After the series of historic snowstorms earlier this month, AU students who live off campus struggled to commute to campus in a timely fashion for the startup of classes when snow and slush still filled the streets of D.C.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty lifted the District’s Snow Emergency status on the morning of Feb. 8, but last week Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., requested federal emergency funds for the city for its expenditures on snow removal.
The storms left slush, ice patches and snow mounds that are either still piled on sidewalks and roads or have become massive puddles, according to Prema William, a senior in the Kogod School of Business who lives off campus.
William said it usually takes 15 minutes to walk to campus from her apartment on the corner of New Mexico Avenue and Cathedral Avenue. On the first day back to classes after this month’s snowstorms, the walk took 30 minutes.
“There’s a huge chunk of sidewalk that is blocked on New Mexico Avenue so you have to walk on the road,” William said in an e-mail. “There have been a couple of times where a car has driven close enough to me that if I had slipped I would’ve probably gotten run over.”
Snow is still in the streets because “it’s got nowhere to go,” according to D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.
“It’s not going to be gone until the temperature is high enough for it to melt ... We’ll move as much of it out of the way as is humanly possible.” Fenty said in a Feb. 18 interview for WRC/NBC4. “But getting it down to the point where there is no snow in the street, whatsoever, is also going to take some cooperation from Mother Nature.”
As of Feb. 18, the total estimate cost that Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority incurred in the snowstorms was $18 million. That total includes $8 million for snow removal and $9.7 million revenue loss from when the Metrorail service was limited to underground stations and from the loss of fees for unusable parking spots, according to a WMATA statement.
“Metro is currently working with the Commonwealth of Virginia, District of Columbia and the State of Maryland to submit costs to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for potential reimbursement associated with the snow storms,” Metro’s Chief Financial Officer Carol Kissal said in the statement.
In a tweet on Feb. 10, Norton, who does not have a vote in Congress, said she is “Seeking Federal Funds for D.C. Region and Metro Snow Emergencies.”
Norton sent a letter Feb. 18 to the Federal Emergency Management Agency asking for assistance for WMATA to ameliorate the cost of snow damage and cleanup.
“The recent snowstorms that struck the National Capital Region this month have taken a large physical and financial toll on the region,” Norton wrote in the letter to FEMA.
“It is my understanding that the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia are preparing to request declarations,” Norton wrote.
In the past, Norton has been successful in securing federal funds for unique D.C. needs, including for demonstrations, the inauguration and security measures, according to a note on her Facebook page.
Merissa McCaw, a junior in the School of International Service, who lives in an apartment across the street from the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Metro stop, said that her usual commute time doubled as a result of the snow.
“On the worst day, it took me 75 minutes to go from Woodley Park to American,” McCaw said in an e-mail. “I’m from Maine so this kind of snow is standard … I’ve seen D.C. freak out when it snows so I knew what the deal was going to be.”
You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.
