Hank Graden: Pay for private snow removal

Who has calculated the cost to Raleigh and Wake County government, stores and residents for the number of missed days of work, sales or school because of snowy weather? The “savings” for not clearing the side streets and secondary roads during the recent snow are probably much less than the cost of the lost days.

There needs to be a new look at investing in keeping streets cleared and passable. Look at how places with more snow than North Carolina throughout the country and around the world clear their streets sufficiently to allow people to get to work, stores and school.

The lack of snow clearance is absurd. As a person who believes “the government” has a major role in our daily lives, this is probably a situation requiring contracting with the private sector to help plow the roads. Short-term contracts with snow-removal resources seems to be a wise investment.

Government-owned snow-clearing resources that sit idle most of the year do not seem to make sense. Maybe neighborhoods could arrange for each resident to pay a small sum of money to hire a local contractor for snow removal.

This story was originally published March 13, 2015 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Hank Graden: Pay for private snow removal."