Philly pleads with businesses not to close early

The city of Philadelphia says stay it’s “business as normal” during this storm and is urging local employers to follow suit.

Philadelphia Streets Commissioner David Perri says more than 200 pieces of snow-fighting equipment have been deployed throughout the city.

“The city is open for business, we are not having an early dismissal today, and we do not recommends that businesses close early,” Perri said. “When there is a mass early closure, we tend to get traffic jams, which also cause the snowplows to get caught up in the traffic.”

Public Safety Director Michael Resnick says the conditions are not bad enough to declare an emergency.

“Right now we are monitoring the weather. We are expecting four to six inches of snow. We are not activating our [Emergency Operations Center]. We are not declaring a snow emergency. Therefore there will not be any towing off of snow routes and there will be no discount parking,” Resnick said.

SEPTA reports regional rails are running close to schedule, but some bus routes are running into serious trouble. Routes 18, 35, 120, L, H and XH are suspended, and many other routes are facing delays of an hour or more.

Perry adds that trash collections are going on as scheduled except for rear driveway trash collections.  Those will not happen until the city is sure the driveways are clear of snow and ice.

The city is also reminding residents they have to shovel a three-foot-wide path within six hours of when the flakes stop falling

So far this season, Philly has had 11 winter storms. Nine brought snow; two delivered ice.