DEARBORN HEIGHTS — The city of Dearborn Heights is responding to complaints from residents who told The Arab American News that they were disappointed with lack of snow plowing services during the snow emergency that took place on February 1.

Mayor Dan Paletko’s office told The Arab American News that it believes the city’s Department of Public Works managed the snow plowing operations with the standards residents should expect.

“Dearborn Heights has excellent snow plowing services,” said Mona Amen, the mayor’s assistant. “There are 185 miles of roads— the primary roads come first, followed by the secondary roads. There was up to 16 inches of snow, so it took longer than it normally would.”

In previous discussions with the DPW, the city said it prioritizes during a snow emergency to clear emergency routes first, followed by school zones and roads that connect the city’s north end to the Southend. Neighborhood streets are usually left until the end of the operation. 

The city typically has to work with nine to 12 plow trucks during a snowstorm to cover local roads, along with 30 miles of state and local trunk lines. The outline of the city also plays a factor into the snow operations.

Dearborn Heights’ outline is unique in that it is divided into three sections. 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. 

“It takes time for our people to get out there and get the roads done,” Amen said. “People want it done right away and that can’t happen. Within two days the entire city was plowed. They were on it.” 

But despite the mayor’s office claiming that neighborhood streets were plowed within two days, more residents are saying that is not the case. Zouher Abdel-Hak, who lives in the neighborhood located near Wilson and John Daly, said most residential streets in the area weren’t touched for three days. 

“A lot of people on my block will testify that the plowing did not occur until three days later,” Abdel-Hak said. “We were very disappointed with how they handled the plowing. The entire city only has about 160 miles of roads.” 

Abdel-Hak questioned why the city would need to plow the main roads as most of them are owned by the county. He believes excuses are being made because the city doesn’t have enough plow trucks to cover all the streets in time. 

“The main streets were cleaned by the county, so my question is, when did they start to clean the rest of the city?” Abdel-Hak asked. 

Abdel-Hak  also complained about the city failing to follow up with households regarding flooding claims, after the rainstorm last August that impacted thousands of residents across the county.

Abdel-Hak said many residents had already filed claims with the city before they were told to file with FEMA.

He submitted a $750 claim with the city to repair his water tank heater and he has yet to hear back on whether his request was approved. 

“I haven’t heard of anybody who received money from the city,” Abdel-Hak said. “I submitted a claim for my water tank heater and I haven’t heard a word from them, denying or approving my claim. I never submitted a claim to FEMA because I didn’t want to make claims with two different entities. They waited too long to distribute the FEMA applications to the public and a lot of people are disappointed with how the city handled it.”

However, Amen said the mayor’s office handled hundreds of phone calls from residents, referred them to FEMA applications and walked door-to-door with FEMA representatives to address claims.

“The city handled the flooding claims very well as far as going to the residents, taking photos and working with FEMA,” Amen said. “It was FEMA’s decision on what they were going to do for the residents and how they would pay them. We did as we were advised to do here in the city.” 

The city also responded to complaints from a resident who told The Arab American News last week that plow trucks failed to clear the path in front of his home, located at a dead end. 

Houssein Al-Haj Ahmad, who resides on Hanover Street near Michigan Avenue and Van Born, said it wasn’t the first time the city failed to remove snow in front of his home. He claimed to have made multiple attempts to contact the mayor’s office, the city council and the DPW about resolving the issue. Plow trucks were eventually sent back to his home later that same day.

The DPW said the city has to use smaller plow trucks for streets that lead to a dead end. It’s standard procedure for a plow truck to leave a dead end section unplowed until the city is able to get drivers in smaller vehicles out there to finish the section off.