As students came back to campus, some who left their cars parked along 15th Street and other snow emergency routes found them missing. The City of Troy towed many of these cars away in the aftermath of two major snowstorms that hit the area back-to-back.
Public Safety has received six complaints from students who wanted to know what happened to their cars.
“We have a snow emergency parking plan that should prevent this type of situation,” said Vice President for Administration Claude Rounds.
The plan, which provides additional parking space in North Lot for students who leave their cars for winter break, has been in place for the past few years. However, no one expected the amount of snow that the area received, and the plan was not advertised accordingly.
Many students now find themselves maneuvering between mounds of snow on their way to class. The snow removal crew is still trying to clean up and keep up with the salting of walkways.
“I have slipped so many times … I am worried I will break something next,” said MBA student Shadeequa Miller.
Environmental and Site Services has been receiving an average of two complaints every day mostly pertaining to slippery walkways or stairs. “We take each one of these complaints seriously,” said Scott Richards, director of Environmental and Site Services.
“I don’t understand why the snow has to be as tall as me in some places, and the situation at Colonie Apartments sucks,” comlained sophomore Kerrissa Lynch.
One of the snowstorms took place on Christmas day, an Institute holiday, but many of the environmental service workers were called in to remove the snow. “Our workers were here for 20 hours to make sure that the campus was accessible the next day,” said Richards.
Rounds admits that the snow crew has been overwhelmed with the amount of work that has to be done, “but we have hired contractors to do some of the extra work and we are buying more salt and sand.” Moreover, to avoid interfering with daily routines, snow removal and salt-and-sand layout is carried out from 4 to 6 am.
There are still a number of stairs and walkways that have to be cleared and daily salt-and-sand applications that have to be maintained. The cost has already exceeded the budget, “but that is not our concern at this point as we try to finish all the work that has to be done,” said Rounds.
