Thread by @45thabsurdist

Hey portland: How many times have you seen a plow since the snow started? how many of those plows were actually plowing?

have a theory, trying to see something.

seen 2 so far. neither plowing.

To clarify:
"Plowing" means the edge of the plow is in contact w/the road along most its length, continuously moving snow.

We clarify, because most PDX snow plows seem to feel that the above practice is too violent, and instead prefer to delicately hover 10" above the snow.

during the last proper Snowpocalypse, we once counted 12 plows going down the same street over the course of an afternoon. none had a blade in contact with the road, or the snowpack built up on top of said road.

Plowman's Paradox: if a plow is brought in contact with the pavement, it instantly renders the snow's depth too low to plow, & chains (used for traction on unplowed roads) would damage pavement.

PDX seems to treat this as an impossible conundrum. But the city of Buffalo exists.

There are plenty of adults presenting us with grown up adult reasons why the largest city in OR should drive plows all over & not bother plowing. As a counterpoint, let us present: Katy And The Big Snow: a book for children, about the importance of infrastructure maintenance.

It’d be cool if snow meant everyone got the day off. But lots of shit doesn’t actually shut down. People need to get places for work, medical appointments, just for starters. Plus the pandemic showed just how unwilling capitalism is to just take a fucking beat.

It’d even be cool if the city decided that people should stay home, avoid driving, and use public transit to keep roads safe. But oh wait.

https://twitter.com/trimetalerts/status/1360583900788097025

And even if everyone had their needs met and could stay home, then emergencies still happen. Emergencies during which it’s kinda important to be able to get to the hospital, for example. Or maybe you still need to make your dialysis appointment, even though it snowed yesterday.