I was excited to see this and hope that Mayor Nutter and other city officials read our local newspapers and react to community needs.  As I look out the window and watch the snowflakes fall, I expect we will find out soon.  I would love to think that a story like this could make a difference.   Time will tell.  Stay warm, everyone!!

]]> http://melissahassey.com/2010/02/melissa-hassey-guest-columnist/feed/ 2 http://melissahassey.com/2010/02/the-other-4-of-philly/ http://melissahassey.com/2010/02/the-other-4-of-philly/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:55:42 +0000 melissa http://melissahassey.com/?p=2336 According to Mayor Nutter, 96% of Philadelphia’s streets have been plowed.  WHAT?!  REALLY?!  My assumption is that Fishtown (and I have heard South Philly) were the exception to this.  Our entire neighborhood has been a disaster.  Now, nearly 2 weeks after the storms, it is still unsafe to drive down our streets.  I have watched numerous accidents and so many cars slipping, sliding and getting stuck in the 6+ inch holes of ice that have formed.

Yesterday morning there was a tractor trailer immobilized from these holes for almost 2 hours.  A tow truck came along but couldn’t make its way down the street.  Instead it parked way down at the corner and set up cables to “rope” the truck in.

It is tough to see in this picture…. but the red by the wheel of the truck is the cable….

Later in the day, after watching numerous other vehicles struggle down the street, another car was completely disabled.  Some neighbors, a couple of guys from the surrounding cars, and I shoveled, picked and pushed the car until eventually the guy got out.

After that, a neighbor suggested that we all get together and dig out the street ourselves since, clearly, the city wasn’t going to help us.  So, we grabbed our shovels, axes and sledgehammers and slowly but surely neighbors got home from work and came out of their homes to help.  We ended up with a group of about 15.  This all started around 5pm and we didn’t finish until around 9:30pm.  And, yes, we bitched a lot about Philadelphia taxes, the Mayor and the all too forgotten neighborhood of Fishtown….  but in the end, we did it and I am so proud!

Happily we can all now drive down our block of Memphis Street without concern.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for most of the surrounding streets.  In fact, just this morning a car was stuck and struggling on the next block down from us.  Sigh….

Though I know I am not the only one that is very sore today with burning and blistered hands, I am happy that we did it!  Maybe other blocks will be encouraged and do the same…. 

My photos are not quite the best as it was extremely dark outside and I really couldn’t feel my fingers or manipulate my lens well.  Besides, I was anxious to get back to work…..  Even still, here you go..

With 6″-8″ of pure ice, this, clearly, was not easy work:

even the kids helped out!!  And, I assure you that these are 2 very strong and determined girls.

try picking that up with 2 hands!

I love that it looks like Carl has a mustache in this picture….