PITTSBURGH — Channel 11 did an exclusive, one-on-one sit-down with Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor to discuss how the city handled last month’s major winter storm.
It was O’Connor’s first big snow response test since taking office.
Chief Investigator Rick Earle sat down with O’Connor to discuss the issues that slowed the city’s snow removal.
“What grade would you give yourself and the city?” Earle asked.
“I’m tough on myself, but I mean, I think for the workers it’s an A. They were out there so many hours, so many days,” O’Connor said. “Internally, we obviously have to take a look at some things.”
Less than a month into the job, O’Connor faced his toughest challenge: a massive snowstorm that dumped nearly a foot of snow.
“We were prepared,” O’Connor said. “We were tracking how many streets we hit. We were ahead of the storm, and then when 37 trucks go down, you really don’t have an option at that point.”
With that many trucks out of service, O’Connor was forced to declare a state of emergency, allowing him to call in private contractors.
Days after the storm, he was still hearing from frustrated residents.
“I was out today up in shady side, and there’s still snow everywhere,” Earle said. “Are crews still working to remove some of this?”
“They are. I mean, we’re getting calls here and they,” O’Connor said. “The hard part is at intersections where it piles up.”
At a debriefing with public works supervisors, O’Connor heard more troubling news: some newer drivers hadn’t been properly trained.
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“Were you surprised by the lack of training? Did that catch you off guard?” Earle asked.
“Yeah, a little bit,” O’Connor said. “When you’re operating a vehicle like a plow truck that’s very skilled to do, and when we’re getting reports that, you know, I’m just not comfortable going up and down this hillside, and it’s a difficult job.”
To address that, public works plans to have newer operators driving their routes this summer.
O’Connor also discovered why the snowplow tracker website — upgraded under the previous administration — wasn’t fully operational.
“The reason that we got was you needed somebody in the car, or GPS technology needed to just be driven on all the streets, and it’s like, OK, you had all summer when it wasn’t snowing, drive it so that the technology can sync with the new technology. It’s those little things that we have to learn what’s wrong and then take all summer to try to fix it.”
Just days after the storm, two of Pittsburgh’s largest employers came to the rescue.
UPMC donated $10 million to buy ambulances, freeing up money for 15 salt trucks. A day later, PNC gave $2 million for 35 trucks.
While that will help, O’Connor says the city needs a dedicated source of funding to upgrade the entire fleet.
During the past year, 11 Investigates has exposed big problems with the aging fleet, from rusted-out Department of Public Works trucks to ambulances breaking down on calls.
Even before taking office, the mayor had seen our stories.
“We heard that call from EMS for many, many years now, and you’ve done many stories on that. That’s life-saving,” O’Connor said. “When you have the equipment to do your job, it also builds morale, not just in EMS with the ambulances but now the salt truck drivers, the plow truck drivers, everybody in DPW that wants to do their job because they love this city.”
Most of the broken trucks are back in service, but, given their age, there’s a good chance they’ll be back in the repair shop. The mayor will have to deal with that until those new trucks arrive for next winter.
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