After a five-month post-mortem about the Blizzard of 2011 fiasco, Chicago’s top emergency officer was asked Monday how he intends to prevent another shutdown on Lake Shore Drive.
Gary Schenkel’s answer had nothing to do with the 12-page report’s proposal to install cuts in median planters along the Drive to provide access for emergency equipment and give stranded motorists a place to turn around.
- “We’re gonna pray a lot and hope that God doesn’t dump another 40 inches of snow on us,” said Schenkel, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
And this is just ignorant:
Asked whether anybody needs to be taken to the woodshed for what happened on Lake Shore Drive, Schenkel replied, “Absolutely not.”
In fact, if he had it to do all over again, Schenkel said he would “probably not” close Lake Shore Drive before the storm hit. Instead, he would “wait for the situation to develop” as his predecessor did on Groundhog Day.