Dear Pedestrians...

[larsks.livejournal.com]

I have tried to keep my sidewalk clear for your comfort and safety -- and my own! But despite my best efforts, the City of Somerville has repeatedly, in the space of an hour, refilled my sidewalk with the snowplow. I tried to complain, but the city doesn't seem terribly interested. My arms are tired, my back is tired, and I give up fighting the City. They apparently don't consider pedestrian safety to be a terribly high priority.

If you have also run into this problem, I encourage you to contact the Mayor's office at mayor@ci.somerville.ma.us as well as your local alderperson. You may also want to contact the Comissioner of the Department of Public Works, Stanley Koty, but my previous experience with DPW suggests this won't help.

Comments

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

It sounds like the problem is the parking ban on the even side of the street, which leads to plows throwing snow onto the sidewalk on that side.

I don't see why Somerville has to ban parking on one side of every single street. Cambridge used to have snow parking ban signs on one side of every street that had parking on both sides. A few years ago they eliminated the restrictions on all non-major streets, and things have gone just fine.