I’ve been taking a ton of pictures too.
First off, is the guy with the shades, cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth, who was spinning a Caterpiller 928G front end loader around a cul de sac with speed, precision and grace. He came within inches of mailboxes and took out nary a one.
He was actually fun to watch.
The CAT Guy was actually part of a hit team that suddenly descended upon our neighborhood late yesterday. Until that point our roads had been largely impassable without a four wheel drive since Friday night. The county wasn’t responsible for clearing our roads either. They have yet to be dedicated to the county by the developer so that means the developer still has to clear the snow.
They tried to keep up with The Big Kahuna but the equipment they bought to the game was not up to the task. By early Saturday morning they were beaten back and not heard from again. Calls and emails to the developers’ management office went unanswered.
Then a neighbor called Dr. Taylor at home. Dr. Bruce Taylor is the namesake Taylor of Taylor Village in Ellicott City. That neighbor then shared Dr. Taylors home number with the neighborhood email list.
Before you know it we’ve got the CAT Guy doing his front end loader snow dance on our streets. CAT Guy had help too. Dr. Taylor himself was piloting a black SUV with a plow on the front.
“I appreciate your patience,” he said to me as I stood watching the heavy equipment performance from my driveway.“I’m impressed to see you out here too,” I replied.
He further explained that that the phones and computers had gone down at the management company offices, hence nobody could answer phones or emails.
In Columbia some merchants have taken advantage of the new roadside snow mountains to openly flaunt the towns strict sign guidelines.
I spotted this advertisement for Ledo’s on Oakland Mills Road. I was also told that there were others around town as well. 
4 comments:
Our neighborhood Bobcat was already working tonight pushing the new snow around.
http://www.hedgehogreport.com/lookingathowardcounty/?p=25
Cool. For as much as Howard County spent on the skate spot, they could have purchased an extra Cat wheel loader.
Or a fleet of 5 or 6 could have been purchased for the $1MM that was spent on the Healthy Howard Access Plan, which has benefitted about 400 people.
So for all those folks in cul-de-sacs who didn't get plowed out until Monday, take comfort in that your sacrifice made the skate spot and HHAP possible. :-)
Now, for all of us who use our brain memory space for more important things, what is the new trash and recycling day?
The reason people don't commit the county policy to memory is because:
1) policies change 2) exceptions are made to the rules 3) the rules are unreliable.
Just pick up the stuff on the regular day, regardless of missed days. No more nested if-then-else policies on trash and recycling pick up, please.
Can someone explain why that blowhard Angie Beltram is the go-to person for the Sun and HoCo Times for every story profiling complaints against the county?
Surely there are other people pissed at Ulman, the Council, the snowplow operators, and the Korean churches.....
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