For those who think now is not the time to discuss tornado protection -

[hedgehog]

5. I was thinking that this morning - as a New Yorker,

I hear all the time about how business is fleeing the state because of all our regulations and high taxes.

I'm not saying we need every regulation and that every tax dollar is spent wisely but -

We have strict building codes county by county. It costs more to build where I live because the roof must be strong enough to support the weight from the worst snow storm. New construction must meet certain requirements for building insulation.

Oddly enough, the only roof collapses I can recall were at two new big box stores (cough*Walmart*cough).

My county gets something like 130 inches of snow a season, although some storms have been known to dump up to 10 feet over a few days.

The roads are kept open and clear except during the absolute worst storms (several inches an hour) when it's probably not safe to be driving anyways. ( You really should be able to see beyond the hood of the car to drive safely)
Once the snow stops, the roads are cleared in 24 hours (I'm talking residential side streets - the main drags get cleared in a couple of hours.)

I maintain that Upstate New York goes through disasters every winter - but no one notices because government regulations force us to reinforce our buildings and government cleans up promptly after the storm so we all can go about our business.

I don't want to hear "but they know how to handle snow up North". It's not about knowing, it's about having the will to spend the money to get the job done.

I don't want to hear any whining about how it adds several thousand dollars to the cost of a house to build a proper tornado safe room. The extra strong roofs and extra insulation around here aren't free, either.