Following an all-too-short Christmas break, students began flowing back into campus on last Sunday and Monday. I returned on Sunday afternoon to find Troy’s streets basically unplowed. Coming from a New York City suburb, I have no illusions about the quality of city plowing, but the roads in Troy were only made passable by virtue of the fact that cars had gone over them for hours.
By this time, it hadn’t snowed for several hours, but on the way to BARH, I passed two cars at the Burdett/Peoples intersection unable to turn left or right—both were forced to back down the hill and go another way.
Later that day, I left my room to get some dinner and found that by this time, the parking lot and walkways around BARH were a sheet of ice. RPI’s facilities staff had indeed made some sort of feeble effort to shovel the walkways, but ended up making things worse when night fell and temperatures plummeted. The parking lot wasn’t much help either, but after some creative salting and shoveling on my part I finally extricated my car from the lot. Once I actually reached the parking lot by the Commons, I was surprised, but not by the lack of shoveling or plowing, but by the lack of snow. Freshman Hill looked as if nary a flake of snow had touched it—even the parking lot was clean.
I’m not entirely clear on who, RPI or Troy, is responsible for some streets around campus. In any case, Sage Avenue going toward Burdett earned my contempt as my car—in first gear and prudent speed—took a 540 degree spin, almost hitting a parked car.
This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend Pizza with the Mayor, where I brought up the lack of plowed streets in Troy. He pointed to the Monday holiday as being responsible for the dearth of plowing—a perfectly reasonable explanation as far as I’m concerned. Troy is forgiven, but with my sincere hope that they get better.
RPI, on the other hand, gets bad marks for how it went about its snow clearing, if you could call it that. Freshman Hill and core campus were well-plowed and shoveled, while “off campus” locations such as BARH were left to fend for themselves. This storm wasn’t the first time RPI has ignored off-campus locations. Every time it snows, the parking lot gets a once-over with a plow, and someone shovels the snow on the walkways away to reveal the ice beneath. If it weren’t for the terrible job on the walkways, I’d conclude that RPI wants to discourage students with cars from going anywhere.
My suggestions to everyone involved: Troy—you’re a city, not the Yukon, make sure the plows are out, regardless of holidays or weekends. If Brunswick can do it, so can Troy. RPI—cease the mockery of a job you’re doing up here. Take our plowing and shoveling, and our safety, seriously. For the amount of tuition we pay, having clear paths, lots, and roads, isn’t too much to ask. Lastly, as I write this, that white stuff we have all come to love is falling; make sure I can get to my car and get my car to campus without risking life and limb!
