I refuse to believe reports that the Seattle Department of Transportation cleared snow from the streets around the mayor's home last December.

That would've required them to be able to find his house -- something I'm not sure they're capable of doing.

The city transportation department's ineptitude in responding to the snow would be laughable if it was limited to that. But it's not. Take a look around at the appalling condition of our streets, no matter the season. What does it say for a city when its motorists know every pot hole?

I travel Delridge Way on my way to work and return home on 16th Southwest by South Seattle Community College.

Over the past decade, I've seen maybe six new traffic signals go up on pot hole-challenged Delridge between Southwest Orchard Street and the West Seattle Bridge. Glad to see they have the money for new signals.

Then there's that peanut-brittle stretch of 16th Southwest just north of the college, where you bounce around like a covered wagon. It's been that way forever. The city's response? A couple months ago it installed a speed bump in front of it. No kidding! My wife wondered, 'Why don't they break down the speed bump and use it to fill the potholes?'

One of the city's newest toys are those signals that warn motorists around the West Seattle Bridge that the Alaskan Way Viaduct is closed -- as if cones and police cars with flashing lights on the bridge are not enough. The viaduct was closed all last weekend for inspection. And guess what? The warning sign at Delridge and Southwest Holden Street was not flashing -- at least not on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Maybe it's meant to flash only if the viaduct is closed by earthquake.

What exactly does the transportation department do besides install fancy new equipment?

I see city cars with stickers that proudly proclaim they're powered by hydrogen or electricity. Yet I see thousands upon thousands of other vehicles driven by the rest of us sitting at red lights spewing exhausts into the air because the city won't synchronize the signals.
What is our city, specifically our department of transportation, doing with our money?

Terry McGuire
Highland Park