Daley won't let up on snow removal despite retirement

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The city's overnight parking ban begins Wednesday on 107 miles of arterial streets.

Politics and snow removal have been intertwined in Chicago every since the Blizzard of '79 that buried then-Mayor Michael Bilandic.

What happens now that Mayor Daley is retiring and there's no political motivation to pick up the snow before it hits the ground-

"We're professional people. We're not looking at it that way," said Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne.

"We're gonna go at it as hard as we did last year and, hopefully, we'll have the outcome we did last year. We did great and I don't see anything that's gonna stop us from doing the right thing out there - election or no election."

After reminding motorists to heed the overnight parking ban that begins Wednesday on 107 miles of arterial streets, Daley scoffed at the suggestion that his impending retirement would slow snow removal this winter.

Two years ago, Daley raised the roof after then-Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi spent $490,000 on snow removal for a relatively minor, first-of-the-season snowstorm.

Picardi was ultimately replaced by Byrne - even though a City Council rebellion forced Daley to reverse a cost-cutting policy that saw side streets get plowed only during normal working hours and skipped altogether after minor snowstorms.

Last winter, the city used GPS, high-tech sensors and the city's vast network of surveillance cameras to control costs and keep strict tabs on the amount of salt dumped. By reducing the number of field supervisors and using exempt personnel, Byrne was able to reduce overtime spending by $180,000.

This year, the same cost-control policies will be in place. The city's snow-fighting fleet also includes 40 new plows with automatic transmissions. That will allow allow drivers to keep their focus on the icy and sometimes treacherous conditions.

Byrne said the city's long-range forecasts call for "above-normal temperatures, heavy and wet snow."