Snow/Parking Update

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

We just sent this out via Connect CTY:

While the city has NOT declared a snow emergency, the DPW is continuing to salt and sand roads and to remove snow at major intersections and city squares. Despite parking scarcity, residents must NOT park within twenty feet of intersections, obstruct the street, block hydrants or handicapped spaces, or violate resident permit parking. Residents and businesses are also reminded that they are REQUIRED to remove snow and ice from their sidewalks and to put down sand to improve traction. If you do not have access to sand, you may receive a free supply by bringing an empty container of five gallons or less to the DPW yard at 1 Franey Road. To further assist residents, the city will continue to provide overnight parking from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. in designated city and school lots through and including Thursday night. Residents currently in legal curbside spaces have until Thursday morning at 8 a.m. to dig out and move their cars before the city resumes ticketing for parking over 48 hours. Thank you for assisting the city in clearing our roadways. If you need additional information, please visit the city’s website or call 311.

Just so LJ folks know, I have since learned that some 48-hour rule tickets may have been issued by the police . This isn't their fault -- they were authorized to do it -- but anyone who has received a 48-hour violation in the past 12 hours should call 311 right away. They should also PLEASE move their vehicles as soon as humanly possible -- we'll start enforcing on Thursday at 8 a.m., but earlier compliance would be very helpful.

PS Thanks to knowledgeable LJers schpahky and mamajoan for clarifying that the city will continue to street-sweep as and where we are able (we do tht all winter), but we won't be ticketing.
Tags: local government, parking, snow emergency


Current Location: office
Current Mood: frantic
Current Music: ringing phones

Comments

[ron_newman]

Thanks for all your efforts, Tom.

But the city needs to clear sidewalks next to its own property as well. Just try walking down the Day Street sidewalk next to the metered lot. That's a very heavily used sidewalk, going from Mass. Ave. to Davis Square and a post office.

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree. Have you called 311 to get a DPW work order number?

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Or the sidewalk along the bus access to the Davis T stop...it's horrible.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Just had to share that a few months ago, I started a Facebook group for everyone's favorite civil servant:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6510621060

Enjoy!

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

This is sooooo out of control.

[ifotismeni]

joined!

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

So where's the Tom Champion photo? I need to do double takes when I see Tom like when the mayor showed up at my front door or when the dude who won at "Beauty and the Geek" walks down College Ave. or Star Simpson when I see her at MIT.

[veek.livejournal.com]

Tom, thanks for this. I'm curious: if, say, I want to make life easier for the street sweepers, do I assume they'll be sweeping on the same schedule as usual? Or is it more sporadic/differently scheduled?

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

More sporadic and weather dependent -- or "opportunistic" as they say in the street-sweeping biz. Please don't worry about trying to to get out of the way when we're not enforcing -- but thanks for thinking of us.

[ron_newman]

There are some temporary cardboard No Parking signs in front of my building on Day Street, which I assume are basically a "local snow emergency" to allow the city to try to plow there one more time.

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Kee-rect.

[aquaflame16.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. I was just thinking when I got the call that it would be great if you would start automatically posting the CTY alerts here, so cool!
And thank you very much for the (it seems to me) increased amount of communication recently. It really makes me feel a lot better about the city and makes me a lot more inclined to want to do the things that will be helpful for snow clearing (or whatever other situations) rather than resenting having to move my car for little discernible reason and winding up doing just the minimum to avoid a ticket because I'm annoyed/frustrated/motivated only by not getting ticketed/whatever.

[shana-lyons.livejournal.com]

Ditto.

I feel like the city has really stepped up the communication in the last few years. You guys are to be commended for it! It makes Somerville much more liveable. I'm sure you hear what's WRONG alot, so here's to something that's going right.

On a side note, this a prime example of why the DSLJ is actually more useful than our newspapers.

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Every legal curbside spot in the city: meter, permit, whatever. All are subject to the 48-hour rule, which is, however, in abeyance until Thursday at 8 a.m.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

More generally, you aren't supposed to park in the same spot for more than 48 hours ever, regardless of the time of year or weather conditions. It's just that when there's a snowstorm, a) it becomes more urgent to clear the roads as much as possible, and b) it's easier to identify the cars that have not been moved since the snow began.

[bryant]

Thanks -- this is very helpful!

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

My comment on clearing your car -- I've seen many on "major roads" (Broadway, Powderhouse Blvd) that are completely buried, packed in. What if these people haven't been physically able to dig themselves out? What then?

I'll allow for the fact that many of these people are lazy louts who should have gone out in the first place and not let it get this bad but what if they were away during the beginning of the storm and came back after it had all packed down?

Also, what if you clear out and the plows, plow you in making it LOOK like you didn't clear out when you did?

I'm asking this in the name of curiosity. I, so thankfully, have a driveway but I do worry about street parkers having been one for many years.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I imagine that this would be a great opportunity for volunteerism. As back-breaking as the work is, I wish there were a way to create a clearinghouse of "unable to dig out my car" and match them with "brawny".

I suppose one could post on Davis_Square asking... Except that I imagine that *one* of (though not the only) largest groups of people who would be unable to dig out their cars would be the elderly, and they would also be less likely than some to be on LJ, I suspect? (Of course, this is just demographic supposition...)

[starry83.livejournal.com]

So I have a question ---
I dug my car out very nicely. I drove it today, and mercifully got my same nice spot again. How does the city know this? In other words, if drive and then move back to my same spot without a parking officer seeing me, will I get a 48 hour ticket (as of Thursday)?

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

I think I heard they might chalk your tires? I won't speculate much more than that.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Question about the sand: Can you only get it during business hours, or can you get it in the evening after you get home from work?

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Excellent question. According to the DPW Commish himself, it's right out there in front of the DPW building, next to the yard gate and the basketball courts. You can pick it up any old time.

any restrictions on use of visitor parking permits?

[thedoubleduches.livejournal.com]

I have a bunch of friends coming for a party on Saturday - are there any restrictions (beyond the usual rules) on use of visitor parking permits?

Re: any restrictions on use of visitor parking permits?

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

don't know about somerville, but here in cambridge, you can request that visitor parking not be enforced for a certain day/time for exactly this kind of thing. check out somerville's website, it might explain more. in cambridge we needed to request it more than 24 hours in advance.

[viellen]

Thanks Tom! I just want to say that I really appreciate your presence in this community. I've only been a Somerville resident for three years now, but I've recently taken a more active interest in what goes on around the city. Having a city official reach out to an online community like this motivates me to care more; it puts a face/voice to the town so it's less of Us vs THE CITY and more like a community effort to keep things running smoothly.

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

BTW, I just drove down Highland Ave at approximately 9:00. Cops are out ticketing.

[grateful1311.livejournal.com]

for what?

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

It doesn't seem to me like you should have to file a '311' request in order for the city to clear their sidewalks. It should be done regardless. What about all of the sidewalks where noone files a request? They don't get cleared?
And here's a nice conundrum for Mr. Champion and the city to dwell on......I'm expected to clear my sidewalk despite the fact that it's city property. And yet, if I clear out my car on the street I can't save the spot because it's city property!!

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

In order for DPW to have (or contract for) enough personnel and equipment to, in 48 hours, clear snow and ice from every inch of ground for which it has responsibility (roads, parking lots, schools, sidewalks, park paths, etc., etc.), Somerville's residential property taxpayers would have to foot an annual bill that would send them reeling. (some folks already reel, but that's another story.)

Cambridge has about half again as many people as we do and spends twice as much per capita on city services (lots more commercial revenue). Think their roads and walks are better? Think again.

Our work crews generally clean up based on a prioritized list in which major roads come first, secondaries second, schools third, parking lots fourth and so on. Once the snow stops, we may dial back on the number of crews in order to avoid blowing our overtime budget, but we keep at it.

And as for the rules about shoveling/sanding walks and not reserving cleared spaces: that's not a conundrum -- that's the law. If enough people think it's wrongheaded or unfair, I guarantee you the Aldermen will want to change it.