Aldermen, residents call DPW's response to winter storm unacceptable: Mayor Barrett responds

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Wednesday, December 30th weighed in on the painful wait for plows in the city of Milwaukee after Monday's winter storm dumped nine inches of snow in Milwaukee. This, one day after at least three aldermen took issue with the City of Milwaukee's Department of Public Works. There were still some streets in Milwaukee that hadn't been plowed.

Mayor Barrett says city officials are reviewing how Monday's storm was handled, but he added that there was so much more snow than expected, and that kept plows from reaching side streets sooner.

Multiple aldermen and residents say DPW's response to the snow was unacceptable. Some city officials say DPW crews should have had much more outside help than they did.

DPW crews visited Mose Fuller's block near 40th and Capitol at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.

The snow stopped falling late on Monday night.

"It was so bad then that the plow that tried to come down, they had cars that were stuck in the road and the plow couldn`t get around them," Fuller said.

DPW's response to Monday's storm has drawn harsh criticism from some aldermen and residents.

"The DPW administration dropped on the ball on this," Alderman Jim Bohl said.

Mayor Barrett says in addition to the nine inches of heavy, wet snow, high winds slowed down plow trucks and forced them to make multiple passes on main roads.

"Would we have preferred to have them cleared (Tuesday) morning? Absolutely, yes -- but I also know we got 50 miles-per-hour winds and a sudden change in the weather. It`s gonna make it difficult," Mayor Barrett said.

Bohl, along with Alderman Mark Borkowski and Alderman Bob Donovan say part of the problem is that the DPW should have 80 additional private plows for winter storms. The DPW had less than a quarter of that amount of private plows on Monday.

"If you need 80 and you only have 18 and you`re coming into the snow season, there ought to be some sense of urgency," Alderman Borkowski said.

"If this is an area where the aldermen want to revisit, I`m more than happy to talk to them about this and see whether that`s area we want to look at what the retainers would be and how much that would cost," Mayor Barrett said.

There is also continuing confusion over some empty recycling bins on some city blocks.

Jerome Lipinski says city crews came by and took his cart on Tuesday.

"Recycling was picked up right on schedule. Believe it or not, they did come out," Lipinski said.

This, after the DPW announced on Monday it was cancelling garbage and recycling pick-up Tuesday so crews could focus on plowing.

"We were surprised it was picked up because of the weather," Lipinski said.

This is just adding to the frustration felt by a number of city officials and residents.

"They failed miserably and I just hope it doesn`t happen again," Fuller said.

DPW officials say 27 vehicles were towed during this storm. These vehicles were obstructing alleys, driveways or traffic.

Towing only occurs when a Snow Emergency is declared, and there was no Snow Emergency for Monday's storm.

However, vehicles that are blocking traffic, driveways and alleys are towed regardless, and that's why the 27 vehicles were towed.

CLICK HERE for the DPW's "Winter Parking Regulations" page.

Alderman Joe Davis, who is running for mayor, issued this statement Wednesday on DPW's response to the storm:

Alderman Bob Donovan issued another statement Wednesday, reading as follows: