On Jan. 6, 2009 the Seattle City Council held the second of four meetings to address how various agencies conducted their efforts during the storm along with some time for public comment, and come up with an action plan.

While some are calling this storm a once in a lifetime event, I want to share my observations and make some suggestions in the event that, due to changing weather patterns across the planet, snow does become a regular feature of Seattle's winters.

As far as parts of Seattle go, I think that Ballard was relatively lucky in that most of it is flat, unlike say Capitol Hill or Queen Anne. There aren't, however, too many ways into and out of Ballard that don't require going uphill. Luckily for us, 15th Avenue Northwest was designated a "snow arterial" and was one of the few streets in the city that got "plowed." When I consider a street to be "plowed," that means that the entire street has had the snow removed with a snowplow and the road salted or sanded. I did not have the option of calling out "snowed in" at my other job so I had to drive out of Ballard up 15th through most of this, dodging abandoned buses and the like, and I can say that this snow arterial was not ever plowed to the point that it was safe. The lanes were not free of snow but the worst part was that the turning lanes were never plowed at all, thereby putting an impromptu divider in the middle of the street, making it impossible to turn except at places like 65th and 85th. Of course there were people who tried and they learned their lesson.

I have heard the city officials say that they used snowplows that cleared the streets but didn’t damage the pavement. Excuse me, but have you seen some of the potholes that have become so big that they will rip off your tire if you drive in them up around 15th and Holman Rd?

I suspect those were caused by people driving around with snow chains that they would not have needed had the roads been properly plowed and sanded. Speaking of sanding or salting, I have also heard the excuse that it isn't used because of the salmon. I want to see that the salmon are cared for but when does the concern for the environment trump public safety? Shouldn't we take into account that there are times when it was appropriate to use rock salt or sand?

Seattle was not prepared at all for this weather event. This lack of preparedness could not have occurred at a worse time because many businesses that should have benefited from pre-holiday commerce lost out on millions of dollars in sales. Some of these businesses could very well go under or cut jobs because they did not make any money during this vital time of the fiscal year.

In addition, the constant presence of our weather-related woes on the national news, especially the situation at Sea-Tac, does not project the image to the rest of the country that Seattle is a place that has its act together.

There is no sense crying over melted snow. There is, however, an opportunity here for Seattle to take stock of what has happened and demand appropriate action from our elected officials.

With a reasonable plan for snow removal in place that is effectively communicated to the people, Seattle should hopefully not experience a disruption like we did last month. The City Council and the mayor will only follow through if they believe that the citizens think that it is a priority. If you do not think that 27 snowplows are enough, if you do not like your recycling being picked up for over a month, if you did not like that the buses stopped running without warning, and most of all if you do not think that the City of Seattle's response to this situation deserved a "B" grade, then I urge you to make your experiences and feelings known to your elected officials. Most of all, remember the city's response to the snowstorm when you cast your vote this November.

For more information, please view the City Council's press release: http://www.seattle.gov/council/newsdetail.asp?ID=9196&Dept=28.

Questions, comments, column idea? Please contact Brian Le Blanc at brianleblanc76@yahoo.com or comment below.