Important Update on December Street Sweeping Operations

[somerville311.livejournal.com]

Back in 2006, the City of Somerville announced that it was extending its street sweeping season through the month of December as a practical investment in public health and quality of life. All of the city’s street sweeping signs were altered to reflect the change but Mayor Curtatone decided that the Traffic and Parking Department should issue warning notices rather than actual tickets during December, 2006 in order to help educate residents about the change.

In December, 2007 – the second year of the new rules – the snows came early, with the City’s first snow emergency declared on December 13th.  Wirth snow on the ground, the City suspended street sweeping for the month, informing residents via the Connect CTY mass notification system on December 17th that street sweeping operations had been suspended until April, 2008.

This month, with the revised regulations now in their third year, the well-publicized and well-posted December extension is being enforced by the Traffic and Parking Department.

We recently learned, however, that the Boston Sweeper email service has not been providing this information to its subscribers, since the service stops sending out emails at the end of November.   Boston Sweeper is a privately-run subsidiary of Boston.com and is not responsible for providing official information.

We therefore wanted to remind the members of the City of Somerville’s Connect CTY and snow alert email lists that, just as they have for the past two years, street sweeping regulations remain in effect through December 31st unless the City issues explicit notice to the contrary.

If you have questions or need additional information, please call our Constituent Services Office by dialing 311 (617-666-3311 from outside the city).

Please join us in working to keep our city clean and healthy during the Holiday Season – and throughout the year.

Sincerely,

Somerville Communications, Constituent Services, and the Traffic &Parking Dept.

Comments

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I know some people who really wish this PSA had gone out a week ago. :)

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

4 days late with the suspension--it should have been announced as soon as it was evident that there would be problems. Waiting 4 days to know if we had more parking options in that mess was pretty sloppy.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

What part of "just as they have for the past two years, street sweeping regulations remain in effect through December 31st unless the City issues explicit notice to the contrary." am I missing here?

[reverend-jim.livejournal.com]

I believe the poster is referring to last year, when the snow emergency coincided with street cleaning in many areas of the city. It wasn't until four days later that the city announced street cleaning rules would be suspended.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

What part of...am I missing here?

I'm not at all sure what you are missing or why you are asking me what it might be. Did the above comment clarify the comment for you sufficiently?

I understand the rules were in effect unless the City issues explicit notice to the contrary. Given the mess and what locals had to deal with, they should have made the announcement immediately, not waited 4 days. Really, with the probability of bad weather during this month, the wisdom of extending it until the end of the year is questionable at best. I understand the need for revenue, but this just added to the chaos in a dishonorable way, so far as I am concerned.

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

Point taken. I do remember posting somewhere last year to the effect the parking department was trying to dream up a way where they could ticket simultaneously for blocking street sweeping and snow plowing.

As far as the four days last year, they were probably expecting typical December weather: 50 degrees and rain for a day and a half would have disappeared the snow.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

they were probably expecting typical December weather: 50 degrees and rain for a day and a half would have disappeared the snow.

Though it is far from impossible to have weather such as you describe above that acts to clear the snow up from storms that produce a lot of snow, I think it is far from typical--not precisely the exception, but I think the really big snows like last December tend to stick around for awhile. I remember at the time, I had use of a car that I parked up the block on Broadway (I live on Broadway) that I was too nervous to drive for a week due in part to weather conditions and in part to the car having some trouble. The spot on Broadway was legal for anyone to park in, yet I got a note stuck in the windshield wiper saying it was rude of me to keep the vehicle in front of her home in a spot that she had shoveled herself (or something to that effect) for an entire week (she doesn't own that spot of street, and I think *she* was the one being rude--especially since had she not waited that long to communicate, I would likely have tried to find another spot sooner--but I very much understand the frustration). The situation with the snow was such that there hadn't been space to park in front of the building I actually I live in, and that lasted for a while--all this made more complicated by the delay I spoke of above.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I feel like the street signs got updated for this, right?

[livingadream.livejournal.com]

The ones on my street did...

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I got this email today...so the emails are still coming!

"There will be street-sweeping tomorrow (Tuesday, 12/16/08) on
Russell Rd. on the odd side of the street in Somerville."

[mogwaikisses.livejournal.com]

I hear there is the possibility of a snow emergency Friday. Apparently you can only park on the odd side of the street on snow emergency days, so I was going to park there before work.

But! Friday is a street sweeping day on the odd side!

So what the hell are we supposed to do?

Please Direct Inquiries to 311

[somerville311.livejournal.com]

As stated in our original posting, Somerville311 will not usually respond to queries on LiveJournal. If anyone has follow-up questions or requests for service, she or he should call 311 (617-666-3311 from outside the city) or use the online form here:
http://citizen.somervillema.intelligovsoftware.com/RequestInfo.aspx

But since we are already posting a message:
When a snow or other weather emergency is in effect, street sweeping operations and enforcement are suspended. No sweeping-related tickets will be issued during a snow emergency.