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Despite the big snows, Sandpoint will experience another below-average snowfall. Yet the streets this year were a mess. Berms so large that some streets barely allowed two cars to pass through. Moreover, many streets were lined with cars on both sides, making passage one car only. Just imagine what would happen during a big snow year?

I make three suggestions for the City. One, incentivize use of alleys in order to get cars off the streets. We are blessed to have a city designed with such a large network of alleyways. Yet they are underutilized, often in poor condition, or usurped for private usage. Two, we need a four-season budget for our streets. The streets are filled with potholes and differential heaving and settling. The thousands spent on the bubble-outs would have been better spent making our streets work twelve months a year, especially in years like this. Three, rethink two-sided diagonal parking. I shudder to think of how miserable downtown parking will be during a big snow year. Photos of diagonal parking in the ’30s and ’40s show room for only one car to pass through. And yet, cars back then were small, unlike the 20-foot trucks Sandpointians love. Diagonal parking will present a challenge even without the snow! Also, the sight triangle at intersections with diagonal parking makes it near impossible to see oncoming traffic until one is a middle of the intersection! Yikes!

Winter lasts for 5-6 months and is usually much snowier. We ought to remember that.

PETER KRIZ

Sandpoint