Dressed in jeans, boots, sweaters and flannel shirts, the brain trust of Mayor Richard Daley’s administration came by train, bus and car this weekend to City Hall.
Daley himself put in a full day Saturday and trudged back to work Sunday, a day he usually sets aside for himself and his family. He and his advisers talked about clearing streets, closing schools and making sure there were enough beds for homeless people.
But the underlying theme of this weekend’s meetings–and of every snow-related disaster meeting at City Hall during the last 20 years–was simple: how to prevent the storm from becoming a political avalanche.
The Daley administration, facing a mayoral primary in less than two months, answered the question with a snow-removal juggernaut–with a price tag estimated in the millions.
Garbage-truck drivers and street sweepers set aside their regular jobs to drive snowplows and salt spreaders, working 12- and 16-hour shifts since Thursday night.
Meanwhile, 280 snowplows were deployed throughout the city, nearly eight times as many as the city had during the 1967 snowstorm, the worst in history. The city annually buys a virtual mountain of salt–this year it’s 300,000 tons.
For good measure, city officials called out 125 private snowplows and front-loaders that are kept on retainer–sitting idle in a parking lot through the winter months–for just such an emergency.
There’s a cost, of course, for political comfort. Though Daley declined to detail how much the city spent this weekend, several other city officials put the figure well into the millions.
It’s likely to take a sizable chunk out of the $12 million the city sets aside for snow removal every year, according to Streets and Sanitation spokesman Terry Levin.
“I don’t know what (the cost) is, but we spared no expense,” said Dennis Culloton, spokesman for the Department of Aviation.
Eight years ago, during his first months in office, Daley was criticized–one alderman gave him a “D” grade–for his handling of a snowstorm that crippled a Wednesday evening rush hour.
Said mayoral adviser David Axelrod, “Any mayor in any administration who doesn’t feel an absolute sense of urgency when there’s a major winter storm like this is someone planning for their next career.”
For this storm, the city’s operation was receiving mostly positive reviews, though many acknowledged that Daley’s political fortunes were helped by the fact that the storm struck over a holiday weekend and that he had plenty of warning from forecasters.
Twenty years ago, a mighty snowstorm smothered then-Mayor Michael Bilandic’s re-election chances, and Jane Byrne went on to an upset victory.
Once mayor, Byrne concentrated her energies on making sure she didn’t suffer the same political death, pouring money into snow-removal equipment and road salt.
“After that experience (in 1979) everyone learned the lesson that one thing you better do when the snow falls is, if you don’t catch it, you’d better pick it up real fast,” said Axelrod.
In the city’s 50 wards Sunday, many aldermen who are seeking re-election were taking nervous tours of their wards. Most of them lauded the cleanup effort and could only muster a minor gripe about their alleys remaining unplowed.
“It looks sensational,” said Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48th). “My arterial streets have been completely cleared and perfect since morning, and most of my side streets are at least passable. This has been a miraculous attack on the snow.”
Added Ald. Brian Doherty (41st): “Ever since ’79, (city workers) drill and drill with plans for snow removal. They know what’s at risk. This time, I think they’ll get a pretty good grade.”
Ald. John Buchanan (10th) joined the few voices of discontent. “We’re anticipating and waiting eagerly for all the great things that . . . the mayor has talked about on television,” Buchanan said. “We’re waiting for some of the great side-street plowing that hasn’t begun yet.”
But even Daley’s opponent in the mayoral primary made only a half-hearted jab and said he would not make it a central issue in the campaign.
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Opponent U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) described the storm cleanup as just one example of a larger problem, “the historical lack of city services” in minority neighborhoods.
“King Drive (on the South Side) might have had one instance of a plow,” said Rush, who toured the city Saturday night. “On Clark Street (on the North Side), at 10 p.m. you could actually see pavement, the white lines all the way down. This is a real crystal-clear, stark example of the disparities.”
On Sunday, though, Daley praised his employees’ weekend work and appeared calmed by the notion that the worst was over–and that his political future was intact. “It’s all advance time,” said Daley, “It’s all preparation.”
And none of it comes free.
At the city’s airports, for instance, employees worked overtime and officials leased extra equipment from private contractors to clear runways.
The Department of Environment dispatched scores of employees to deposit 65,000 sandbags along Lake Shore Drive in an attempt to keep waves from crashing onto the roadway.
And at any given moment this weekend, the Department of Streets and Sanitation had 1,400 workers driving heavy machinery and pushing shovels to free the roads. Most of them were paid time-and-a-half or double time depending on the day.
The department also tapped into a pool of heavy equipment that it leases from private industry and mothballs in city lots during the winter months, using it only for emergencies.
Levin, the spokesman, said Sunday that he couldn’t determine how much the city spent to lease the equipment and hold it on reserve. Through the city’s relatively mild recent winters, the city has called upon the private equipment about once a year, officials said.
Levin argued, however, that the city actually saves money because private contractors charge exorbitant rates during emergencies.
There also is a human cost. A Streets and Sanitation worker who has driven a salt spreader said crews were exhausted after working three 16-hour days in a row.
The driver, who requested anonymity, said he finally pulled off the road Saturday night for a nap rather than risk an accident.
“You’re listening to the radio,” he said. “You’re trying not to hit parked cars. And all the drunks are out. No one is walking on the sidewalks. They’re all on the streets. It’s kind of ludicrous.”