MILWAUKEE — “If we can’t handle four inches of snow, what’s going to happen later this winter? We’re f***ed!” Those were the words in a press release, Alderman Peter Burgelis said was only meant to be a draft.
Alderman Burgelis represents Milwaukee’s 11th District. He apologized for the language and redacted the press release and sent a new one, but the sentiment remained the same; snow removal efforts throughout the city needed to improve.
Alderman Burgelis told Wisconsin’s Midday News, mistakes happen, and one or two roads might get missed after a storm, but this was a much bigger problem.
“This wasn’t just in one neighborhood in my district. It was on the west side, on the east side, in the middle of the district,” said Burgelis, “I reached out with to DPW leadership on Monday morning and over the weekend and it was really upsetting.”
The city is currently considering a measure to refund plowing fees to city residents, but Burgelis said that might not be realistic.
“Refunding $11.3 million worth of snowplow fees from the municipal services bill is going to be a really tough ask. The city doesn’t have an extra $11 million floating around.”
Burgelis reached out to the Department of Public Works and says he found some serious strategic and operational problems. He pointed to a snowstorm last year that froze when roads weren’t plowed and required weeks of extra effort to clean up.
“To their credit, DPW did an excellent job on major streets in arterioles, in my district at least, but it was the neighborhood roads inside the subdivisions that really suffered,” he continued, “This morning I still had complaints coming in about sheets of ice in a neighborhood, and we had good weather yesterday. Those roads should have been salted.”
Burgelis said it could be especially frustrating for people who live near surrounding communities like West Allis and can see plowed roads nearby. He said while Milwaukee has more snow removal equipment, it isn’t enough to take care of all their roadways.
He said DPW leadership should take a hard look at what they need to make sure the city’s roadways are cleared and put and updated budget in front of the common council. He added if the city is going to charge residents for something then it was up to city leadership to make sure they are recieving a service that justified it and encouraged people to keep speaking out if something is wrong.
“Everyone deserves to have a safe neighborhood. Everyone deserves to have basic city services and that’s really the crux of what we want to accomplish.”
