Raspeburg off of Belair Road and cedonia avenue.

not only have we seen zero plows, but the roads a literally 7 inche deep pot holes of ice.

sure, we dug out our street in front of our house and down to the corner, but we can be expected to shovel 2 blocks in front of a school and church that have not been plowed yet.

I also have multiple cititrack requests into the 311 system, the first one submitted on February 8th. It is still open......no one will respond. No one will answer the phone or call back.

We have the highest taxes in Marylanf...every other county side street and residential street is clear....EXCEPT the city.

The last snowflake fell 6 days ago.....this is unacceptable.

I think she has all rights to have her voice heard. She pays taxes just like the rest of us. How would you feel if you gave a kid $20 and asked him to shovel your walks if it snowed, and then when it snowed he went and shoveled someone elses walk instead? The state had plenty of time to prepare for the snow and yet it seems as though there was very little planning done. i'm pretty sure that the Mayors and the governors streets were both completly plowed - probably multiple times during the storm.
I don't see a problem in filling up a truck with some snow and taking it over to the gov's street and drop it on his driveway.

I now live in the county since 1996, however I lived in the city in 1996 during the storm and the writer is correct. The affluent neighborhoods get taken care of quite quickly. We lived in Govans at the time and we were literally stranded for 5 days. Our roads were impassible even big trucks got stuck. The neighborhoods where people live that need to get out and go to work, as lord knows you can't miss work due to snow are most often the least taken care of. I can't believe the difference in the county and the city. I will never live in the city again for that reason. And those ice melting machines, maybe the city should just break down and buy one instead of renting it for $300 an hr.

Maria has the right to complain. It's all in where you live. Hamilton [and other less affluent neighborhoods] have been screwed.

I live in the Loch Raven corridor of the city and as of 1:45 p.m. today, have not received any service fromt he City of Baltimore. I've made calls to 311, which have went unanswered. It is sad that with the amount of taxes paid in Baltimore City, the services are poor to none for some residents. I do not anticipate receiving any services at this point. Instead of complaining, citizens may now see the need to be more proactive in having our voices hear at council meeting. I have lost all faith of our elected officials and do not appreciate them feeling like we should not complain. This is the sad truth.

Update: After speaking with Ann Marie Doory, who called me yesterday in response to my letter to Mr. Curran, the streets in Hamilton Hills have been plowed once by DPW employees. They are in better shape now and many that were impassable are now relatively passable. I thank Ms. Doory for her response and her efforts. However, I should not have had to write the letter and Ms. Doory should not have had to be the one to get the plows here. I repeat - we taxpayers who pay the highest property and municipal income taxes should not allow our elected city officials to place our common needs LAST on their list. It's a matter of priorities - common needs first and taxbreaks and the like to developers and favored campaign contributors should not be on the list at all, especially in these times of defunding of local and state governments.

First, a lot of the "wealthier" neighborhoods pay for private companies to plow their street. Second, if the neighborhood is a "wealthy" neighborhood then that means that the citizens there are paying higher property taxes and city and state income taxes. You contribute more to the city budget, you deserve to have your streets plowed first. Call it unfair if you want, it's the way the world works.

Responding to Mr. Richards; We all pay the same property and municipal income tax rate, so your assertion that the wealthier neighborhoods should be plowed first is disingenuous. In fact, since we poorer folks pay the same rate as the wealthier, more of our income is eaten up by taxes for those who can least afford it, increasing the gross economic inequality which is ruining the country. What you're saying translates to if the wealthy are paying more dollars, they should be plowed first and those of us who are poorer should be plowed - whenever or not at all. I call that class war. How about basing this on the common good and we're all in this together regardless of who has more money and who contributes more to campaigns. We'd be a healthier country and a happier people for it.

COMMENT: For the record, the city insists that neither wealth nor politicall clout plays a role in which neighborhoods are given priority in plowing. It should be noted that by Baltimore standards, Hamilton Hills is far from an impoverished community.

Yes, the same rates. Rated on higher incomes and property value assessments. You do the math.

What's ruining this country is not "economic inequality" but the constant crying about economic inequality. There is not anything fundamentally wrong with economic inequality. People are not all economic equals and life is not fair. Some people are smarter than others. Some people have some natural athletic or artistic talent. This translates into a difference in income levels and I do not think it is unreasonable for the folks who on the whole contribute a more significant chunk to the city budget to be placed higher on the priority order when it comes to city services. They invest more into the city and should receive a return on that investment.

That said, 5 days since the last snowfall(discounting last night's 0.1 inch) it is ridiculous that some streets haven't been plowed at all and they're still investing resources downtown and in the Mount Vernon/Charles Village area. The thing is you may see that as preferential treatment but to me it's annoying because they keep plowing where it's not needed and pushing new mountains of snow and ice into the crosswalks and blocking the driveways that I had already cleared by hand.