Should the government be blamed?

Should the government be blamed?

  • Yes, the governor deserves the blame

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, this could have been prevented

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, Republicans are bad administrators

    Votes: 1 50.0%

  • No

    Votes: 1 50.0%
  • Total voters
    2
  • Poll closed .
B

Big Money

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The finger-pointing began almost immediately -- and with good reason.


A mere few inches of snow had shut down Atlanta, forcing school kids to spend the night at schools, stranding drivers on interstates and making the city a laughing stock.


As thousands of Atlanta commuters sat motionless on interstates Tuesday night into Wednesday, Georgia's governor said the path of the storm caught officials off guard.


"We have been confronted with an unexpected storm that has hit the metropolitan Atlanta area," Georgia Governor Nathan Deal told reporters.


CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said Atlanta had plenty of warning. The National Weather Service put the entire Atlanta metro area under a winter storm warning at 3:38 a.m. Tuesday morning. The agency warned of 1 to 2 inches of snow accumulation and said it would begin "as early as mid-morning."


Why did this happen? Who's to blame?


Governor Deal put much of the blame on the fact that everyone tried to go home at the same time, gridlocking highways for hours.


But the problem highlights how Atlanta and cities like it depend so exclusively on cars. While Atlanta has a commuter train system, it doesn't serve the metro area.


The city has a population of 1 million; the metro area, a population of 6 million.


And when offices and schools let out Tuesday, the masses got in their cars to head to the suburbs. An expansive public transportation system would have undoubtedly alleviated the ensuing traffic stress.


This week's debacle is also disturbing because if another catastrophe were to hit and roads were the only path out, Atlanta would be in the same situation again.


It was a common refrain from drivers who sat more than 10 hours on Atlanta roads: Where are the salting trucks? It's actually the state that's responsible for maintaining interstates -- where much of the gridlock occurred.


Ashley McCants half a day in her car before she gave up, got out and carried her son 2 miles to a stranger's house, where she could stay the night.


During those 12 hours, she didn't see a single salting truck or snow plow.


The Georgia Department of Transportation commissioner said crews had been deployed farther south, but then scrambled closer to Atlanta as the storm got under way.


But clearly the efforts weren't enough. "It was disheartening," McCants said. "I felt like everyone knew this was coming."


Said Gov. Deal, "We all have some lessons we need to learn here from this.




http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/30/us/atlanta-ice-how-it-happened/?sr=google_news&google_editors_picks=true
 
Do we blame the government when I step in dog poop on a sidewalk? I mean after all, they maintain them. They should be on top of that!

When Mother Nature strikes, you can't always prevent the consequences. This was a case of bad drivers being bad drivers, and causing other drivers problems. Once that happens, how do you get a snow plow through? How can you salt the roads when there are cars everywhere. Even here in Ohio, salt trucks and snow plows can't keep up with the snow sometimes, and they are well prepared for it. This was freakin 2-inchs. We can get 6 inches easy in a 2 hour period, with large drifts here and there. The difference is, most Ohioans know how to drive in it.
 
DigitalDave said:
Do we blame the government when I step in dog poop on a sidewalk? I mean after all, they maintain them. They should be on top of that!

When Mother Nature strikes, you can't always prevent the consequences. This was a case of bad drivers being bad drivers, and causing other drivers problems. Once that happens, how do you get a snow plow through? How can you salt the roads when there are cars everywhere. Even here in Ohio, salt trucks and snow plows can't keep up with the snow sometimes, and they are well prepared for it. This was freakin 2-inchs. We can get 6 inches easy in a 2 hour period, with large drifts here and there. The difference is, most Ohioans know how to drive in it.
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This is Legion, he was just taking the piss.
 
I don't know who is a Republican and who is a Democrat in GA, but I will say this clearly could have been handled better. I saw some official blaming the national weather service. School should clearly have been cancelled earlier. The road plowing could clearly have been more efficient... It was less than two inches.

But here is the thing, everyone demands perfection from their elected officials who they pay small salaries and whose budgets they keep cutting. You get what you pay for.

I have a lot of friends in Atlanta, I saw on facebook where one guy walked 23 miles home after stalling his car on the way home. Another guy who walked 12 miles to his kids school to stay with them. Lots of crazy stories, so far luckily none tragic.
 
We had 18 inches one night in Washington D.C. and I got to work the next day.
 
DigitalDave said:
At first I had no idea what he was saying, now I get it... lol. Well I have no idea who legion is but hopefully he was a decent dude...
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Unfortunately Legion = Big Money i.e. the board troll. Good to see you back however. Hope you are able to stick around and keep posting.
 
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