Brrrrrrrrrrrrr blogger boosters. Enough! I surrender! Please hurry spring. This winter has certainly been one for the books around the country, but not really here in Rochester. Did you know that a couple of weeks ago 49 of the 50 states had snow? Guess which one didn’t? No, it wasn’t Hawaii. It was Florida. And having last week’s Super Bowl in Dallas; no worries about wintry weather there, right? Wrong! Snow in Dallas days before the game and they have had some more this week.
I am fortunate to live in an area where the city, county and UR do an awesome job of keeping us moving and letting us get things done despite when mama nature flakes out. I can’t speak specifically for the county or city (they are great), but I can sing the praises of UR’s grounds department. Under the management of Dan Schied, supervisor Mike Miller and his crew work around the clock with our contractors in keeping all of us safe. You already know that in addition to being a traditional four-year University, we are a massive, world-class hospital, medical school and research center. We can’t close. Lives depend on emergency vehicles getting to our properties. Many of the 20,000+ staff at the University are considered essential personnel, and they need to get here and park and get to their jobs. I’m proud that our grounds department is part of University Facilities and Services. They are a great team and I’m thankful for them and all workers who push aside their personal lives so we can get about.
I know I’m ready for spring and I think the grounds crew might be ready too. So, where ever you are, when you travel about, tip your cap to the men and women who risk much so we can move forward.
And for you stat fans, Rochester has had 92″ of snow so far. Our grounds crew is responsible for over 6 million square feet of paved areas to clear. All that snow would fit into our football stadium and be over 1,000 feet tall. Yes, over 1,000 feet tall.