DEARBORN HEIGHTS — A city-declared snow emergency requires residents to move their vehicles off of side streets in order for trucks to service neighborhoods during severe snowstorms. But for some residents in Dearborn Heights, the snow storm concludes long before the plow truck ever comes.

Several residents in the city have told The Arab American News that they have been unsatisfied with the city’s Department of Public Works (DPW), as many neighborhood streets had been left for days before a truck finally showed up. 

One resident says two consecutive snowstorms came and went earlier this month before a plowing truck came down her street.

“My father tells me all the time to move my car onto the driveway because there’s a snow emergency and I tell him I’m not bothering. Why should I? It’s not like they are going to come anyway,” says Renee Hadi. 

Hadi says her biggest fear this winter has been driving down her street on Wilson after heavy snowfall. Earlier this month, her vehicle was stuck in the snow after she entered her street off of Beech Daly. 

“I drove 30 minutes to and back from work, and its no problem. All the cities plowed their roads over and over. But then I get near my house and my car gets stuck in the snow just four houses down,” Hadi adds. 

Luckily for Hadi, there was a bright side to her distress.

“At least I wasn’t stranded. I went home and had some hot tea while we figured out how to move my car,” she quipped. 

A Dearborn Heights street unplowed three days after a severe snow storm hit metro Detroit.

To the city’s credit, in the last month metro Detroit has been impacted by the most severe winter it has seen in decades. Earlier this week, the National Weather Service said that close to 32 inches of snow has fallen around metro Detroit this January, making it the largest accumulation of snowfall in one month since 1978.

William Zimmer, the Director of the city’s DPW, tells The Arab American News that the city prioritizes when it comes to its plowing services. That typically means neighborhood streets are left until the very end.

“The priorities are the emergency routes first. Then we do major roads, school zones and the major lines connecting north and south Dearborn Heights,” Zimmer said. “Once all that is taken care of, then we start on the neighborhoods.”

The city typically has to work with 9-12 plow trucks during a snowstorm to cover 157 centerline miles of local roads, along with 30 miles of state and local truck lines. The unique outline of the city also plays a factor into the snow operations, as it is quite literally all over the map. 

Dearborn Heights is divided into three sections, almost as if the areas themselves are three separate cities. The southern tip borders Taylor, the center borders Inkster, Garden City and Dearborn, and the northern section borders Redford and Detroit. In many areas, one has to travel through a neighboring city just to get between two locales in Dearborn Heights. 

Zimmer says, with all this taken into consideration, the city delivers quality plowing services. In recent years, the city has faced budget deficits and financial setbacks, but that has not impacted the DPW. 

“We have maintained the staff we’ve had for the last couple of years. The guys have been doing a good job keeping up with the snow,” Zimmer adds. “You will always get complaints. Everyone wants to be the first street plowed but that’s not how it works.”

Dearborn Heights inhabitant Hiba Murray, however, disagrees. As a resident for over 16 years, she says the city should be doing more for the amount of taxes it levies. She said during the last snowstorm, it was three full days before a plow truck came down her street located near Inkster Road.

“I think they are doing a very bad job for the amount they charge in taxes. Most of the time, we are always the last city to get the snow out of the street,” Murray said. 

She says she can’t help but compare the services of Dearborn Heights to that of Dearborn. She believes the neighboring city undertakes a much more organized snow emergency effort. 

“They don’t even enforce the snow emergency in Dearborn Heights. There are always cars parked on the side of the roads and when the plow trucks finally come through they are blocking the path. It’s not like Dearborn where they make sure residents move their cars,” Murray adds. “I honestly don’t even think they put sodium in the snow. My street has been white since the first storm.”

The severe snowstorms this season have tested the service capabilities of various cities. At the beginning of January, Detroit announced a residential snow removal plan that would specifically focus on removing snow off of neighborhood streets. While Detroit crew members are using their 40 trucks to salt and plow the city’s 660 centerline miles of major roads, outside contractors have been hired to run through the neighborhoods.

But not all residents have bad things to say about Dearborn Heights. Wahida Osman, who has been living in the city on and off since 1997, says that it took three days for a plow truck to come through her street, located near Gulley Road, but she’s still satisfied with the service.

“I am not complaining. They are doing a good job plowing and keeping the streets clean,” Osman said. “At least it’s not like Detroit where they used to take your tax money and didn’t plow the streets at all.”