New England Snow Weighs

Commentary
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The weight of our city's snow experience was very much on my mind this weekend. Last Thursday I happened to be on Main Street for both breakfast and dinner, and it was impossible to escape thinking about the devastating collapse of the Saint Aloysius Hall building in the North End. Friday was full of emergency notifications that my child had been evacuated from his school, I'm not the panicky type, but it really scared me.

I went to North Central Vermont to see family on Friday night, and with all this on my mind, I was particularly curious to see how Vermonters deal with the snow and roofs.

I expected that when I actually paid attention to it, I would notice that Vermonters build differently, perhaps making stronger and steeper roofs. But this was only a small part of what I saw; Vermont has its full share of shallow roofs, modular homes, trailer parks, porches, decks, and mini-marts. The big difference is not in the structures, it is in the people.

Put simply, in Vermont they worry about building collapses before any happen, clearing their roofs as soon as possible after a big storm. Although they have had less and much lighter snow than we have, my host, Robert Sandberg, had already spent two days clearing snow off of barns and other outbuildings, and he spent Saturday removing snow between the closely spaced gables on the house. At the very charming local ski slope ($12/day, 2 rope tows and a T-bar), at the general store, at the gas station, everywhere the talk was of clearing the roof.

The Bradford (VT) Journal Opinion last week had a front-page headline in Red Ink warning readers to clear their roofs, but Sandberg said he hadn't heard of any collapses this year.

The collapse of the Main Street building shook me (and others), in part because it made me question whether my faith in 19th century construction was valid (it was built in the 1890s, and I live in a house built in 1860). Did someone cut corners in construction? Did the timbers gradually dry out and become brittle (I've heard this theory, but the two Vermont lumbermen I spoke to didn't buy it)?

Or did this January deliver a once-in-a-century accumulation of snow which no building could possibly have survived?

After speaking with Vermonters, I have concluded that we must turn inwards to find the responsibility for the collapses in Connecticut. While construction and the storms play a role, we should ask why there was no urgency in Middletown to clear roofs before a catastrophic collapse. There were 4 or 5 clear days between the big snow storm and the ice storm which provided the final straw and triggered the collapses. During this time, there were no banner headlines urging residents to clear roofs (in The Middletown Eye or elsewhere that I know of), no mobilization by the City Public Works department, no Mayoral Press Releases, nothing from the Chamber of Commerce or the Fire Departments or the building inspector, no visible concern by the Public School System. Although Governor Malloy called for roof clearing on January 27, there did not seem to be any concern in Middletown until after February 2nd.

The collapse of the Main Street Building on Wednesday morning has galvanized some into clearing roofs, and we can all hope that this and the warmer weather will prevent further building collapses.

Finally, there is a difficult topic which has not been raised: what is the appropriate response to the collapse of a building caused by too much snow on the roof? This is a question relevant to hundreds of building collapses throughout Connecticut, including at least three in Middletown.

Governor Malloy has written President Obama, mentioning the Main Street building collapse and informing him that the State will be asking for disaster relief to help recovery from January's record snowfall. Senator Dick Blumenthal has called for disaster relief, according to The Middletown Press. Some disaster relief may be appropriate, but I hope that we as a City and as a Nation do not routinely provide relief for preventable building collapses.

Many people argue that the Federal bailouts given to banks and corporations are wrong because they absolve their owners of responsibility for their actions. Many people (sometimes the same) argue that bailouts given to the poor absolve them of responsibility for their actions.

I hope all of those people would also make the same argument about a bailout in their own backyard. If a building collapses because its owners failed to clear the roof, I question whether a Federal bailout is warranted. Whether it is a farm building, a home-owner's garage, or a commercial building, Federal bailout should not be given to owners who failed to exercise due diligence in clearing the snow off of their roofs.

Let us all learn from Vermont and take personal responsibility for protecting our buildings and all the people in them from any collapses due to snow. Let's prevent disasters that we can prevent. And let's not turn to Washington to bail us out if we don't.