By Robert Remler
Mike Daly, a resident of Sumpter Place, was not satisfied with how the village handled snow removal. "This proves to me," he said then, "that the village wasn't ready and should be better prepared the next time."
One year later, village officials said they are better prepared to remove snow from the streets of Valley Stream.
Village Clerk Vincent Ang said that special preparations were taken by the beginning of November, instead of following the usual procedure of waiting until December. He said that snow trucks have already been prepared for operation.
"All repairs to the trucks and plows were done ahead of time," said Mr. Ang. In previous years, repairs to snow trucks were done later in the winter or right before the trucks were sent out into the streets.
The village now has more vehicles equipped with snowplows than before, Mr. Ang said. "We should have an adequate number of vehicles to hit the snow early."
The village budgeted $150,000 for snow removal this year, the same as budgeted for 1999, according to Mr. Ang. He added that this is almost three times the $41,000 the village budgeted in '98.
The village will have eight sanders on the road and 12 trucks equipped with plows. Seven sanding trucks, nine plows and two payloaders were used last year.
Nicholas Camarano, deputy superintendent of public works, defended his crew's work during January's storm. The iced roads were due to a "drop in temperature that contributed greatly" to what irritated some residents, he said.
Before even one snowflake has fallen on the village's 90 miles of streets, 350 tons of salt are stored in a shed in Arlington Yards, said Mr. Camarano. The village had 280 tons of salt on hand when that memorable snow hit Valley Stream in January. The village already has 150 yards of sand stored as well. Mr. Camarano said that getting extra sand is not a problem because it comes from a local vendor.
In past years, the village has used a blend of sand and salt when attacking streets during a snowstorm. This year, Mr. Camarano said he wanted to get away from a reliance on sand because that material causes additional work. When sand is dropped on streets, it tends to fill drainage systems and creek beds, he said. Additionally, sand needs to be cleaned up after it has been spread on the roads.
When the village relies more on salt this year, Mr. Camarano said that he did not believe it would be a "hazard to the conditions of the road." He said the village roads have withstood salt and sand since the 1930s.
