WBBM Channel 2 - Channel 2 News Special Report - "Blizzard '79: Public Questions, City Answers" (Part 3, 1979)

Here's Part 3 of a Channel 2 News Special Report, "Blizzard '79: Public Questions, City Answers," a call-in show hosted by Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson on WBBM Channel 2, with Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Chairman James McDonough, Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Francis Degnan, Fire Commissioner Richard Albrecht, and Police Superintendent James O'Grady in the line of fire. Also featuring Steve Shepard. Includes:

Bill Kurtis mentioning how he rode the "L" during the 1967 blackout while asking McDonough about how bad it is in 1979. McDonough asserts the CTA was not his responsibility in 1967, but says they weren't as efficient as now. Walter Jacobson then reads a question from Bill Sears about the use of snow melters in '67 vs. '79; McDonough explains the snow melters weren't effective and were eventually retired. Walter next reads a question from Mrs. Gherkin (sp?) of the North Side about why buses run in packs of three and four; McDonough explains it's due to backups on one end or another (shots of GM T6H-3507A's passing the street are shown). Bill reads a question from Bill Williams of the Loop section about why rush-hour schedules had been kept in 1967 but not 1979; McDonough explained that 500 buses had been down in 1967 as opposed to 85 at the height of this blizzard and zero as of the airdate of this show. Walter reads a question from Roosevelt Davis of the North Side as to why there's no heating on the Howard-bound "L"; McDonough calls it a "minor" problem. Bill relays a question from Ralph Lindley (sp?) of Evanston about how McDonough gets to work; the CTA chairman says he drives occasionally but uses public transit more frequently. Walter says that 200 people who've called over the course of 35 minutes would take issue with McDonough's assertions of how good the CTA is running, and McDonough splits hairs. He then brings up that during Boston's big snowstorm the last year (1978), per a conversation he had with that city's commissioner of streets and sanitation Joe Pizaza (sp?), they had no public transportation whatsoever for five full days.

Walter then reads a query from a Mr. Odlang (sp?), a "recently former resident of Minneapolis," complaining about the inefficiency of city services in Chicago, more specifically lack of police in intersections to direct traffic flow; O'Grady speaks of police assigned to intersections and safety employees at the Loop, and gives specifics of who was assigned where on the Loop, and spoke of a recent derailment at Clark and Division. Walter reads a question from Mr. Healy (sp?) of Bridgeport, asking about $200 fines threatened for not removing cars from snow routes (such as 35th Street) and no snow removal; O'Grady explains about a city ordinance dealing with illegal parking and how certain streets were designated as snow routes.

Bill reads a question from Don Park (sp?) of Newtown about the CTA's not shoveling their sidewalk in front of their property at Schubert and Clark (McDonough says they should), before going back to Steve Shepard's remote; he speaks with Todd Moran (sp?) from the southwest side, who asks O'Grady about the issue of the $200 fine, and O'Grady mentions that he'd already explained it to Walter, but the $200 is the maximum under the law. Next in line is Donna Bjorklin (sp?) from the Southwest Side, asking about paying higher prices for vehicle stickers while suburbanites get their streets plowed "and we don't"; Degnan says he had trouble listening on his earplug, but O'Grady responds to the question, saying the suburbs, by his estimation, were in no better shape than the city.

Walter reads a question from Tom Korsak (sp?) of the Chicago Sun-Times, asking why, with 2,100 pieces of equipment out there, the side streets aren't cleared if the main streets are; Degnan disputes the figure, saying it's more like 1,000-1,100, and asserting the main arteries weren't cleared and speaking of using a "task force approach on a priority basis." Walter then reads a question from Shirley Herman of South Shore about the city leasing snow equipment from other cities, rather than buying their own, in recent years; Degnan explains that the city hadn't had the experience for three consecutive years that would have warranted purchasing equipment, while McDonough asserts that the city does indeed buy, not lease, snow equipment; but Walter presses on the lack of local equipment, leading to McDonough letting on that the city does indeed lease during emergencies like this, and saying "it's not good fiscal management" to buy equipment that would only be used for a small part of the year, and this leads to a whole discussion of the decision-making process with respect to equipment buying. Degnan insists we have not had a long streak of bad winters like this to justify buying more snow equipment.

Back to Steve at 62nd and South Archer, Don Burke (sp?) of the Southwest side asks why each community does not have their own cleanup service to deal with emergencies like this; Degnan speaks again of "trying to attack the arterial streets for people movement, food movement, so forth and so on" and of the function of the task force. Walter then asks Steve, whom he has described as an expert on snow removal protocols, about the subject; Steve's expertise has to do more with snow removal as it relates to rapid transit, and he expostulates in some detail on it, citing two in particular that are used in other cities (but he is not sure whether they're used in Chicago): jet snow blowers and third rail heaters. McDonough describes CTA's own problems with the third rail contact in major snowstorms (and mentions the name of one of the CTA's engineering staff, George Krambles). Afterward, Bill signals for the next commercial break.

Commercial: Viva paper towels - "Is It a Paper Towel or Isn't It?" (1978 copyright date)

Commercial: Metropolitan Datsun Dealers - "Straight Talk from Datsun Owners" - alternating testimonials from two owners of Datsun cars - "Doesn't Datsun Make Sense?"

Commercial: Frank's Nursery and Crafts - Fantastic sales on tropical plants (indoor plants, hanging baskets, foliage plants, large tropicals) - 25% Off - Sale ends Monday, January 29th 1979 - "Beautiful Things Begin at Frank's"

Commercial: Primatene Mist and Primatene Tablets - with former baseball pitcher Bob Gibson - "Contains Asthma Relievers Doctors Prescribe Most"

This aired on local Chicago TV on Thursday, January 18th 1979.

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