Why no snow emergency?

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

I've been hearing 4 (or more) inches projected for several days now, and it looks like that's what we'll get. Now I'm curious: why didn't Somerville declare a snow emergency last night? Does it have something to do with the holiday? Does 4 inches need to be declared by a particular forecasting organization? Or have they simply met their revenue projections for January and don't need any more cash?

Comments

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

I had thought that the rule was that if there was a storm warning (6 + inches in 24 hours) that they had to do an emergency. But nothing has happened and it's definitely more than 4 inches out there. I've seen plows a few times (we're off of North Street in the Teele area) but the cars on both sides of the street are definitely impeding them and making the drifts at street intersections that people tend to get stuck in far more pronounced.

Thankfully I also have awesome neighbors who live on those corners who have actually been clearing those drifts, but I don't envy them, while I do appreciate their charity.

[studeronomy.livejournal.com]

The Somerville website says, "A snow emergency will be declared when four or more inches of snow are predicted." Several forecasts predicted more than four inches today and (if I remember correctly) more than six inches after tonight, so definitely more than six over the course of a 24 hour period. Again, I'm confused why a snow emergency was declared.

I'm not upset, of course. There do seem to be trucks out there plowing, and people don't have to worry about re-parking (yet). It just seems odd, especially when you consider how on the ball they've been so far this winter.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

I just tried to edit my comment as you replied to it :)

I found this:

http://www.somervillema.gov/CoS_Content/documents/SnowBrochureFinal.pdf

and it says what you've said. The fact that there was a winter storm warning indicates that there was an expected 6 or more possible inches, which usually starts an emergency right away due to liability. Perhaps the person who calls emergencies is vacationing somewhere warm? Or, perhaps like what happened in my home town a few times, they're out of budget for plowing (doubtful, but it happened..) Either way, people are going to be plowed in worse than usual, especially with the snow continuing through tonight and into tomorrow AM.

I'm telling you. They are out of money for snow removal.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Why not exploit this "volunteer" thing and save some money? There were definitely many forecasts predicting more than 4 inches in the area.