Snow Emergency Confusion

Monday Update_Those celebrating or mourning the Minnesota Vikings football win Sunday night may not have remembered about the automatic Snow emergency that is listed on the city website and was announced, according to a screen shot provided by the city, by the NIXLE notification system at 4:12 am on Monday morning. A standing ordinance for a snow emergency states that any snowfall over 2 inches, automatically initiates the need to remove vehicles from city streets until those streets are plowed curb to curb. Social media comment on Monday ranged from annoyance to anger, for those registered with the notice service, yet did not receive the notification. Comments left on the city’s social media page referred to several instances of not receiving the message until 7 am, long after snow had stopped falling in the area. Tickets were reported to have been issued for vehicles in the affected plow area. Municipal lots were offered as the place to park until snowplows could complete the downtown area. The City response was that crews will be working on holiday time to address the removal of snow. No indication on the status of the NIXLE system, which serves several functions such as sports field conditions, cancellations of events, and other city notices.