Snow slows travel, trade in Fox Valley

Just how bad was Wednesday's snowstorm?

Bad enough for schools and certain public buildings to close for the day.

Dangerous enough for some towns to cancel trash pickup for the remainder of the day.

And hazardous enough for some restaurants to suspend delivery service.

In Elgin, the storm resulted in school closings as well as some of the city's popular amenities.

The Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin and the Centre of Elgin both announced they would close by 3 p.m. Wednesday. The city's zoning board and liquor commission boards also canceled their nightly meetings.

Denise Raleigh, the library's marketing director, said traffic was much lighter than the 2,200 people per day the facility normally sees.

"We are receiving many calls from people who can't make it to pick up their holds and we are assuring them that those items will be available to pick up (Saturday)," she said.

Meanwhile, the Algonquin Public Library and Pingree Grove's village hall were closed.

So were virtually all schools in the Fox Valley -- save for Community Unit District 300, which closed early for high school and middle school students. The district's grade schools, however, remained open for the full day.

Moreover, the afternoon and evening classes for the Lake in the Hills parks and recreation department were canceled for the day.

With the looming snow, ice and winds in store for the area, the Green Garden Chinese restaurant in Fox River Grove didn't even open its buffet Wednesday.

Even though travel slowed across the suburbs, the phone lines at Rosati's Pizza in Sleepy Hollow were lit up.

Employee Surag Patel said the parlor's afternoon rush was more pronounced than usual and he called in extra drivers to meet the demand from businesses that wanted lunch to come to them Wednesday.

"Right now, we're buzzing. Any time the weather is bad and there's snow, our business picks up," Patel said, noting delivery times had to be increased from about an hour to almost 90 minutes in some cases.

Trash that wasn't collected Wednesday in Algonquin will be picked up today, according to the village's Web site. Pickup normally held today will happen Friday and Friday's will occur on Saturday.

Drivers for Arc Disposal were yanked off their trash routes in Lake in the Hills, Carpentersville and South Elgin early in the day.

Trash collection was expected to pick up today, said Rick Bulthuis, the company's municipal affairs manager.

So was weather-related damage.

So far this year, 29 mailboxes in South Elgin have been damaged or knocked down by snow being sprayed from village plows.

That number was sure to rise this week. Conversely, the village's salt supply was dropping as it has in many towns.

"We're desperate. We need more," said South Elgin Public Works Director Chuck Behm said, noting that crews were mixing in sand to conserve salt.