City officials can’t say they surprised by last Friday’s monster snowfall. Sophisticated computer modeling gave them several days to prepare. Yet five days later, as another snowstorm hit the region, many District of Columbia residents were still housebound and contemplating the next storm, even as an appalling number of major roads and intersections remained uncleared. Mayor Adrian Fenty should fire D.C. Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein and Department of Public Works Director Bill Howland, the two city employees in charge of snow removal, and use the money saved to hire a private contractor.

In contrast to the poor performance of Klein and Howland, Adam Brown, owner of Springfield, Va.-based Premium Paving, told The Examiner his crews had already managed to clear the snow from 100 percent of his retail and commercial customers’ properties in the District, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia — and were busy getting ready for the new storm that arrived here last night.