Oswego Village Needs to Salt Cul-De-Sacs

The following letter was submitted to Patch:

I noticed as I was driving home tonight that Oswego appears to be continuing its most unfortunate policy of shortchanging the residents that live on cul-de-sacs by not salting their streets. While I understand that plowing is delayed for us due to the higher priority streets, there is literally no excuse for not salting our streets in advance of an approaching storm when you are out salting all the rest of the streets anyway. For the last several years, our street has been a sheet of ice for much of the winter due to the village non-salting of cul-de-sacs policy.

This is a subject I have contacted the Village about previously. Former Mayor Brian Leclerq had indicated this policy would be reviewed when I contacted him in February 2015. It appears to me the policy has not changed. I am hoping a new mayor looks at this policy with fresh eyes and recognizes that it is unfair and dangerous.

When I originally called the village about this topic, I was told that they expected the salt from the main street would carry over to the cul-de-sacs. This is obviously false and inaccurate, particularly on streets as long as mine. It’s obvious this was done as a cost cutting maneuver, but this is inappropriate given that we pay the same taxes as any other city residents and we should receive the same services.

While one public works officer told me that there wasn’t sufficient traffic on cul-de-sacs for the salt to work properly, this is simply a red herring. Having salt will certainly work better than no salt under the snow, given temperatures in the near freezing range. We have as many cars as the next street over, which does receive salt.

There are 18 houses on my street. We have plenty of traffic. I am tired of my street being too slick and dangerous from ice during winter where it becomes dangerous to the families on the streets – our lives, pets, and property is in danger when cars don’t have proper control as a result of the excess ice. With a large winter storm approaching us, I anticipate experiencing the same issue again this year.

Please revise this policy and initiate salt application on cul-de-sac streets, particularly those streets that are long streets with a cul-de-sac on the end, which really should be treated simply as “streets”.

Thank you for your assistance with this matter.

Marie Herman
715 Blossom Court
Oswego, IL 60543