rob smoke

Rob Smoke , a barb to the city council.

Below, council member Ken Wilson openly confesses to the “liberal” use of de-icing material — or “salt.”
Regardless of the brand or quality of the product, this behavior can lead to consequences on several levels — here’s a quote from a standard reference:

“Environmental impact
Deicing salts such as sodium chloride or calcium chloride leach into the soils, where the ions (especially the cations) may accumulate and eventually become toxic to the organisms and plants growing in these soils.[4] The chemicals could also reach water bodies in concentrations that are toxic to the ecosystems. Organic compounds are biodegraded and may cause oxygen-depletion issues. Small creeks and ponds with long turnover time are especially vulnerable.
Propylene glycol used to de-ice aircraft can contaminate drinking water supplies and harm aquatic life. Some airports are now capturing and treating de-icing runoff before allowing it to enter waterways.[5]”

Certainly there’s a range of possible impacts — council members, particularly ones who claim a “science” background, as Ken Wilson most certainly has on many occasions, should be AWARE of what they are doing and promoting as it affects the surrounding community.
A response is always welcome.
BY THE WAY…. there are recommended alternatives — one that I personally prefer are an add-on to shoes (sometimes called “crampons”) that are available at shoe, department stores, and running stores here in Boulder and online. They provide excellent help for situations where you can’t predict the snow or ice shoveling proficiency of neighbors.
Happy snow day. Cheers!
Rob Smoke
City Council Barb

Sender: Brautigam, Jane
Thanks for your email, Ken. I spoke with Chief Beckner and learned that we do not have Code Enforcement officers assigned to work weekends. Code enforcement
will begin again on Monday. Our code enforcement team does an excellent job of addressing issues and will do all they can within the strictures of the ordinance to handle snow removal calls.

Jane

From: Wilson, Ken
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2013 9:49 AM
To: HOTLINE
Subject: Snow shoveling enforcement
Jane,

I am wondering if we will have snow shoveling enforcement tomorrow (Saturday). We have a situation which I was concerned about when Matt made a motion to change the ordinance from
a “morning after” requirement to a 24 hour requirement as we were doing second reading several years ago. Because of the way this snow fell, enforcement won’t begin today (Friday) as there were a few flakes falling late yesterday. Will there be any enforcement
over the weekend? If not, then it would begin on Monday. Of course, more snow is expected Monday, which would reset the clock on all the offenders. We could have slippery sidewalks for a week.

I thought of this all the way to the bus stop this morning as I was trying not to slip and fall on all the uncleared sidewalks. I don’t heal like I used to and it was almost enough
to make me want to turn around and drive instead. Fortunately I didn’t fall – yet.

My sidewalk is clean and dry – which the Camera can verify if they like. We shoveled twice as it was coming down and used salt liberally.

Ken Wilson

Rob smoke is a sometime columnist for Boulder Channel 1