Snow removal last night

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I am going to catch a lot of flak for this, but I actually wanted to (gasp!) thank the City of Somerville for their relatively good work at clearing most of the roads last night.

I observed the roads in Somerville to be much clearer than the roads just across the border in Cambridge, in particular Mass Ave.

This isn't a knock on Cambridge, but from the warmth of my house, I was able to observe the DPW trucks making repeated rounds last evening keeping the roads open in case they were needed.

Comments

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I drove back from the airport this morning at 6am and came back the no-toll way. I can tell you that the Somerville streets were much, MUCH better than Revere and Everette (and possibly part of Chelsea).

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

All things considered, they should be better. Somerville has the highest population density of any city in New England. That means more local tax revenue for a fatter snow removal budget. I'm not ungrateful, mind you, but I don't feel that I should be surprised that Somerville had more money to spend on trucks and labor.

[veek.livejournal.com]

What is this no-toll way of which you speak?

This whole post? IIRC.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that having a large residential base actually hurts your income. Commercial rates are higher for the same square footage.

I don't have it at my fingertips, but if you Google something like "Massachusetts City Tax Base" (some Google Foo will be required) you can get a table of what every city takes in for real estate taxes. There was an article in the Globe about it a few months ago, IIRC. Again, IIRC, Somerville was about in the middle of RE tax income.

Finally, I dunno if you read the Somerville News, but there was all kindsa complaining over there when the current mayor bought new DPW equipment recently, and (IIRC) it was for new snow removal trucks, among other things.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

When you're leaving the airport, one of your options is to go Route 1A to Revere, and then you can loop around. No tunnels, no tolls.

If you use maps.google.com and put in your address as one end and this as the other:

Lee Burbank Hwy/RT-1A S @42.397477, -71.008388 to:Logan Airport Boston MA

it'll give you a rough idea of the route. I've never taken the route during high traffic periods, though.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

this is one possible way. (http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&q4=42.365996%2C-71.023179&q3=42.386167%2C-71.039304&q2=42.401341%2C-71.082918&q1=42.396143%2C-71.121843&trf=0&lon=-71.072874&lat=42.385303&mag=5)

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing 1A to 16? If there's no traffic, it's not too bad. Otherwise, pay the $3.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

my street doesn't always get plowed, and doesn't always get plowed well, and this morning it was nice and clear, and in fact i didn't really hit a bad road getting to mass ave. it would've been nice if there had been some plowing yesterday afternoon when people were trying to get home, but i'm with you on thanking the somerville dpw for their evening efforts.

[ron_newman]

Another possible way involves Route 99 from Sullivan Square into Everett, then Beacham Road through the Chelsea produce markets, going under the Tobin bridge in Chelsea, then a right turn onto one of the bridges into East Boston. I'm not sure I'd want to try it in a snowstorm, though.

[ron_newman]

Cambridge has a MUCH higher property tax base than Somerville, because of all the commercial and industrial uses, especially around Kendall Square and Alewife.

[docorion.livejournal.com]

Well, it *is* kind of difficult to plow the roads when people are actually *on* them...

Re: This whole post? IIRC.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

My thought was population density = many more tax payers per square foot of road to be cleared = better snow budget.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I think that there is a limit at which the rate of snowfall exceeds the rate of removal, and you just have to wait for the DPW to catch up.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

They just need bigger trucks. With BIG plows. Solves the congestion and snow problem all at once!! ;)

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

Ugh, Mass Ave. It was completely patchy and shaky there this morning. But, as soon as we crossed into Boston, the roads were as clear as day.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Also, even though Cambridge property taxes are actually slightly lower (they have a larger residential exemption), property values are higher. Cambridge has *way* more money than Somerville. I can't imagine how anyone living here could think otherwise.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i've driven home behind plows before. i did figure the dpw was probably waiting for the snow to taper off, tho, so they wouldn't have to go out and plow again.

[angelpiglet.livejournal.com]

Somerville was the best i've seen it
Cambridge was horrible, especially Cambridge St.
I was definitely surprised!
now hopefully they will be salted/sanded tonight!

[narya.livejournal.com]

I went home early and the plows went down my street three times between 2pm and 5:30pm. By 6:30, you could barely tell that they had been there at all, a couple of people were stuck in snowbanks and my neighbors were wondering why the plows hadn't come yet. Even though I had seen them come by several times, it was coming down so fast that you couldn't really tell.

Re: This whole post? IIRC.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Here's a recent official Somerville property tax number: $88 million. Somerville has a 85% residential property tax base, which is crushingly bad for revenues. Here's the link:

http://www.somervillema.gov/NewsDetail.cfm?instance_id=1135

For 2004, Somerville had $75 million in property tax revenues, while Cambridge had $209 million. That's a sizable gap. Cambridge has a slightly higher population (around 100k in 2000 for Cambridge, 77k for Somerville), but the real difference is their commercial vs. residential tax base. I couldn't find a percentage, but according to Cambridge's 2008 budget, they get $66 million in property taxes from their top ten commercial tax payers: so they get 75% of Somerville's TOTAL just from their top ten commercial payers.

[ron_newman]

Mass. Ave, between Rindge Ave. and Day Street, looked fine to me when I walked there last night (around 8:30 pm to visit Pemberton Market)

Re: This whole post? IIRC.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Higher population density probably means fewer residential properties and less tax revenue from property taxes than in a city where the population is more spread out. Just a hunch.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

hell yes. Pemby's was open, and so beer was had whilst watching Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land.

Behind the plow is the best place to be

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

Could be. It is less efficient to plow twice.

On the other hand, they do need to keep the roads as open as possible.

My guess is that it was just snowing too fast, so even though they were out, we didn;t see any benefit until later, and therefore we assume that they were more active then, when in reality, it was the snowfall rate that changed, not the rate of plowing.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I'm inclined to say that it's almost entirely because of MIT