More than a foot of snow fell in Muncie on Wednesday. More than a foot of snow probably remains piled up around your car.
If you are a Ball State University student who lives in one of the near-campus neighborhoods with characteristically small streets, chances are high you haven't dared to drive.
This is a wise decision, as many residential streets near the university have yet to be plowed.
Many of those who have dug their cars out of snowdrifts now have terrific stories to tell about getting stuck in the wet slush and trudging through Muncie on foot.
But the stories aren't worth the ordeal.
Obviously, when a major snowstorm comes along, street crews have to make decisions about which streets need clearing first. Major throughways are always the priority, as they ought to be.
Smaller neighborhood streets presumably come next on the schedule. In Muncie, though, that doesn't seem to be the case.
While more and more roads around the city are plowed each day, many of those in near-campus neighborhoods remain covered with snow.
These areas of the city house a large, mobile population. When the thousands of students who live in these houses need to get to campus each day, many of them drive.
If the Muncie Street Department does not see these neighborhoods as important, it needs to re-evaluate its priority list.
Muncie has a history of poor road conditions, especially when the weather turns nasty.
When you returned to Muncie from your hometown after Winter Break, for instance, you may very well have noticed a clear line on the road.
On one side of this line, the roads were likely clear and well maintained. On the other side, the side the city of Muncie maintains, not so much.
The problems grow exponentially when winter weather comes along, as does the danger factor.
City budget cuts even further decreased the street department's ability to get roads clear this year, and people have noticed.
Certain sacrifices must be made during times of economic hardship, but safety should never be sacrificed.
Cities across the northern United States are able to clean up heavy snowfalls many times a year, but Muncie can't seem to make it work.
While the amount of snow that fell this week was significantly more than usual, it has happened before. The city should have a defined plan for dealing with such snowy conditions.
When the cuts to street cleanup were made before the winter began, people were upset.
Now those budget changes are putting students and other Muncie residents in danger, and getting upset just isn't cutting it.
With more snow in the forecast for upcoming days, Muncie needs to fix this problem now.
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