With Abundance of Slush, Criticism of Cleanup Effort

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's first decision about the first sizable snowstorm of his administration came at 5 a.m. yesterday when he delayed the opening of city government for two hours. Then he canceled his usual 6 a.m. run and shoveled his sidewalk with 6-year-old son Andrew.

It was mostly business as usual after that. Fenty (D) met a D.C. Council member, sat for an interview with a triathlon magazine and had lunch with a newspaper columnist.

Meanwhile, his transportation department was dealing with a mix of snow, sleet and rain that left many major streets filled with piles of slushy glop well past the morning rush hour. Although the city deployed a full crew of 450 workers and 150 plows, officials said the unpredictable storm delayed their ability to get started in removing the slush.

Although some thoroughfares such as Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest and Good Hope Road in Southeast looked fairly clear by midday, others such as 16th Street NW, Georgia Avenue NW and some downtown blocks were snowy enough to strand a handful of Metro buses and leave commuters fuming. Side streets in residential neighborhoods were even worse.

Yesterday afternoon, Florine Kellogg, 53, a receptionist in the accounting department at the National Mediation Board, expressed frustration as she sloshed through snow at 13th and K streets NW to reach her bus for home in Brightwood Park. When she left for work about 7:30 a.m., roads were a mess, she said.

"This morning, coming down, my neighborhood was really bad," Kellogg said. "The trucks hadn't come through."

Removing snow quickly and efficiently is a key test for a mayor, one of those mundane but critical tasks -- along with picking up trash and filling potholes -- that can make or break a political career. Fenty, 36, who campaigned on his reputation as the king of constituent services while serving as the Ward 4 council member, set a high bar for himself before taking office.

Yet Fenty, who had made a point to be seen publicly as often as possible during his first month in office, did not schedule a public appearance until after reporters pressed him to answer questions. Shortly before 3 p.m., he stopped by a D.C. salt dome in Northeast.

"I take all criticism seriously," said Fenty, who added that he had visited a shelter for the homeless and had his security detail drive him around Wards 6, 7 and 8 to do spot-checks.

"We're always shooting for an A-plus," he said. "We're not going to stop until the citizens give us an A-plus. When it comes to snow, the customer is always right."

Fenty's top deputy, City Administrator Dan Tangherlini, spent six years as the transportation chief under Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). Although the city suffered several shutdowns under former mayor Marion Barry (D), Tangherlini's crew developed a more reliable snow removal plan.

Tangherlini said yesterday that he and D.C. transportation chief Emeka C. Moneme, who served under Tangherlini in the Williams administration, went to bed expecting major icing, only to wake to find the storm dumping a few inches of snow instead.