Snow removal has always been one of the shadiest sides of low level corruption. 5-6 years ago, Providence (perhaps statewide) passed a rule that you had to have a truck to bid a contract. I don't believe that has had any effect.

Careful, Patrick. According to the inestimable genius of RIFuture editor Bob Plain, a conservative complaining about inadequate snow removal is hypocritical and ironic ("So much for small govt!!").

Is this possibly a labor issue in NP and Pawt? You know, we do have privatization of trash collection (Pawt) and landscaping (NP) recently! Plus all those layoffs in Pawt.

Just sayin'. Any trucks observed doing nothing when they should have been plowing?

we were under a state of emergency, the National Guard needs to be on charge of directing snow removal statewide, what we have now is crap

Thanks for the heads up, Dan. Yeah, a small government type would be opposed to protection and infrastructure. Small govt != no govt. The hypocrisy would be if an anarchist was complaining about a lack of snow removal. I'm fine with paying taxes for things like protection and infrastructure. Snow removal from city streets falls in the infrastructure category.

Usually Plain's argument (if you can call it that) assumes the form that all libertarians are hypocrites because they use public roads (the No True Libertarian argument). The fallacy, or at least one of several fallacies in play, is the conclusion that operating within the current system somehow precludes advocating for change. Also, as you point out, reducting government incursion into some areas of life, especially the more dubious ones, does not logically require reducing government in all areas, such as public roads. Plain doubled down on the hypocrisy argument this weekend by tweeting that libertarians are "f***ing adorable" (thanks for keeping it civil, Bob) because Ron Paul filing an intellectual property law suit apparently makes him a hypocrite who loves big government. In any case, I found the original tweet itself ironic because complaining about poor public services is entirely consistent with contemporary conservative arguments against big government.

Rhode Island is under a state of emergency as declared by the governor and the National Guard was activated.

You had a blizzard; about 24 to 30 inches of snow fell across RI and you were able to move around the day after the blizzard with most major highways cleared.

Pawtucket, RI has a 40 year history of not adequately plowing primary and secondary roads in the city.

During the blizzard of 78 Woonsocket received official 38 inches of snow with 54 inches of snow unofficial count (Lincoln, RI unofficial snow count was 55 inches as reported by National Weather Service). My next door neighbor’s single story house was buried by a snow drift right over the roof and another neighbor had to exit his house out 2nd story window and I could walk out on to snow from my 2nd floor deck (8 ½ ft. high).

State of Rhode Island came to a standstill for 10 days; nothing moved.

You people are whining about snow removal when you can drive your cars one day after a blizzard!!!

Autistic Commenter Ken - I have a question. Do you actually see the world in numbers, like those green and black lines of code in The Matrix?

Dan,

Like I said, Pawtucket has a 40 year history of not plowing or contracting for the city to be plowed properly. Why would anyone expect any different during the blizzard of 13.

Makes me laugh that City of Providence became grid locked with 6 inches of snow and RI EMA took the blame talk about passing the buck!

All this whining about plowing after little snow fall makes me wonder what type of wimps the new generation of RI residents have become.

Try going 10 days shoveling for 10-12 hrs. a day to get to the end of your driveway and not seeing or hearing a plow moving for 9 days.

Wimps, wimps, wimps!!!

Posted by John:
"You know, we do have privatization of trash collection (Pawt)"

About 15 years ago I hired a guy to gut a building for me. His answer to everything, such as rental costs for dumpsters and dumping fees was answered with "Don't worry about it".

All questions were resolved when he showed up on the job with a Pawtucket garbage truck to pick up the plaster and lath.

I have to agree with Ken...the whiners are a bit out of line. I saw, when we had I power, TV interviews of people and read comments on local "patches." The total lack of understanding of the conditions the workers had to deal with, coupled with the " it's all about me" attitude many demonstrated made me embarrassed to be a Rhode Islander....

This isn't about the whiners or how much snow we got. Its about who is responsible for the removal. I don't remember state plows coming down my street in '78.

Thanks Max, but..

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!"

"wha.."

"Forget it. He's rolling."

Let him go. He's old, crotchety and wants to rant. Let him get it out of his system. He shoveled his driveway with 5 feet of snow, two miles, up hill, both ways. It's ok.

Why does anyone care what Bob Plain has to say?