After that withering winter, especially that season-ending two-day blizzard March 12 and 13, most of us would like to forget about snow for the next six months or so.
But Bill Asmus can’t afford to forget. He’s already worried about winter 2014-15.
The superintendent of the village Department of Public Works since 1996, Bill needs to find a place to dump all the snow his crews plow from our streets and sidewalks.
You can see the “fruits” of their labors, drumlin-sized mounds of ice and snow rising like a mini-mountain range on the former Municipal Parking Lot between Lower First and South Willow streets. Problem is that JGB Properties, which owns that three-acre lot, plans to build there later this year. That means the lot will be unavailable as a place to pile up the snow next winter.
“In prior years the village had dumped snow at the water tower site [at Seventh and Oswego streets],” Asmus said, “but when the Liverpool Fire Department bought and built there, we were without a site once again. We’ve piled snow at our DPW garage and at locations within the village, [but] none of these sites are large enough for a winter’s amount of snow.”
The DPW chief hopes that Onondaga County Parks & Recreation might help. “We’d like to start talking with the County Parks Department to see if they have a site close to the village that we may use.”
To that end, Liverpool Mayor Gary White will meet this week with County Parks Commissioner Bill Lansley, and the snowpile predicament tops the agenda.
Foretelling the melt
Village Deputy Clerk Sandy Callahan and Nichols Supermarket owner Mike Hennigan are so impressed by the magnitude of the snow mountains on Lower First, they decided to run a contest and have a little fun, too.
Contestants will register a guess as to when the snow piles on the 100 block of First Street finally melt away. “When will these big snow piles disappear,” Hennigan asked.
Contestants will enter the date he or she thinks the snow mountains will be fully melted, along with name and contact numbers, and drop the entry in a box at Village Hall or at Nichols, 327 First St. Deadline for entries is April 15.
The winner will receive a $150 Nichols gift card. “Perhaps there would be other fun-loving merchants who would like to add to the winner’s booty,” Hennigan hinted. If interested, give him a jingle at 457-2151.
Why not the lake?
Why doesn’t the DPW simply dump the snow into Onondaga Lake?
The federal Environmental Protection Agency recommends against placing plowed snow in waterways. It contains pollutants derived from salt, motor oil and trash. The EPA also urges state and local governments to include snow disposal restrictions in storm-water management plans.
The lake sure seems like a convenient option, but expediency is no excuse to dump snow in water, said Anthony Iarrapino, an attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation. The pollution problems are so severe, he said, that it should be considered only if there’s really no other option.
Lizard’s live music
Co-owner Scott Schimpf keeps the good times rollin’ at The Limp Lizard BBQ, 201 First St.
A talented bass guitarist, Schimpf knows the music business backward and forward. When he’s not fingering his four-string or smoking ribs in the kitchen, Scott books the live bands that entertain at the Liverpool Lizard.
This week, Hold the Air blows into the BBQ at 9 p.m. Thursday, March 27. Shawn Halloran entertains Friday night, March 28, and the Hip Replacements dance like Druids on Saturday, March 29. You’ve got to love that band name: The Hip Replacements!
Admission is always free at the Lizard, and the Southern-style vittles are finger-licking good; 451-9774.
