Even though his cable TV news network may not have that many viewers in relative terms to his competitors, MSNBC's David Shuster apparently has some clout when it comes to getting things done in Washington, D.C. - at least on a municipal level.
Shuster, making effort to give his viewers some "perspective" of his personal experience with the reason record-breaking snowfall in Washington, D.C., showed pictures of scenes near his Washington, D.C. home - complete with unplowed snow and a downed tree on MSNBC Feb. 12.
"And to give you some perspective on what it's been like for all of us here in Washington, D.C., on residential streets that don't get plowed," Shuster said. "First up, this is a picture my wife took on Sunday in front of our house looking north of 32nd Street," Shuster explained. "This was after the first storm that dumped about 23 inches and before the second drop of another 12. And here's a photo from the same angle last night, the weight of the second storm caused one of the trees to fall down yesterday morning breaking windows in that apartment building on the right. We have street parking and here's what 35 inches of unplowed snow does to cars."
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And while there are roughly 591,000 in the District of Columbia facing that same fate with the record snowfall, Shuster explained Democratic Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty was personally able to make sure Shuster's neighborhood was taken care and even spared a few moments of his time to pose in a photo with Shuster and his wife.
"Last night, Mayor Fenty was in our neighborhood, on our street and he called our street the worst in Washington and said he would get somebody here," Shuster said. "Well, my wife and I posed with the Mayor and Councilman Jack Evans and we are pleased to report that this morning the mayor followed through. There was a plow working on the street and there were workers trying to remove that tree behind us."
The Washington Times reported on Feb. 11 that Fenty has been criticized by others on the D.C. council for not declaring the city a federal disaster.
"If there is ever a time for a state of emergency, this is it," Mr. Brown, at-large Democrat, said to the Times in a story by Joseph Weber. "The District is not only facing a crippling snowstorm, but we're facing a crippling budget shortfall and citywide safety issues. We need to call for federal government dollars and resources just like our neighboring jurisdictions."
