City removes every trace of snow from Delancey St, adds leaves to trees

Above photo: Delancey Street in Philadelphia only 23 minutes after a December record 23.2 inches of snow fell over the weekend in the Philadelphia area. The controversial, city-funded and operated Delancey Street Snow Task Force cleared last Saturday's snow in record time, utilizing its 350 crew members, 35 plows, 100 snow blowers and 700 hair dryers in the process. The task force was established in 1882 (photo below) to keep the street free of snow, by whatever means necessary, for its many influential residents. "The crew gets one minute to remove the snow for every inch that has fallen," said Susan Vern, a Streets Department representative. "We'd like to have a snow task force for every street in the city, but it's just not in the budget right now. It's just not."