Are the blue lights on?

[bettyw.livejournal.com]

I'm coming over to Somerville in a bit and can find no indication online that there is any snow emergency declared (nor for Cambridge). Malden called one starting @ 8am today. 311 hold wasn't going anywhere. Have any of you folks on CTY heard anything?

EDIT 11:45am: I just called the Malden PD, who told me that their robo-call was not an "official" snow emergency, just a "be courteous about parking" call (even though is said to use the municipal garages). I think they are enjoying their new robo-calling abilities too much - NYE they called just to say the old police chief was retiring!

Comments

[ron_newman]

No robo-calls, no e-mails, nothing on the city web site, so it looks like no snow emergency so far. Haven't yet been out to look at the blue light in Davis Sq.

No, but...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

the snow seems to be accumulating...

[ursamajor]

No snow emergency I've heard, but it looks like it's been snowing the last 12 hours straight ...

[masswich.livejournal.com]

No indication that there is a snow emergency - nothing on the City web site, which I think would be the official source. If there is one, they are sure keeping it under wraps (but maybe the plan is to make a bunch of money off tickets that way...)

[annalauwa.livejournal.com]

arlington's going to have a snow emergency starting at midnight, and ending at 7 AM. not really sure why they decided to declare one, since starting at 1 AM you can't park on the street anyway.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling there are certain streets in East Arlington where the police have told people they won't ticket at night. And I think the rule is 1 hour parking between 1 am and 7 am, not no parking. So the snow emergency means you really can't park overnight.

[somerville311.livejournal.com]

311 has kindly lent me their logon to update DSLJ readers directly.

Please note that, at the time of this posting, we have no plans to call a snow emergency this weekend.

DPW Commissioner Stan Koty and I began last Thursday morning to consult a variety of weather forecasts and services, including AccuWeather (we use the premium subscriber service)as well as the forecasts and detailed "discussion feeds" of the National Weather Service in Taunton (available publicly through the noaa.gov website). The analyses we have consulted have stayed remarkably consistent since Thursday: this is a slow-motion storm with no more than two inches falling in any 12 hour period (although three inches may actually have fallen in one of these periods).

Under the circumstances, Stan suggested back on New Year's Eve, and I fully concurred, that we should recommend to the Mayor that he hold off on declaring a snow emergency unless conditions changed radically -- which they have yet to do. Instead, DPW has brought in extra road crews to continuously treat and plow our roadways in the expectation that we will be able to stay ahead of the precipitation right through the weekend. So far, that seems to have been the case, with bare, black pavement the norm on most Somerville streets. (Currently, the only eastern Mass community to declare any form of emergency is Taunton -- which has invoked a parking ban -- so we are by no means alone in our assessment.)

In adopting this strategy -- as in all of our parking-related policies and decisions -- our intent has been to provide the maximum number of available parking spaces for residents and businesses alike while ensuring safe roadway conditions for the public.

I assume "masswich" was joking in his/her suggestion that "maybe the plan is to make a bunch of money off tickets" by declaring a stealth snow emergency. If serious, that would be an accusation that my coworkers and I are engaged in a pretty nasty criminal conspiracy -- and the kind of remark that convinced me long ago to drop my membership in this group.

In truth, no city in the Commonwealth has more ways to get the word out on snow emergencies than we do, and we are regularly criticized for declaring them too early, since we try both to get a head start on snow removal operations and to provide as much prior notice as possible.

Here is a link to our most recent press release about snow procedures:
http://www.somervillema.gov/newsDetail.cfm?instance_id=1541

and here is a link to the our downlaodable snow procedires brochure:
http://www.somervillema.gov/CoS_Content/documents/SnowBrochureFinal.pdf

I apologize in advance for not responding to any replies to this message, but I am now returning control of this DSLJ logon to my 311 colleagues.

However, on behalf of all the City employees who remain on duty throughout this holiday weekend, please allow me to offer our best wishes for a peaceful and happy New Year.

Thomas P. Champion
Director of Communications
City of Somerville

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

It would be nice if there were a page on the city's website that always explicity said if there was a snow emergency or not, along with a time and date stamp so you know you're not seeing a cached version of the page. With the current setup, you have to hunt around for a notice which may or may not be there.

I thought that's what the "24-hour Snow Line" at (617) 628-SNOW is for. But not only does the current recording not mention the lack of a snow emergency for today's storm, it even has an outdated message stating that because of "this weekend's snow emergency" (referring to the storm 2 weeks ago!), street cleaning is suspended until the spring.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I think folks in charge are doing a decent job with dealing with snow, and I agree with the decision to not make this weekend a snow emergency. I am sorry there was insult taken from another poster; please note that some people are rather frustrated at the level and degree of parking regs recently put into effect (is there any other surrounding town that tickets until 8pm?) and some passive aggressive comments might be the only way that some people feel they have to express their frustration at a condition they don't feel any control over that has occurred in their living environment. Many of us are rather frustrated, actually. Sorry that as a politician you have to bear the brunt of so much of it.

[flicktitious.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure if you go to somervillema.gov, any snow emergencies that have been e-mailed (or phoned) are listed under the alerts section, and the emergency notice itself has the date and time it takes effect.

You can also sign up to have the alerts e-mailed to you, in which case they're instantaneous. That said, if you live on a street like mine, you're better off watching the weather and finding a parking spot a day in advance of a snow storm.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

When the city refused to mark 20 foot zones at intersections, claiming it was cost prohibitive, yet came up with the money to mark every street permit only ... this leads to PCOs using their own feet to measure the distance, meaning drivers don't really know whether they're at 20 feet or 22 feet, and risk a ticket.

Yeah, that's what makes people think the way the city deals with parking is a money making opportunity

20 feet

[primitiveloaf.livejournal.com]

Painting the curbs 20 feet in all directions at every intersection in Somerville? Of course thats cost prohibitive! Parking within 20 feet of an intersection is a MA state law. It was probably on the written portion of your drivers license test. A city cant post all traffic laws on every street. Live and learn.

The PCOs in Somerville are vigilant, to be sure, but its for the greater good, which is safety and quality of life. If you get a "20 ft to intersection" violation and think its unfair, get a tape measure, take a picture and request a hearing.

In any event, you'll think twice about where you leave your car, which benefits us all.