LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — By and large, it appeared most Livonia residents got the voice memo from the city Wednesday that informed them not to park on the streets.
“This is an important message from the city of Livonia. A snow emergency has been declared. This will go into effect at 9 p.m. tonight," the message stated in part.
7 Action News bumped into a resident clearing his driveway on Cavell Street so he could move his cars off the street to allow city plow trucks to clear the snow.
Over Green Lane Avenue, Jason Nowak went above and beyond clearing the sidewalk for several of his neighbors.
“It is wet, heavy snow, but it’s not accumulation that I was expecting," Nowak described.
A number of cities issued snow emergencies Tuesday in anticipation of a storm. Don Rohraff, Livonia’s director of public works, says the city does its own analysis and typically starts to consider a snow emergency around 5 inches.
“Due to the very wet snow that’s coming down and the slushy areas that are out there, we decided that 9 o’ clock would probably be a good timeline," Rohroff explained.
He says the city gives residents a six-hour heads up. The snow emergency was issued at 3 p.m.
If cars are left on the streets, Rohroff says city plows will go around them, but residents risk getting plowed in.
“But what you’re going to find is that those cars that are left in the streets that are coming off of those snow blade off of those trucks, it’s going to freeze because it’s going to get cold the next few days," he said.
"And that won’t be fun chipping and chiseling," Rohroff added.
The city says, "Livonia crews maintain Schoolcraft, Newburgh, Ann Arbor Trail, Levan, Stark, half-mile roads such as West Chicago, Lyndon, Hubbard and neighborhood streets."
