"Never again" seemed to be the battle cry uttered by city and county representatives of departments of transportation, utilities, and law enforcement at a recent public forum, there to assure the public that snow and ice removal will be better handled next time we have a "Level-2 Event." The venue, held at the Southwest Community Center, was set up like a science fair with experts manning kiosks of various agencies.

Mayor Greg Nickels approached area residents to ask how they coped with their storm experience and what he and the city could do to improve their storm response. All roads seemed to lead to Monday, December 22, the day many West Seattle residents could not get to work after the prior weekend of pounding snow. It snowed over 9 inches in High Point that night and into the next day, according to a chart displayed at the forum. "Where was my bus?" and "Where were the salt trucks?" were the two big questions on peoples' minds for the mayor to field.

"We couldn't get our son to daycare for several days, and had to alternate staying home from work," said "J" Crone, who had been talking to a Seattle Department of Transportation representative. He, his wife, and eight-month-old son live in the Puget Ridge neighborhood of West Seattle and their street was not plowed.

"Our Volvo wagon is not real high, and would just float on the snow between the ruts made by other vehicles," Crone said. His wife said she had already taken time off of work for maternity leave and they had planned to take time off for Christmas.

Added Crone, "That Monday I left home at 6:45 a.m., walked to Delridge, and waited for a bus. None came and I ending up hitching a ride with a stranger who pulled over at the bus stop to ask if anyone needed a ride. She told me she had waited two and a half hours (the previous) Friday and was sympathetic."

"We still have a long winter ahead of us. If a 'Level-2 Storm' occurs again our response will improve by coordinating our department more closely with Metro," said Grace Crunican, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation.

"We have not been removing snow on non-arterial streets, but buses sometimes use them. We now have a better plan. Metro will change the snow routes and we will be alerted in advance of a storm to clear those streets. Alki and Harbor (avenues) are not primary or secondary streets, but would now be cleared if they became snow routes."

And what about all that salt controversy and lack of snowplows?

"We have to look at our rigs," said Crunican. "We have 27 trucks equipped with snow plows, and want to get some more placed on trucks. It costs $30-$40 thousand per truck to add the equipment. Seattle's policy was that it didn't use salt. We use 'GEOMELT' which has a salt element, and until this storm it worked fine, but this time the packed ice got to be too much. Salt would have allowed us into places like Alki. Our new plan allows for salt if snow is over 4 inches, if ice is predicted, and if roads have snow longer than four days. We will focus on putting salt on hilly roads, bus routes, and around hospitals."

"We will give King County Executive Ron Sims a report based on feedback from residents and representatives of agencies," said Betty Gulledge-Bennett, representing King County Department of Transportation at the event, who seems to be on the same page as Crunican. "He wants to better coordinate our agencies and is looking at all this in a comprehensive way."

She said that many have complained that King County's Web site was not updated quickly enough, and that too will improve. (Google "King County storm response" and click to log on.)

"Tonight, and actually before this event, people have been telling me that while hunkering down it was frustrating getting out and about, they did seem happy with the police department," sad Captain Greg Schmidt, director of Seattle Police Department's 911 Center. "I monitor the 911 center and we had a good response for service. We're prepared for next time, but I hope there is no 'next time.'"

"I am listening to a lot of personal stories tonight," said Mayor Nickels. "Did they miss work? Get the bus? Were they medically compromised? Which of our policies worked well and which did not? We will never be at the point where Mother Nature isn't going to throw us a curve, but we want to coordinate better with Metro to improve plowing. When the system breaks down it has a real effect on people."

On a lighter note, the mayor pointed out that not all objected to the storm's wrath, and referred to Edgar, his dog.

"He wouldn't stop rolling around in the snow. When he sat up the snow was stuck around his face. He looked like the Yeti."

"I'm an army brat from Virginia," said Tyler Thomas, an area resident frustrated with the snow's impact on his family over the holidays. "For the last 11 years we got bacon delivered from a special smokehouse in Virginia in time for Christmas. This time it arrived the 29th. Our son's gift came the day after that. My wife and I walked down to Target to buy each other last-minute Christmas gifts like books and DVD's and stuff. Usually I buy her a special art piece from a store in Pioneer Square. It's just a special little thing I do for her. But I'm just one person and it happened to everybody."