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Many Altoona residents might be thinking "A little late, aren't you?" regarding city council's Monday discussion of implementing new snow emergency parking restrictions in certain neighborhoods.
Of course, the discussion was late for the winter of 2021-22, which already has given way to spring, although winter weather-type conditions in recent days suggest otherwise.
However, what was discussed on Monday was not late for winters to come, some of which no doubt will be much worse than the one just past, even if only in terms of frigid temperatures.
Many older residents of this city no doubt recall the brutal winters of the 1960s and 1970s -- winters that made even the conditions of the past few days seem mild.
In fact, one of those winters of the past was so bitter that, in the waning days of it, when the thermometer finally reached about 45 degrees, a young woman in Elton, Cambria County, reacting to the temperature "spike," decided to wash her car in her driveway -- clad only in her bikini.
It must be kept in mind that the temperature that day was 65 degrees higher than some days of that winter, so she must have felt that summer was near.
That was then, but now it is correct that Altoona officials are giving snow emergency parking restrictions more than cursory attention, even if not for the remaining cold -- and
perhaps snowy -- days yet to come before very warm or hot conditions settle in.
In Tuesday's Mirror, reporter William Kibler, quoting Nate Kissell, city public works director, disclosed that the parking prohibition under discussion would help get narrow streets plowed and salted faster, "reducing complaints and plow truck accidents and making it easier for fire trucks to get through."
Kissell acknowledged that what was under consideration would not be without creating hassles for residents, who would need to find other parking places for a couple days."
People might have "to take the good with the bad," Kissell said.
Councilman Dave Butterbaugh was exercising good judgment when he remarked that, before any decision, the city should give residents plenty of opportunity for comment.
One option seemingly workable for doing that might be to get residents more directly involved than what council members envisioned on Monday.
Establish a special citizens advisory committee, "divide" the city into idea sectors, and appoint one or two people from each sector to gather input about how the city might best proceed in each sector, then report back to the council -- in plenty of time for ideas to be evaluated by Kissell and other officials prior to next winter.
The people living in each sector are the experts in terms of how specific ideas would be received. They are the experts in what specific challenges each sector deals with when snow, sleet and freezing rain arrive.
As Kissell noted, the current situation isn't helped by the fact that the city was laid out before cars were common and before families began acquiring more than one vehicle.
Altoona is not the only city that is impacted by those realities.
In acknowledging that people might have to take the good with the bad, Kissell asked, "Is the juice worth the squeeze?"
For everyone who needs to venture out daily to work and for other business or tasks, the answer is obvious.