Hackensack DPW can't cope with mild storm

On Sunday morning, more than 24 hours after the snow stopped falling, Euclid Avenue, between Main and Linden streets, was still covered with the slippery white stuff. The Hackensack Department of Public Works apparently was hoping strong sunlight and higher temperatures would take care of the mess.

On Main Street, people had to climb over snow to board NJ Transit buses.

Snow also covered the pavement where Prospect Avenue meets Passaic Street.

Hackensack residents were thankful they didn't have to weather the full force of Friday's nor'easter, knowing how poorly the city's Department of Public Works does on clearing streets after major snowstorms.

Even after this mild snowstorm, the city's Department of Public Works plows missed a lot.

Early Sunday afternoon, I was driving behind a DPW dump truck filled with snow, and the driver never lowered his plow on the snow-covered block of Euclid Avenue, between Linden and Main streets, that other plows hadn't bothered to clear.

In decades of coverage, The Record's local news editors have never rated Hackensack and other municipalities on how well they do in cleaning up after snowstorms -- from plowing streets to clearing crosswalks and bus stops to enforcing ordinances on shoveling snow off of sidewalks.

That likely is one reason town officials have been able to shirk the duty they owe to provide safe streets and sidewalks for drivers and pedestrians.