Feelin' like you'll never see the sun again? Prepare yourself to ride in the rain. Photo via jrodmanjr.

Many of you likely found yourself in a familiar dilemma this morning when you opened your door to leave: Do you bike to work in the rain, and risk arriving wet and grimy? Or do you find another mode of transportation, and risk arriving late and grumpy?

This morning I opted to bike. But on the rainy ride, I thought about how unprepared I am for these inevitable rainy morning commutes.

So, to try to keep TheCityFix’s readers from facing this situation, here are some tried and true tips on turning yourself into a rain-resistant rider:

• Bring a change of clothes.  If you have a breathable rain jacket and rain pants — gore-tex is good, but expensive — you’re probably already really prepared to bike in the rain. But if you don’t have the gear, just wear gym clothes to ride to work, and change when you arrive. And to make sure you don’t get too grimy…
• Invest in cheap fenders.  Most bikes made for commuting come with fenders to protect you from the steady stream of grime that your tires sling up at you.  But if you have a standard road bike, hybrid, or mountain bike, you’ve probably been riding without fenders. You can buy removable fenders for your bike for under $20 — just make sure you figure out where you’ll clip them on, first. This can be tricky on some road bikes.  And if you’re looking for more protection, there are plenty of different models out there; they just might cost a bit more.  For extra protection, especially to keep your shoes clean, you should think about adding mud flaps to the fenders.
• Avoid the temptation to splash through puddles! Once you’ve got your fenders and rain gear, puddles may look alluring. But, as many EMBARQ‘ers can attest, puddles often hide menacing pot holes. (If you are unfortunate enough to discover a pot hole this way , which we hope never happens, remember to report it on SeeClickFix.)
• Pretend it’s night time. Turn on your lights and wear more reflective clothing. Motorists have more trouble seeing you in the rain and are less aware of cyclists on rainy days; they’re focusing on keeping themselves safe in the rain, too.
• Brake early and often. Squeeze your brakes gently first to clear water off the brake pads. Give yourself plenty of time to brake, and ride more slowly to make braking easier and avoid skidding.
• Steer clear of metal, steel, and painted surfaces! Manhole covers, grates, and paint on the street can be extremely slippery. As EMBARQ’er and serious cycler Dave Cooper put it: “It’s one thing to be wet from the rain, it’s another thing to be wet from sliding on the pavement.” Painted crosswalks and cycling lanes can be especially dangerous, depending on the type of paint cities use.
• Carry an extra plastic bag or shower cap to keep your seat dry. Once it stops raining, you’ll be glad you don’t have to sit on a soggy seat.
• Look out for rainbows on the road and newly-wet roads. Rainbows mean a spot is especially slick.
• It is possible to bike with an umbrella! Just a bit awkward…

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Worst case scenario: hold an umbrella while you ride! It is possible. Photo by Ol.v!er [H2vPk

Flickr user arthurohm posted a picture of his bus driver texting on Flickr. But what if the passenger, driver, and company knew that this photo could go directly to SeeClickFix? Photo via arthurohm.

If you see your bus driver texting – or dozing – what can you do? Or how about if you notice a train conductor talking on a cell phone?

These were some of the questions that arose yesterday at “Transportation Tuesday,” a meeting hosted by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) on the one-year anniversary of the tragic Metro crash near Ft. Totten. The guest speaker was Deborah Hersman, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

With regard to the Metro accident, Hersman said NTSB has already investigated three additional incidents since the crash last year. (One year after the crash, is Metro safer?) She recognized that WMATA is under financial pressure and facing service cuts (so are all other mass transit agencies around the country) and Metro has had a disproportionate number of incidents. But, this is key, she said: NTSB can’t do anything to force any transit agency or business to abide by higher safety standards.

One of the most salient points from the meeting was that NTSB, as an independent federal government agency, has absolutely no authority to make or enforce safety standards and regulations.  NTSB can only make recommendations based on insights gained from previous investigations. (Fortunately, 80 percent of the recommendations they have made are closed or at acceptable status.)

So for now, it’s up to all of us to collaborate and cultivate a stronger “culture of safety” in the United States.

How can we do it?

One tool that came to mind (again) is SeeClickFix. Most often used to report potholes, broken traffic lights, and other non-emergency issues, SeeClickFix could also prove a powerful tool to encourage accountability and responsibility in any type of mass transit.

With SeeClickFix,  next time you see your bus driver snoozing or a train conductor texting, for instance, you can report it right away, and include a photo of the guilty party. Optimistically, this will provide a great incentive for a higher level of personal responsibility in bus and rail transit around the country.

But to expand in this direction, SeeClickFix to will need to strengthen and build new partnerships, possibly with public transit agencies or private companies, including curbside bus services. And public education will also be crucial. A public awareness campaign, which SeeClickFix doesn’t necessarily have to lead, would help inform riders of the tools that are already available and waiting to be used.

Self portrait by Constance Holden. Courtesy of AAAS.

Sad news about fatal traffic collision during this week’s Nuclear Summit.

From the American Association for the Advancement of Science:

Employees at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and its journal Science today expressed shock and deep sadness at the tragic loss of the gifted science journalist and artist, Constance Holden.

Holden, 68, a veteran journalist and painter affectionately known to friends and colleagues as “Tancy,” apparently had just left the AAAS headquarters building on her bicycle around 6:00 p.m. Monday, 12 April when she was struck and killed by a truck providing support for the Nuclear Security Summit taking place in downtown Washington, D.C.

The accident that claimed Holden’s life took place at the intersection of New York Avenue and 12th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Read more on how “Summit security fails to protect” at Greater Greater Washington.

The wide lanes of Connecticut Ave., combined with heavy traffic and short pedestrian crossing times, make for a dangerous environment for walkers. Photo: mad african! (broken sword).

Have you had an accident or a close call when walking along Connecticut Avenue? If so, you’re not alone. The arterial, one of Washington’s main streets, has some of the highest car speeds in the District, some of the shortest pedestrian crossing times, and many dangerous, unsignalized crosswalks. The street’s wide lanes accommodate heavy traffic during rush hour but allow drivers to go too fast at other times. As a result, Connecticut Ave has a history of pedestrian crashes (see map below).

A high number of pedestrian injuries have occurred on the Woodley Park/Cleveland Park section of Connecticut Ave. between 2000-2008. Map: CAPA.

In response to these issues, residents along Connecticut Ave. from Woodley Park to Chevy Chase have created the Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action (CAPA) project to improve pedestrian safety along this important corridor.

CAPA is overseeing a pedestrian audit of the avenue and engaging the community through an online survey and interactive map. The map allows users to input frequent destinations, frequently used crossings, difficult crossings, poor street lighting, and needed bike parking. So far, problems are concentrated around the Van Ness and Cleveland Park areas, as well as the intersections with Calvert Street and Columbia Road. (You may wonder how this map differs from SeeClickFix. It is slightly less open-ended, soliciting more specific information, and it encourages contributors to propose solutions for trouble spots. SeeClickFix, it should be noted, currently shows no pedestrian issues on this section of Connecticut Ave., though we know it’s a dangerous one – perhaps evidence that interactive Web tools benefit from community organizers like CAPA to get people more involved.)

If you ever walk on that section of Connecticut, take a moment to complete the survey and identify trouble spots on the map. And if you’d like to get involved in a more substantial way, volunteer to do a pedestrian audit. CAPA is recruiting people to collect and enter data on the presence and condition of curb ramps, crosswalks, and sidewalks; barriers, such as obstructed walkways; timing of traffic lights; and pedestrian and driver behavior. This information will serve as a baseline for the study, and will inform recommendations to improve pedestrian conditions throughout the corridor.

With technical assistance from Toole Design, CAPA plans to work with the District Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Police Department to develop a pedestrian plan for Connecticut Ave. by the fall of 2010.

Greater Greater Washington had an excellent post yesterday morning advocating that D.C. create its own version of New York’s Summer Streets. We at TheCityFix think this is a great idea. To further motivate DDOT to implement this plan, we’re re-circulating this Streetfilm on Ciclovía, Bogotá’s wildly successful car-free event that inspired Summer Streets and countless other similar events around the world.

Started in the early 1980s, Ciclovía is a weekly event during which over 70 miles of city streets are closed to traffic and opened up to walkers, bicyclists, runners, rollerbladers, and all kinds of other activities. Every Sunday 1.5 million people from all walks of life come out to enjoy the car-free streets and healthy activities.

Ciclovía is combined with Recreovia, a program of free public exercise activities including dance, aerobics, yoga and classes for kids. Sessions are led by professionals paid by the city and accompanied by music. Additionally, free bicycles are available for use in the parks, and food vendors line the streets.

Ciclovía is orchestrated by a group of event managers known as Bikewatch (named after the show Baywatch, which was popular at the time) who give directions, watch out for peoples’ safety, and generally make sure that everyone’s having a good time.

Check out the video, imagine a Ciclovía-type event here at home, and tell DDOT you support the idea!

Pedestrians and transit users suffered during this year's snowstorms. Now's the time to improve the response for next year. Photo: NCinDC.

Now that spring is almost here, Snowmageddon and Snoverkill – and all the challenges they posed to pedestrians and transit users – are but a distant memory for many. But let’s not let the opportunity to learn from this winter’s experiences slide by. Following up on our continued coverage of the recent blizzard’s sustainable mobility impacts, TheCityFix wants to call your attention to two pieces of snow-related news:

First, U.S. DOT released a policy statement last week that directs state and local governments to remove snow from sidewalks and shared-use paths. The statement, which acknowledges the many benefits of walking and bicycling and formally articulates DOT’s support for planning, funding and implementing improvements to the pedestrian and bike networks, explicitly instructs local officials to attend to walkers’ and bikers’ needs during snow events:

Transportation agencies and local communities should go beyond minimum design standards and requirements to create safe, attractive, sustainable, accessible, and convenient bicycling and walking networks. Such actions should include:

• Removing snow from sidewalks and shared-use paths: Current maintenance provisions require pedestrian facilities built with Federal funds to be maintained in the same manner as other roadway assets. State Agencies have generally established levels of service on various routes especially as related to snow and ice events.

Second, if you are still rankled that your D.C.-area jurisdiction did not follow the above instructions this winter, you can attend the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s After Action Leadership Forum on Regional Snow Response, scheduled for April 5. The meeting will focus on the regional response to this season’s unprecedented snow and explore opportunities for future improvement. Though this event is primarily targeted at local officials, the public is invited to attend. RSVP by March 26.

A snow plow gets towed in the aftermath of the blizzard. Photo by theqspeaks.

More questions were asked than answered at this morning’s public oversight hearing on the District’s response to the recent “snow events” (i.e. back-to-back blizzards in February.) The hearing, held in the John A. Wilson Building, was led by Councilmember Jim Graham, who was joined by an official panel of D.C. councilmembers, who tried to understand the successes and failures of the District Department of Transportation’s snow removal efforts.

Which neighborhoods got the best and worst treatment? How effectively did DDOT document what was cleared and what wasn’t? How should the city have engaged with residents to coordinate more volunteer shoveling efforts? To what degree was sidewalk accessibility a part of the city’s snow removal plan? How should DDOT train its front line personnel, in case of another snow emergency? Who’s responsible for clearing sidewalks and bus stops?

These and other questions were still largely unresolved by the end of the meeting and will continue to receive feedback from city leaders and their constituents over a planned series of hearings that will occur over the next several weeks.

The one question that wasn’t asked — but should have been — is about the bigger picture: Did the city learn anything about how it should prioritize pedestrians and transit users when we’re NOT in a snowstorm? It’s great to come up with a more robust emergency response policy — a contingency plan — in the event we get hit with another blizzard, but it would be even better to use the recent “snowmaggedon” experience to identify weaknesses and propose solutions related to the city’s transportation and urban planning decisions, as a whole.

DDOT Director Gabe Klein and Department of Public Works Director Bill Howland gave their testimony in front of about 25 people who attended the hearing. To a large degree, they asserted, the District was successful in responding to the snowstorms, but at the same time, the conditions were hard to measure because there is no clear standard for dealing with 40 to 50 inches of snow. (Klein expressed confidence in dealing with up to 18 inches of the white stuff.) In response, Councilmember Graham said he would like the Council to consider a new set of standards that will hopefully manage the expectations — and thus quell the frustration and anger — of many local residents who faced problems during the region’s unprecedented snowfall.

Besides generating negative feelings and causing a lot of confusion, the snowstorm also placed a huge drain on the city’s finances. Klein, who is “still tallying” the numbers, said the city had already exceeded the $6.2 million budget for snow removal before the historic storms even hit, so he anticipates significant costs over budget.

DON’T BLAME THE MESSENGER

One of the biggest problems that fed many snow-related frustrations — from figuring out which buses were running to coordinating volunteer shoveling activities — was a lack of communication, both between different municipal departments and among local residents.

“Having a lot of volunteers and effectively organizing them are two different things,” Graham said, providing one example of how a communication breakdown prevented successful community-wide engagement. “The city should have a plan.”

But of course, a plan is worthless without a way to broadcast it to everyone. Councilmember Mary Cheh recommended the “use of listservs or some other vehicle.” Councilmember Graham admitted that he sent a direct e-mail to Gabe Klein himself, alerting him to an uncleared section of Livingstone Road. Klein, who has worked hard to improve DDOT’s communications strategy,  gave special shout-outs to Twitter and Facebook during his testimony — hopefully, it’s a sign that DDOT will continue to take advantage of  social media to get the word out about its plans. Consistent and direct communication would ease the worries of many residents who aren’t sure whether or not “help is on the way,” as Cheh said, and it would also help city agencies keep track of its own priorities.

As we mentioned in a previous post, many snow removal efforts were organized at the grassroots level, often through collaborative online tools, like SeeClickFix (whose maps are embedded across TheCityFix local blogs). During his public testimony, David Alpert, the founder of Greater Greater Washingon, highlighted some of his own efforts to organize volunteer outings to clear the snow in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights, Foggy Bottom and Georgetown, as well as on roads like Connecticut Avenue. But, he added, city officials should not just rely on residents but, instead, have a plan of their own.

BOGGED DOWN BY DETAILS

This morning’s hearing also made it clear that there’s a lot of complexity in snow removal. “It’s very technical,” Klein said.

There’s the question of whether to use salt or beet brine to melt snow (who knew the root vegetable was so powerful). Then there’s all that equipment: Bobcats, front-end loaders, plows, tractors…  There’s the management of a GPS-based Snow Response Reporting System. And then there’s the thorny issue of who owns what sidewalk/street/bus stop, and who’s responsible for keeping it safe and clear? Is it DDOT? DPW? NPS? DCRA? WMATA? Clear Channel? Who should be the District’s Snow Commander-in-Chief? (This year, it was Robert Marsili.) To which “Snow University” should we send city personnel to get trained on snow clearance? What snow “simulator” should we buy? What’s the best snow melting machine on the market right now?

When you consider that a 50-inch snowfall is hard to come by, it seems like overkill (…”snoverkill?”) to invest too much effort in determining the best technology to choose. There are faster, low-cost solutions, like revising regulations to make sure cars only park on one side of the street in certain neighborhoods during a snow emergency, as proposed by Councilmember Muriel Bowser. Or hiring unemployed people (or underutilized city staff) to help clear giant snow dams blocking sidewalks, curbs and intersections, as proposed by Councilmember Cheh.

KEEPING PEDESTRIANS IN MIND

The general public was invited to give testimony following the Councilmembers’ discussions and comments. Cheryle Adams, a pedestrian safety advocate, noted that there is a great disparity in the way the city handles pedestrians and automobiles. She said the city should have focused more on deploying small tractors to clear snow from curb cuts and bus stops, rather than just main streets. She said the District snow team should include a strategy for clearing intersections with the highest number of pedestrians, especially during rush hour. And though the snowstorm was an isolated event, it was still indicative of the city’s priorities, Adams said. “During winter snow storms, that’s the greatest test,” she said, referring to pedestrian safety and mobility.

Councilmember Graham agreed and said that DDOT will work to address more pedestrian issues, during its full de-briefing of snow removal efforts. “We’ve spent so much time worrying about how automobiles move, that we’re forgetting how people move on their feet,” he said.

David Alpert from Greater Greater Washington echoed Adams’ sentiments, saying, “It’s vital we have a plan for pedestrian mobility.” Considering half of residents in D.C. commute to work by transportation other than a car, we must ensure pedestrians are safe, he reiterated.

Snow removal priorities are called into question when students must walk to school in the road two weeks after the snowstorms. Photo: WTOP.

For many of us, memories of Snowmageddon and Snoverkill are fading along with the melting snow.  But the region’s recent snowstorms are still affecting the lives of pedestrians in Columbia, Maryland.  Even worse, these pedestrians are schoolkids who are being forced to risk their safety when walking to class.

This morning, about two weeks after the storms, WTOP reported that students on their way to Hammond High School are walking in the road because of large mounds of snow still covering the sidewalks along several blocks of their commute.  Residents have not seen any Public Works staff attending to the blockage, and property owners are unable to remove the snow themselves because it’s icy, extremely heavy, and they have nowhere to put it.

This is still more evidence that cities and towns need to develop more pedestrian-friendly approaches to snow removal.  Specifically, as we mentioned in our post on sidewalk snow removal best practices, local sidewalk clearance prioritization systems should dovetail with national Safe Routes to School efforts, focusing on pathways utilized by students.

Make sure you speak out about these crucial safety issues at the Committee on Public Works and Transportation’s sidewalk snow removal hearing, this Friday at 11:00 am in the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 500.

Does your snowy city pay adequate attention to the needs of pedestrians and transit users when the white stuff is falling? Montreal uses mini-plows, above, to clear sidewalks. Photo: sfllaw, Flickr.

The Washington, D.C. metro area has the second highest percentage of public transit commuters in the United States, behind only New York City. Many of those riders walk to the Metro or the bus, and 89,000 other commuters walk to work, according to the 2008 American Community Survey. What’s more, local leaders and advocates hope to increase the transit and pedestrian mode shares even further. However, some would argue that the District’s response to the recent record-setting blizzards overlooked the needs of pedestrians and transit users, posing safety hazards, hindering accessibility to bus stops and destinations, discouraging people from taking transit (and potentially encouraging them to drive in unsafe conditions), and costing the city money by slowing school re-openings when kids couldn’t walk to bus stops.

To assist in preparations for the next storm, TheCityFix took a look at how other walkable, transit-friendly cities address pedestrian safety and access during snow events. It’s important to note that many of these cities routinely get a lot more snow than D.C., so some of the practices outlined here may not be feasible in our environment.

Sadly, few U.S. cities assume the responsibility of clearing snow from sidewalks. Like Washington, many require property owners to clear the sidewalks in front of their buildings.

Chicago is a typical example. The Windy City has been getting high marks for snow removal lately, but this praise has been focused on the city’s efficient street plowing methods. The government takes a much less proactive approach to clearing sidewalks. Chicago has a law on the books requiring building owners or tenants to remove snow and ice from any walkway narrower than 5 feet within three hours of snow falling. But earlier this winter, Mayor Daley noted publicly that the City won’t enforce this rule. Instead, officials are focusing on positive reinforcement, distributing door hangers that remind community members of their shoveling responsibilities and recognizing businesses with outstanding snow-removal performance with a thank-you letter and a certificate. Though the Mayor’s statements basically removed all fear of punitive action, some community groups are using the stick rather than the carrot. The Active Transportation Alliance is encouraging residents to post fliers on the doors of neighbors who don’t promptly shovel the areas in front of their homes.

Unlike Chicago, Philadelphia has been actively enforcing its sidewalk clearance laws. The city’s code requires residents to shovel a 30-inch wide path on sidewalks within 6 hours of snowfall. Since a recent storm, officials have begun patrolling the streets and fining residents who do not comply with the law within a one-week grace period. Residents who haven’t shoveled their walks get $50 (per day) tickets. To educate the public about the necessity of this enforcement, leaders stress the serious safety implications of un-shoveled sidewalks and the liability of property owners should someone become injured on a slippery walk.

Madison, Wisconsin has a more comprehensive strategy in place for dealing with pedestrian pathways. Similar to other localities, the City ordinance requires that property owners clear sidewalks of snow and ice by 12:00 pm on the day following the snowfall. Officials target high-mobility pedestrian corridors for strict on-the-ground enforcement. These corridors – including downtown, hospital areas and neighborhoods with high concentrations of elderly and disabled citizens – were identified in community meetings. The day after a significant snowfall, inspectors review the corridors and issue fines to noncompliant property owners. The City itself maintains responsibility for clearing publicly-owned sidewalks, bike paths, crosswalks and bus stops. There are also resources in place to aid residents in complying with the ordinance. The City maintains an easy-to-understand website on sidewalk snow removal policies, provides free sand to property owners, and alerts residents of snow removal deadlines via text messages or emails. Furthermore, the state of Wisconsin is now considering allowing all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to plow roads and sidewalks.

Hartford, Connecticut also removes snow and ice from city-owned sidewalks, parking lots at municipal buildings, police substation walks and parking lots, publicly-run daycare facilities and recreation center walks and parking lots. Additionally, the Capitol Region Council of Governments has spearheaded efforts to improve winter sidewalk maintenance. Its Regional Pedestrian Plan instructs municipalities to better address snow removal and code enforcement.

Of the cities we reviewed, Montreal takes by far the most proactive role in sidewalk snow removal. Working street-by-street, the City declares temporary no parking zones, uses mini bulldozers to clear the sidewalks and push the snow into the street, then uses powerful snow-blowers to move the snow into dump trucks and hauls it to dumping sites. (Snow is carted away because Montreal receives a lot of it and has very low average temperatures, limiting opportunities for melting.)

Calgary’s approach may not be as ambitious as Montreal’s, but it maintains a priority system that concentrates efforts on high traffic areas first, including downtown pedestrian hot spots, major bus routes and bus stops. 130 kilometers of pathways are kept clear during the winter. Home owners or occupants are not required to shovel sidewalks on this priority list. The City of Calgary is currently revisiting its snow removal policy; an interim policy, meanwhile, puts additional emphasis on clearing bus stops. (This article on snow removal in Calgary also brings up the interesting point of the implications of sprawl for snow removal; Calgary’s spread-out, low-density development pattern means it has 14,000 lane kilometers of road to clear and only 1435 residents per square kilometer to pay for it.)

Other sidewalk snow removal ideas:

• The New York Conference of Mayors suggests in a sample law that cities may remove snow, but charge adjacent businesses for the service.
• For example, in West Hartford Center (CT), a few large property owners pay the town to remove the snow from abutting sidewalks.
• Cities may consider borrowing money from their contingency funds for snow removal. Any unused snow removal funds remaining when winter winds down are returned to the contingency fund.
• To account for the special needs of the elderly and the disabled, cities may allow these groups clemency when it comes to the enforcement of shoveling laws.
• WalkBoston, a non-profit pedestrian advocacy group, has created a best practices guide to addressing pedestrian needs during snow events. Recommendations include creating a social “norm” of responsibility for snow clearance, identifying a municipal point person, setting priorities for clearance, improving monitoring and enforcement, and designing sidewalks better. The group also suggests partnering with safe routes to school programs.

Photo submitted by Julia Robey Christian on SeeClickFix, one of the many online tools that has helped mobilize D.C. residents to clear the snow left over from last week's blizzard.

At the end of the day on Friday, I created “Snow Helper” Watch Areas on SeeClickFix, with the advice of SCF Co-Founder Ben Berkowitz, in an attempt to keep track of all the snow-related issues reported in the District. Even though the Mayor says our streets are “90 percent” cleared, there are still piles of ice and slush blocking crosswalks, bus stops and Metro stations, making our city inaccessible and inconvenient, especially for pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit users.

Of the 12 Watch Areas I created at the last-minute on Friday (in preparation for Monday’s snowfall, which turned out to be light), Capitol Hill was the most active over the weekend. At least fourteen issues were reported in that neighborhood, dealing with  unplowed streets, dangerous pedestrian conditions, and obstructed transit connections. One resident even wrote about a snow-ridden, poop-infested playground, made unsuitable for children to play in.

In Mount Pleasant, one woman wrote about her fear of falling on crutches (she has limited physical mobility because of her arthritis), since her apartment exit is covered in snow and ice. Just another example of how important it is to think of people with all types of abilities — and modes of transport — when making plans for your city. It can’t just be about car drivers.

Stories like this abound all over Washington (and the suburbs), and the situation has revealed a spectrum of reactions. Many individuals have turned to online tools like SeeClickFix and  Facebook to help rally volunteers to clear our streets, in the absence of a timely response from city officials. Some people are calling for a “snow tax” to make sure we have enough plows available in case, God forbid, we have another record-breaking blizzard. Others just want to point fingers — especially at Mayor Fenty, and even President Obama.

Online tools, though, seem to be the quickest way to organize snow removal solutions. “It’s about empowering citizens to help out as much as it is asking for help from the government,” as Berkowitz said to me over the phone this morning.

The Washington Post partnered with PICNet and Non-Profit Soapbox to create the “Snowmageddon – The Clean Up,” which looks an awful lot like SeeClickFix, where you report a problem, look for reports near you, and then organize a “clean up party” with your neighbors.

As heard on Greater Greater Washington, a group of Tenleytowners used Facebook to invite people to the Tenleytown Insurrectional Snow Cleanup and Snowball Fight to make sidewalks more accessible. There were 10 confirmed guests. “Walking is really the only way to get around right now – so it behooves us to make it as easy and safe as possible for everyone of every level of ability to walk around as best as possible,” the event organizers wrote.

Elsewhere, via blog post, Dennis Jaffe organized a Valentine’s Day snow cleanup (”Give a hand. Save a hip,” he quipped) to shovel out bus stops.

And heard via DDOT’s Twitter feed this morning: “Serve DC is organizing shoveling around schools.” Find more details on how to get involved here.

Now if we could just figure out what to do with all those overflowing trash cans…