Citations

[ratushebarl.livejournal.com]

I just went down to City Hall to try and get a cert of good standing for a contractor, and discovered $1050 in trash citations -- issued June 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, this is the first I've heard of any of them -- plus a $25 ticket for "overgrowth".

I gather the thing is to appeal trash cites in person? I'd pay one or two out of general civicness, but this seems extreme. I'm unhappy with this much escalation with no notification and no chance to remediate. Plus I think the whole thing is bogus -- I've been tagged before and we're careful about the trash.

On the plus side, the City Clerk employee was very helpful and saw to it that I got my certificate stamped anyway.

In other news, what's the deal with overgrowth? I don't have plants overhanging the sidewalk, or as far as I can tell doing anything else obnoxious. My tiny lawn is weedy, but is this a crime?

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Is there a way to use the city's website to look up citations for my property?

I don't know if citations are considered public information. If not, then you'd need a mechanism for making sure the report doesn't go to someone else. But if it's not confidential information, I'd love to see this as part of the "My Somerville" address-based lookup.