City foreman Mark Nichol and snowplow driver Dan Guardado, who routinely plows 620A, the route covering all three levels of New Eastside, are the neighborhood’s “snow sentinels,” making flurries and piles of snow disappear.
I meet Nichol first, in his white Chevy Equinox. Lined up in front of him at Monroe and Columbus are a row of plows, eager to push. When the plows deploy, Nichol follows behind, flashing his lights. It is 9 a.m. on a December Friday morning, and a storm has been hovering all night.
“You keep rolling, we never stop,” says Nichol, 57, in a light blue fleece and jeans. Beeps and buzzes sound throughout the car, but Nichol is energized, not stressed. After driving a snowplow for 25-plus years, battling the elements is second nature to him, though New Eastside presents special challenges.
“With all the buildings and hotels, people come and push snow into the street,” says Nichol. Yet the neighborhood nuisance leaves Nichol undeterred. “We don’t stop ’til everything’s done,” he says.
A few minutes later, ready to do business in a black cap, sweatshirt and grey work gloves, Guardado swings out in front of us, in plow S11735.
Kindly, Nichol and Guardado have agreed to give me a quick tour of New Eastside, as long as the weather cooperates.
I climb inside the cab, feeling, for the first time in my life, omnipotent against the snow. Despite driving a plow for 17 years, Guardado is equally giddy.
“This is a good gig,” he says. “I wanted to get into this a long time. I love driving… you could say I’m a driving fool.”
Bumping along Lake Shore Drive, with Nichol following, I learn about Guardado’s past. He grew up near Taylor Street, where he was inspired by his father, a maintenance worker at St. Francis Church. His face lights up when he talks about memories of Mario’s Lemonade stand near his childhood home, though he says when he’s out on 620A all his thoughts are focused on work.
“I think a lot about traffic, cars, cab drivers. They’re ridiculous. They think they own the street.” Guardado says he wishes drivers in front of Mariano’s would be more considerate when they park outside. To help ease the stress, and pass the time on 12-hour shifts,
Guardado listens to classic ’70s rock and munches on chips, caramel corn and sub sandwiches. When I remark about the fact he’s been on the job since 10 p.m. “It’s not a big thing,” Guardado says, “You get used to it.”
As we round the bend into Lake Shore East Park, and my dropping-off point, Guardado shows off one of the snowplow’s fanciest features.
“Not all trucks have this,” he says, as he pushes two red buttons on the truck’s black joystick, making the plow move up, down, left, right. Once again my snow ignorance is exposed: I thought all snowplows were unidirectional, fixed in one spot.
“That’s cool,” I say. “Very cool.”
Before saying our good-byes, Guarda- do gives a mischievous smile and toots his horn in front of Bright Horizons at Lakeshore East preschool (360 E. South Water St.). Watching his powder-blue truck recede toward Columbus, I’m left with feelings of respect and appreciation.
City workers might not always have sparkling reputations, but when it comes to New Eastside’s snow removal team, Nichol and Guardado are second to none.
— Tricia Parker, Staff Writer
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