Well, here we go again. Schools in Asheville have canceled today. Yet, I look outside and see just a dusting of snow and clear roads. Now, granted, there are areas that did get a few inches overnight and the roads had frozen. Icy roads are not easy for anyone to drive on, much less school buses. But, I still think there could have been at least a late start. The majority of students could have made it to school by 10:30 this morning. And for those who could not, then they could have been excused and given notes they missed.
I guess there is some reason for concern, however. Although there have been no issues recently with school bus drivers, Asheville City Transit drivers have had some bad accidents lately.... running over a lady which resulted in her losing her legs, hitting an elderly gentleman who died due to his injuries and some dude driving drunk. The City needs to be sued for those instances, in my opinion. They did settle with the woman who had to have her legs cut off. She was awarded $80,000. Not very much if you ask me. What kind of life is she going to have (don't remember her age) and is $80,000 really going to be all that she needs? And remember, her attorney got a third of that settlement, leaving her with much less.
But, back to the school buses. Asheville and Buncombe County are just not prepared for any type of bad weather. And I don't understand why. We live in the mountains, people. It snows. Some years more than others, but it does snow and we know there are roads that have issues and need more attention than others. Why haven't we spent the money to keep our roads clear? Perhaps if our City Council and County Commissioners had not given so many tax breaks to outside developers over the years to tear down our mountains, we could have bought a few more plows. What a concept, eh? Choosing our children over the developers. Won't happen. Not in Asheville, anyway.
THANK YOU! I was wondering the same damned thing!
ReplyDeleteWhile deciding to close schools is a local school board issue, the topic of unsafe/un-scraped roads is a state issue. The Department of Transportation is responsible for prepping roads for bad weather and clearing them once the snow begins. While our local DOT folks try their hardest to keep our roads clear, at some point they are restricted due to a lacking budget (that pays for the salt/sand/slurry they use and the technicians applying those materials to the road and scraping the roads) and lacking equipment.
ReplyDeleteIf our lawmakers in Raleigh realized that the state of North Carolina didn't stop at Charlotte (Hello Politicians, there ARE people west of Mecklenburg county!!!) and that those of us in the Western part of the state tend to get a liiiiiiiiiiittle more snow than the triangle region, they may provide more funding for equipment and the tools need to make sure our roads are safe.
This is ALSO why we have an issue with the school calendar...because Raleigh lawmakers have decided what is best for the Eastern part of the state (starting school late), without considering the bad weather the Western part of our state experiences.