Philadelphia is bringing in hundreds of workers to help with snow removal
Eight days after a strong snowstorm, getting around Philadelphia is still a hassle.
"It's terrible. These streets around here are really bad," Chas Borger said outside his home on Brighton Street in Northeast Philly.
Borger said he's only seen one play since the snow fell, and maybe a few salt trucks. Brighton is one of the many neighborhood streets left dealing with packed-down snow and ice.
The city's efforts to clear the mess drew mixed reviews from people who spoke with CBS News Philadelphia.
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"They come down and take that layer off, it'd be a lot better," Borger said.
"In Central Philly, yeah," said Matt Sliger, an Uber and Lyft driver in the city. "But like the outsides, like Kensington area and up here where we are now, I don't feel they've put enough effort into those smaller areas."
City leaders said Monday they've made good progress in cleaning up after the storm. At an unrelated event at City Hall on Monday, Mayor Cherelle Parker said that through the storm, the city has melted more than 4 million tons of snow, laid down 15,000 tons of salt and treated around 85% of city roads at least once.
But officials acknowledge a lot more work needs to be done. A week of arctic air, they say, has compounded those efforts, leading to little melt-off and the city having to bring in specialized equipment.
"Skid-steer equipment. Front-end loaders. We literally had to shut down blocks in order to access those smaller locations. That takes a tremendous amount of time, coordination and resources," said Carlton Williams, director of the city's Office of Clean and Green initiatives.
But specifically for the neighborhoods, leaders say more help is on the way.
Parker announced that, starting Tuesday, the city would be bringing in 300 same-day work-and-pay workers to directly hit residential areas.
"300 more ambassadors who are on our streets in residential neighborhoods across the city working residential communities," Parker said. "Helping us to clear streets and break up that ice."
The residential streets haven't been the only challenge for people trying to get around, though. Even on streets that have been thoroughly cleared, plowed snow has sometimes piled into lanes of traffic, making commutes slower.
"There's a lot of double-parking and trying to basically get around people when you can," Sliger said.
Williams said over this past weekend, crews were focused on school crossings, bus stops, ADA ramps, and SEPTA entrances, an effort to more effectively move people to work and school. Now, he says, efforts will turn to those large snow mounds that have piled up near intersections.
"Not only down here in Center City, but in local neighborhoods," Williams said. "We're focusing on removing those because they present hazards as well."
City officials did not have a timeline on when the cleanup work would be completed, but Parker stressed crews would continue until every city street and sidewalk was passable.