Somerville Snow Emergency Lifted at 8pm (2 hours to move cars)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I received a robocall about this but if the info is on the City web site, it's sufficiently hidden so as not to be immediately found by me.

Gist is that the snow emergency is being lifted as of 8pm tonight, and cars have to be moved out of municipal lots by 10pm or be subject to ticketing and/or towing. Usual additional info. I wish the best of luck to the poor folks who have an (imho) unreasonably small window to move their car and clear a whole new spot for it. :/

They didn't say anything to remind people about not reserving spaces on the street, and I'm curious to see how things look tomorrow after folks drive to work. I already had the experience tonight at a friend's place in Medford of being told that we couldn't park on the street because it was someone's spot.

Comments

[findingthegirl.livejournal.com]

They didn't say anything to remind people about not reserving spaces on the street, and I'm curious to see how things look tomorrow after folks drive to work.

Yeah- I called 311 about this issue last year and was told we could move the cones/chairs/etc but that the police won't do anything if our car gets keyed or the windows get bashed in. It really irks me too because we live directly across the street from the police station in Union Square and the parking spot saving is rampant. Once my partner was pulling into a spot [no cone or chair in sight] and someone actually came out from their house and sat in the middle of the snowy street till he moved on.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Are you kidding me? That sounds like a bad joke. Since when do the police not do anything about vandalism/destruction of property?

[findingthegirl.livejournal.com]

I called several times before giving up and was told the same thing every time- I was free to move people's space savers but would be responsible for any damage that was done in retaliation. The way the 311 operator said it made me think that such vandalism is quite rampant in winter so I decided not to risk it. It's so ridiculous!

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Do the 311 operators make this stuff up, or is it official city policy?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I wrote my alderman the other day after seeing these comments, but I haven't received a reply. I may also write the at-large folks.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

Without proof of who was responsible for the vandalism, there's not much that the cops can do.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I disagree with this on multiple levels.

First of all, there are plenty of crimes where the police have no proof of who did it. That doesn't mean they tell the victim that it's their fault and they won't do anything. They can take a report, they can investigate... it's not the victim's job to solve or prosecute the crime.

Second, if in fact the police have reason to believe this issue is the cause of further crime (which it seems they do based on what the commenter was told), then it is also part of the CIty's responsibility to do what they can to prevent it, by, for example, doing something about the already-illegal activity of leaving stuff in the street. Even if they don't prosecute, they can still remove the trash.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

I agree in theory. In practice, the police don't have the resources to fix this problem and as a driver you're better off forewarned of the risk of vandalism. Even if the cops could do something, it's better to avoid the situation in the first place (and not spend a few hours getting your window replaced or whatever).

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

The city absolutely has the resources to fix this problem. They already send parking enforcement officers around everywhere -- for the officers to also move any items they find blocking off spots is a pretty trivial add-on, given that most are empty trash cans, plastic chairs, and cones. It requires no significant additional effort.

If a big part of the role of the city government *isn't* to keep the law-abiding citizens safe from those who break the law, I'm not sure what it is.

I just came in from moving my car (just in case) and found several spots near my house are now "reserved". Aside from the fact that it makes no sense whatsoever for someone to have a right to a spot just because that's where there car happened to be when it snowed, this sort of behavior is putting me in extra danger since having to walk the extra distance on icy roads when my mobility is already limited just isn't a good thing. Obviously sometimes it's necessary because parking is what it is, but for me to have to park on the other end of the block because people are illegally saving spots is just not okay.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

They didn't say anything to remind people about not reserving spaces on the street, and I'm curious to see how things look tomorrow after folks drive to work. I already had the experience tonight at a friend's place in Medford of being told that we couldn't park on the street because it was someone's spot.

And the annual rite of winter begins. Wheeeeee......

[thespian.livejournal.com]

they email me the text of the calls, and the entire transcribed text was:

Hello, this is Jackie Rossetti calling from the City of Somerville with snow emergency information for Monday, December 27th. The City has lifted its snow emergency regulations effective at 8:00 p.m. Residents parked in municipal or school lots during the snow emergency have a two-hour window starting at that time in which to move their vehicles. Cars still parked in city lots at 10 p.m. Monday may be subject to ticketing and towing.

Please be reminded that residents, landlords and business owners are required by city regulations to shovel their sidewalks but may not shovel snow into the street. For additional information, please call 311. Thank you.

[ron_newman]

In practice, you've got until 8 am to get your car out of the municipal lots, since that's when the meters come back into effect.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Given the content of the message, I wouldn't trust that assumption were I parked in one of those lots.

(And now it's 8pm, snow emergency officially lifted, and still no info on the City web page. I guess people who don't receive the updates automatically expected to call the hotline every hour to find out what's going on. What exactly is the point of the web site?)

[ceo]

They're referring to school parking lots and the like, which are opened to resident parking during snow emergencies and not otherwise.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Again, the message above said, "Residents parked in municipal or school lots during the snow emergency have a two-hour window starting at that time in which to move their vehicles. Cars still parked in city lots at 10 p.m. Monday may be subject to ticketing and towing."

I guess it's possible they didn't really mean it, but I believe the reason they lifted the emergency for tonight instead of for morning to make sure they could plow the lots completely overnight, which they can't do if people leave their cars there.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

In some places, school lots are open to everyone during non-school hours, either officially or unofficially. Is this not the case in Somerville?