I'm of two minds about the mayor's decision to promise the city will use salt to clear snow- and ice-bound roads in the future. On one hand, whatevs. Unless global warming rapidly accelerates and produces much icier, snowier winters right away, we aren't likely to have another storm like this month's in a good long while; the last time we had this much snow that hung around as long as it did this time was more than 20 years ago. So in that sense, pandering to the pro-salt voices in the city may make sense. (The mayor practically acknowledged that was what he was doing this morning, noting that the city was "open[ing] up the toolbox just a little bit wider than it has in the past" but acknowledging that the city didn't know which circumstances would warrant using salt; "When we get there, we're just going to use our best professional judgment," he said.)

On the other hand, pandering to a bunch of hysterics who think salt is a magical fairy dust that makes snow disappear seems unnecessary. Salt is not a panacea, as people who've lived in the Northeast and Midwest will readily tell you. It can stick to surfaces (just like sand) and it doesn't work well in conditions like the recent storm, when the ice melted and froze and melted again. And, yes, it gets into creeks, streams and rivers, harming aquatic life and killing plants. Those concerns are why the city ended the use of salt in 1998. Changing that policy because of one weather event is shortsighted public policy.

In other snow-related news, Nickels announced that the city will hire private contractors to clean up the sand and gravel still littering city streets. The city probably won't buy new snow plows—"having snow plows sitting there idle for 10 years or more may not make sense," Nickels said—but they will be talking to King County Metro about how to better coordinate snow service on city streets in the future. The City Council, which was somewhat blindsided by the mayor's announcement (he didn't tell them he was changing the salt policy in advance) still plans to hold a series of public meetings on the city's snow response; full schedule is available here.