Looking at downtown York it's hard to believe it's March. "Right now it's pretty gnarly," said John Beck as he shoveled out front of New Grounds Roasting Company on West Market Street to get ready for First Friday. "I'm out here shoveling so we're ready. We actually have two events happening at the same exact time. We are doing a meet and greet, and we also have First Friday," said Beck.
As of Wednesday evening the City of York went under a snow emergency. On Thursday it looked more like the city was shut down, but that is good for those working to keep up with the storm.
"It helps a lot. Especially on our main routes, it allows us to plow back to the curb. It was a good decision," said Jim Gross, Director of Public Works for York City. Gross said as crews work to keep up, their salt supply is running out. "We have a dire need for salt. We should have enough to get through tonight. One of the concerns is the temperatures are supposed to be very cold tonight and tomorrow," said Gross. "There's nobody to buy from. If you find somebody to sell us some we will gladly buy it."
Dave Rudolph and his crew of six worked all day to keep more than 40 city properties, sidewalks, and parking lots snow-free, or at least try to. "We just cleared City Hall now and until the guys were completely done they had to go back over it again. It didn't take long. It took an hour to clear and took an hour to cover it back up," said Rudolph who is the Superintendent of the Electrical Bureau of Building Maintenance in York City.
The city will remain under a snow emergency through at least Thursday night. City officials ask people to stay off the roads Thursday evening so they can clean when the storm lets up.