We are asking for your patience.
This has been a year of unprecedented challenges. Everyone, from residents to the City’s frontline workers, has been stretched to the limit. Since March, Public Works crews, and Police and Fire personnel, have tirelessly put their own health on the line to serve the residents of Shaker Heights.
Mother Nature has made the last few weeks more challenging than ever and as a result, City workers have once again had to meet the demands of the moment.
This year all of the leaves in our Tree City fell at once due to a weekend wind storm, which created an unusually large number of enormous leaf piles on every street, all at the same time. As a result, leaf crews had to spend nearly half a day per street to clear the piles. In normal years, leaf crews pass through a neighborhood 6-8 times per season. This year, due to the way the leaves fell, crews passed through about 3 times. Every single truck and staff member worked to full capacity to manage this situation.
Yesterday, one of the heaviest snow storms in recent memory dumped nearly 16 inches of wet snow in the City. The density of the snow caused plows to become stuck on some streets thus slowing down street clearing work. Trees and branches were down throughout the entire City. On Shaker Boulevard alone more than 100 trees came down, which required immediate attention from Public Works. Crews were called in Monday night and have been working around the clock since to clear the streets. They are exhausted.
Our frontline workers never give up no matter how difficult the circumstances. They will continue to go above and beyond to serve the residents of Shaker Heights. But, please, we are asking for your patience. We promise that your leaf piles and streets will be cleared. It just may take a little longer than usual given the challenges we are facing. Thank you.