St. Louis streets director was given 'incorrect' information about icy streets status

ST. LOUIS - Reggie Witherspoon’s family was chipping away at ice covering Newberry Lane Thursday. The family used a variety of tools to chip away and then shovel their snow-packed street.

“We still have to chop it, axe it, and shovel it,” he said.

Some residents are growing weary of navigating icy side streets that have shown little improvement during a nearly two-week period.

“It’s terrible,” another resident, Norma Cooper, said.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green exchanged letters on Thursday, disagreeing over how private contractors can be paid. 

The City of St. Louis has historically avoided plowing residential side streets due to concerns over damage to parked cars. The city has now started using smaller vehicles to salt some of those streets.

On Thursday, the city’s streets director revealed she had been given “incorrect” information by members of her department regarding the status of secondary and hill routes. One day earlier, Berthany Williams briefed members of an aldermanic committee on the status of street clearing operations.

Williams released the following statement that was sent to members of the St. Lous Board of Aldermen:

“After testimony from residents and aldermen yesterday, I drove through some of the neighborhoods where residents had raised complaints about their streets. It was clear that I had been given incorrect information from within the department about the status of our secondary and hill routes.

“Now, our first priority fix is to get the residential streets salted. Staff are out in the field salting residential streets. As for the incorrect information I was given, the relevant staff are Civil Service employees, and we will follow the Civil Service regulations to ensure accountability by staff.”