City Prepares Plan for Pending Snow

With four inches of snow on the ground and an equal amount forecast in the overnight hours, Highland Park’s Public Works Department is getting ready while some residents want a better effort.

Though Highland Park has added neither equipment nor snow removal personnel this season, the City is preparing to get ready for the expected weather to remove as many obstacles as possible from Wednesday’s rush hour.

“Our goal is to stay ahead of the storm,” Highland Park Public Works Director Ramesh Kanapareddy said. “There is snow coming at 11 p.m. tonight. We’ve having team meetings to get ready. We take this very seriously.”

After Sunday’s snow, Patch asked readers on its Facebook if they were satisfied with the City’s effort. A majority of those who responded were not.

“Not so good,” writes Elizabeth O’Conner. “Really late start getting the roads done in the Highlands. Sidewalks not done by this morning. Trail way not touched by 10 p.m. when the HS kids were leaving practice last night.”

David Friedberg reported the Ravinia neighborhood was satisfactory but Hilary Shaf Bartolai thinks the City should take a lesson from Winnetka.

“(Highland Park is) always has slow snow removal,” Bartolai wrote. “Winnetka has trucks out before storms even start. That is how a city should run its public works and street crew dept.”

A year ago, Highland Park used 15 trucks to remove its 150 miles of roads while Deerfield puts 20 trucks on its 70 miles. Lake Forest uses 14 trucks for 120 miles of Roads which is slightly more resources per mile than Highland Park. Kanapareddy said Highland Park’s resources are the same this year.

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