BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Spring and its unpredictable early weather arrived with warming temperatures Monday following a blizzard last week in the Greater New York area.
Bloomfield came through the storm OK, according to Anthony Nesto, the director of Bloomfield Public Works and Parks. About 8 inches of snow dropped on Tuesday, March 14, in the local area, accompanied by high winds.
There were several reasons for his positive assessment.
“Because a lot of the storm was on regular hours, there was not much overtime as we had thought,” he said in a telephone interview earlier this week. “We had a few breakdowns but we got through it. By Wednesday, 7 a.m., people were able to get on the road.”
No trees came down during the storm and there were no additional problems, such as clogged sewers or broken water mains, that would have taken personnel away from the snow.
“The worst part of the storm was the ice and sleet on top of it,” Nesto said. “We were doing residential work until Friday. It’s easier to move snow than ice.”
The warming weather helped, too, making for less hauling of snow. Had the temperatures been colder, nothing would have melted. But still, no flooding was reported.
“The temperature is not changing quickly,” Nesto said. “It’s a slow melt down.”
While the timing of the storm may have been cooperative, parked cars were still a problem and the snow covering them had to go somewhere.
“No one cleans off their car and throws the snow on their property,” Nesto said. “It goes into the street and gets packed down.”
And curb-to-curb plowing is impossible with a car parked on the street.
“If we get a straight run, we try to go curb-to-curb,” he said. “But we’re not perfect.”
Snow plowed into a ridge along the curb falls back into the street once the plow goes by. But the last thing Nesto said he wanted was to replow a street. That would push snow back into shoveled driveways.
“It’s difficult to go back and redo it,” he said. “When you get back home at 5 o’clock, you don’t want to see snow in your apron.”
One place that required special attention was a residential property on Broughton Avenue and Bessida Street. Two days after the storm, Nesto said his department received a call that snow had to to be removed from an abandoned property at that location. It is near Demarest Elementary School. The caller said school children were walking in the street to detour the uncleared sidewalk.
But spring has arrived and beginning next week Public Works will be focusing on filling potholes. Although the situation is not as bad as anticipated, Nesto said some roadways have already gotten attention.
“On Lindbergh Boulevard, I saw a ton of potholes,” he said. “There was a huge pothole on Hoover Avenue near St. Valentine’s Church.”
Another place was Osborne Street. That was to get pothole attention in a few days. Lindbergh Boulevard was already being repaired.
“On potholes, we’re stressing quality over quantity,” he said.
And Essex County has been pretty quick in responding to pothole repairs on its roads in Bloomfield, according to Nesto.
He said street sweeping is scheduled to begin Monday, March 27. It will continue until November. Also beginning will be leaf and grass pickups for residents who are clearing away twigs and branches following another winter.
“Once the snow melts, we’ll get the fields in shape,” Nesto said. “We do a great job with our playing fields. Hence, after this winter, we’ll get them ready pretty quickly. It’s suppose to be 65 degrees on Saturday.”
But, of course, early spring is unpredictable.
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