Elgin, its residents get social over snow

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

ELGIN — The city manager is running around with his iPhone, posting photos on Facebook. A police sergeant is pushing a snowblower. City councilmen are out pushing cars stuck in snow drifts.

That, Elgin City Manager Sean Stegall said, was the real story of the Blizzard of 2011, or Snowpocalypse, or Snowmageddon, or whatever you want to call the snowstorm that dropped more than 16 inches of snow on the Elgin area over Tuesday and Wednesday. That is the story that emerged as area residents, including Stegall, shared their experiences during that time on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

“Titles don’t mean anything. It’s really shown a sense of community,” Stegall said.

The city manager said he’s “not been a social media person.” But as he headed out with Elgin police and councilmen to get a first-hand look at the city’s snow-fighting efforts Tuesday night. “I said, ‘I have an iPhone. I’m going to do that.’ ”

A sampling of Stegall’s posts on both Facebook and Twitter throughout the night:

@ElginIL: City Manager Sean Stegall here... I’m spending the night riding along with our snow command crews. I will provide updates throughout the night. Check back often. posted just before 7 p.m. Tuesday

@ElginIL: City Manager Stegall here: There are currently 40 motorists in the ditch at the intersection 47 and 72. Snowmobiles in route. Unreal. posted at about 11 p.m. Tuesday

@ElginIL: City Manager Stegall here: We are pulling some snow plows off the road now. It is simply too dangerous. They cannot see due to white out conditions. posted at midnight Wednesday

@ElginIL: City Manager Stegall here: Every road in Elgin is open. However, I am certainly not suggesting that you use them. posted at about 8 a.m. Wednesday

@ElginIL: Assisting a stranded driver always feels good. posted at about 2 p.m. Wednesday

@ElginIL: City Manager Stegall here: I estimate that we have destroyed at least 50 mailboxes. You have my apologies if we did and you will also be reimbursed. The drivers hate it when this happens. They take great pride in their accuracy. posted at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday

Good response

Stegall said Wednesday that he doesn’t think he’s addicted to social networking yet, and he certainly won’t start posting check-ins at Dairy Queen online. But he said the response the city has gotten from residents about its social media efforts throughout the snowstorm has been “overwhelming.”

It’s been a great way to quickly get out information to citizens, even to answer questions like, “What is a super route?” Stegall said. And with the feedback the city has gotten from residents, “It really allowed us to put so many eyes and ears to work to really engage our community,” he said

It also allowed the city manager to post photos, not just of road conditions and weather radar, but also of The Beast, a mammoth piece of snow-fighting machinery he claimed hadn’t been used for 25 years.

And area residents had equal parts fun sharing their snowstorm stories online on Facebook and Twitter, like Alexis Wisniewski (@theestherproject), who posted a photo on Twitter of her husband, Timothy Wisniewski, snowboarding off the roof of their house in Carpentersville.

While Scholarbuys’ Carpentersville sales office was closed because of the weather, it posted photos taken by its employees across the Elgin area on its Facebook page. That included snowdrifts creeping up on the first floor windows of Jessica Boye’s Elgin home and Naomi Cadwallader’s house in Carpentersville and Matt Ryan’s young son standing on a shoveled sidewalk between two drifts as tall as he is.

Other tweets from area residents:

Tommy Welty (@just_a_tommy): Dear @couriernews, Hampshire is quarantined either because of snow or zombies. South Elgin is now my Walden Pond. Love, me. posted at about noon from Hampshire

Crysta Anderson (@elginista): The snow is now blowing UP from the ground in a kind of sno-clone. And Kane County is officially closed. posted at about 10:30 a.m. from Elgin

Ryan McGovern (@hupajoob): Snow drifts are literally 5ft high outside my house. Not looking forward to digging out. Still sipping coffee + hoping they disappear. posted at 8:20 a.m. Wednesday from Elgin

Rich Wagner (@mandolinevista): A large (Cliff) branch fell across from my house at #LordsPark, if only the large pine would blow over, I’d’ve clear view of Pavilion! posted at about 8 a.m. from Elgin