New snow shovelling policy

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

I'm going to pick a fight in a passive aggressive way, if that is possible.

So Somerville fines if you shovel snow into the street??!!!
http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x1689216222/Fines-set-for-Somervilles-non-shovelers

This is bogus on so many ways.

First of all, during the last storm, right after I shoveled my sidewalk and "shoveled" snow onto my sidewalk. Not just into my driveway (which I've come to expect). Can I fine the city for that?

So is this defined as into the middle of the street, or along the edges? Sometimes you have to shovel just a little bit into the first couple feet of the street. If someone shovels out their car, will that trigger it?

In general, I find it annoying that my real estate taxes go to clearing the roads (which I don't even use since I'm doing my part by not driving) so I guess I have a chip on my shoulder.

And hopefully I just don't understand the regulation. What is the definition of shoveling into the street that they are going off of?

Comments

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Really? I haven't found that to be the case over many years of visiting family in Montreal in the winter--and my grandparents live in a working-class part of the city (more East Somerville than Davis Square). The city clears all sidewalks, puts down salt and gravel, and plows streets up to the curbs (street cleaning rules are in effect year-round). They also salt like nobody's business and truck the snow out of the city and dump it elsewhere to melt (terrible for the environment, but that's a different conversation). It's still a cold climate with a lot of snow, but getting around is much easier, in my experience.

[latvianchick.livejournal.com]

Huh. I went only once in winter, but feared for my life every time I was not indoors. We stayed in Atwater and spent most of our time downtown-ish, and it was atrocious. While sidewalks were plowed, there were sheets of ice on most of them (with gravel embedded, but entirely unhelpful). I bought crampons. I'm not even kidding.