Patch Reader: Why Does Emmaus Clean Up Snow for St. Ann's?

An Emmaus Patch reader who lives on S. 6th Street in Emmaus Borough posed a question about the borough's snow removal policies in the "Speak Out" section of the Emmaus Patch site on Monday morning.

In particular, the reader, who posts on the Emmaus Patch site under the user ID jmil1150, wanted to know why this weekend the borough appeared to only be cleaning up the snow in front of St. Ann's School on S. 6th Street and not assisting with snow removal on the residential side of the street, where tight parking is an ongoing concern. 

"Parking being a continuing issue in this area with nothing being addressed by the borough," the reader writes, "now borough assets are clearing parking for the school??? I'm really wondering......."

Patch contacted Emmaus Borough Manager Shane Pepe via email to get a response to the concerns raised by the reader. Pepe told Patch that the Borough was cleaning off the bus drop-off area at the school -- something it has done for years. 

He went on to say that the borough assists all the schools in Emmaus in a similar way -- with the ultimate goal being to help keep the kids safe.  

Here's Pepe's response in its entirety:

"I spoke with our Public Works Director, John Dychala, about this. We were cleaning off the bus drop-off circle at the school, as well as the drop-off area for the children, a practice that we have been doing for as long as he can remember. It has been a standard practice of the Borough’s for many years to clean the snow at all of the schools in the Borough, in particular, in the areas where children are getting dropped off (we do not plow their driveways, playgrounds, etc.). This process did not just start recently. It is a partnership the Borough has with all of the schools in the borough. We help them with things, just like they assist us in other areas when we need it as well. While we cannot clear every single street gutter in the Borough, we try to clear off as many of the high-traffic areas as possible, especially at the schools, where the safety of the children is a particular concern. If we cleaned off every side of every street, we would have over 100 miles of snow to remove, which simply is not feasible. Safety rather than convenience is the first and foremost priority of the department."