PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Ten days after the Philadelphia area received 9 inches of snow, residents are still struggling to get around. City officials announced on Wednesday that they are hiring a new workforce to attack areas essential to mobility.
Mayor Cherelle Parker insisted the city had been prepared to get the streets cleared by now but was stymied by the sustained deep freeze.
“The antagonist of the story is Mother Nature,” said Parker. “For anyone who is frustrated right now, I understand.”
Still, she said, the city intends to live up to its pledge. To that end, the Parker administration is hiring 300 same-day-pay workers to clear SEPTA stations and ADA ramps. Carlton Williams, director of the city’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, who's been in charge of removal efforts, said the goal was greater mobility.
“We want to make sure people aren't standing on mounds or standing in streets or having to climb over,” he said.
At the same time, Williams defended the city's effort so far, explaining the difficulty of snow disposal. He said an industrial melter had eliminated nearly 5 million pounds of snow but tons were left.
“We have 37 drop-off locations where the snow was piled,” he said. “I invite you to see over 12 feet high mounds of snow that are blocks long.”
Williams says the city used 31,000 pounds of salt and a variety of equipment but acknowledges 15% of streets still haven't been treated. He says the city will do as it pledged and keep working.
“Our goal is to make sure every neighborhood, no matter where you live, is treated.”
Same day pay is a low-barrier employment scheme that's used for a number of city services, such as graffiti removal.
Workers are recruited and hired through nonprofits and paid $25 an hour, according to Community Empowerment Director Orlando Rendon. “They get paid at the end of the shift so they don't have to wait for weeks for their pay,” he said.
Rendon praised the arrangement as a pathway to full employment but District Council 33, which represents blue-collar city workers, is not happy. DC33 President Greg Boulware said it was disheartening to see the city hire outside workers without consulting the union.
He called it a lack of planning and misuse of labor, and noted that one of his members died during snow removal operations last week.