It’s winter in Chicago, and for the second snowfall in a row, the city’s usual fleet of salt trucks are nowhere to be found. Under the light covering of snow, the streets are covered with ice, but the only salt going down is what my neighbors and I are throwing down ourselves.
I took a cab last night, and the driver was complaining about the same thing. He said that if the city isn’t going to salt this winter, he’s going to stop driving.
Bad things happen to Chicago mayors who ignore winter weather. Daley has been one of the best at keeping the streets cleared & salted so that it isn’t completely treacherous to drive. Maybe he’s just distracted by the financial crisis or Blago’s arrest, but come on, Mr. Mayor — get back in the game. If this had happened a year ago, you’d have fired someone by now.
No work on the MTL revisions last night due to distraction from the Blago story, and none tonight because of a holiday party. Back to work on Friday Thursday (getting ahead of myself looking forward to the weekend, I guess) .
The Unfocused Life 
The ‘burbs aren’t any better. It seems that due to the shortages/high prices of salt the aren’t doing any pre-treatments and are waiting until it completely stops snowing before doing anything. It does not make for pleasant driving, as you know. People are going to get hurt and sue somebody.
Daley swore we had enough salt. I’m pretty sure I drove past a mountain of it just a few weeks ago. Maybe it’s the overtime for the guys who drive the trucks? It’s crazy, crazy, I tells ya.
This morning, going west on Irving Park Road (a MAJOR city thoroughfare) from roughly the expressway to Cumberland it was like driving on a popsicle. Took twice as long as usual. For just a few inches of snow! What the hell are we going to do when we REALLY get some weather?