DC SNOW EMERGENCY: What you need to know
WASHINGTON - The District's snow emergency continues, and crews are working around the clock all over the city to clear away the snow--but we're not out of the woods yet.
Across the DC area, the cleanup presses on. Snow is moving out, either by Mother Nature or by truck. With the snow emergency still in place in DC, some people have decided to take matters into their own hands. In southeast Washington, residents along some streets decided to grab their shovels and do the work themselves when their streets weren't plowed by Monday.
"Since our street didn't get plowed, we decided to grab our hand shovels and do the whole thing," said Chris Kimber, who lives on Carrollsburg Place. "Now it's done!"
In the meantime, much has been said about New York City's response, after almost a record-setting storm there. But unlike the Big Apple, DC didn't ban residents for traveling on city streets.
"We approached our residents and told them we needed them to stay off the road, and I think, by and large, they did. We also did not use our police powers to fine or arrest our residents," said Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday.
SNOW EMERGENCY INFO
Bowser declared a snow emergency last week, meaning cars parked on snow emergency routes are subject to being ticketed and towed.
A map of the District's snow emergency routes can be found HERE.
Towed vehicles can be found by contacting the Department of Public Work's Towed Vehicle Locator office at 202-541-6083 or go to http://dpw.dc.gov/service/locate-towed-vehicle.
To have an impounded vehicle released, these fees must be paid:
-- $250 ticket for the snow emergency violation.
-- $100 tow fee.
-- $20 per day storage fee.
DC TAXI FEE
The additional $15 fee for taxi rides in the District while the snow emergency is in effect was set to expire at 9:30 am Monday morning, but later in the day, the DC Taxicab Commission tweeted that the fee would remain in effect until further notice. When asked why there was a lapse in the fee, the commission told FOX 5's Jim Lokay, "We're still in a snow emergency."
DC ALTERS TRASH SCHEDULE
Due to last week's blizzard, DPW will suspend trash collection through Wednesday, January 27th. DPW will attempt collection on Thursday, January 28 and operate on an altered schedule Thursday through the weekend. Normal trash collection is scheduled to resume on Monday, February 1.
DPW will hire private contractors to augment the work of their crews.
The full trash collection schedule is as follows:
- Monday: Service resumes next week.
- Tuesday: Service resumes next week (Twice a week routes will be addressed this Thursday or Friday).
- Wednesday: Service resumes next week.
- Thursday: Service attempts will be made.
- Friday: Service attempts will be made.
- Saturday & Sunday: Possible service attempts on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday routes.
- Monday: Regular service will resume.
For the latest information on the District's response to the storm, residents should visit Snow.DC.Gov.