MILWAUKEE — The leaves have just started falling, but it is not too early to talk about snow.
During a committee meeting with aldermen, Milwaukee's Department of Public Works leaders said last winter was especially rough with more than 3 feet of snow falling in a matter of 32 days.
In February, neighbors on North 41st Street were fired up over messy snow-covered streets and extremely tight spaces for cars.
It is a new season, but it's hard to forget how bad it got.
"Rough. Like I said, the city don’t come through here and plow very good," said Dexter Liggans who lives on 41st Street.
Laura Daniels, director of operations for DPW, said the changes aim to address issues like street parking and less experienced drivers. Daniels believes frustrations over snow removal operations last winter centered on a third of their drivers who had no experience plowing.
"Going into this winter we have filled more positions and we have concentrated more specifically on training and revamping our training systems for those new drivers," said Daniels.
Daniels said they currently have 360 drivers ready to go.
Other changes include streamlining routes, revising service agreements to do better maintenance on trucks early, reviewing winter parking regulations to improve compliance and getting the word out to residents and implementing a team to do around-the-clock clearing on sidewalks, corners and crosswalks.
Liggans was skeptical about how different this winter will be.
"Basically I’ll believe it when I see it," he said.
Liggans has an upcoming surgery so he is preparing for the worst.
Meanwhile, aldermen were insistent on concerns that DPW crews focus too much on main roads and not enough on residential areas. DPW plans to review how they deploy crews to residential streets.
