Towing cars in Davis Square to allow traffic through streets, and common sense-which I seem to lack.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I turned right onto Chester from Elm last night around 6:30pm-ish. There were 2 policemen standing off to the side as I parked in the first available spot on the left side of the street. After I had parked, one of the officers came over and knocked on the front passenger window (would have been more difficult to get to the driver's side), and told me that the cars parked in front of me were going to be towed because there wasn't enough room for cars to get down the street, and he told me to use my common sense. He was right on the first count, certainly; I could not actually exit my parking space and go down the one way street because there was no room, and I had to back up and turn right onto the street that connects Chester with Day Street, next to the parking lot, amidst at least 2 other cars waiting for me (policeman was directing traffic, thankfully, or that alone would have been a mess).

About common sense, though? I confess I am a creature of habit and have many ingrained traffic/parking habits, and though if I had more brain space last night (don't ask), I might have figured that out in the moment, but where I was mentally was simply in "find an available space and park", autopilot. Yes, it is obvious looking back, and yes I feel a bit stupid for not having gotten to that myself, but I am not sure I have ever dealt with this amount of snow while looking for parking in the city and taking the first available spot has pretty much worked for me.

The moral of this story, kids? Be sure a car has enough space to get down a street between your car and the parked car on the other side of the street or you might get towed. I was lucky to get the warning, the folks parked in front and to the side of me were not so lucky.

EDIT:Of course, if you park in a space where there is no car on the opposite side parked and, thus, decide that it is ok to park there, and someone comes up and parks on the opposite side of the street later so as to make it impossible for folks to get through, I am not sure how the police/tow company decides which car to tow. Oof.

Comments

[xuth.livejournal.com]

I've always hated how people keep parking further and further from the curb as more snow fell. It drives me completely batty. Why was the police officer not ticketing (and towing if necessary) anyone who was more than 1 foot from the curb as the law requires? If the snow is there keeping you from doing that you should either move the snow or not park there.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I hear you. It's a tricky situation when there is a shortage of parking. I am not sure I have entertained the notion of bringing a shovel and just kind of double parking til I have shoveled enough snow out of the way (particularly with the possibility of traffic piling up behind me), and it can be tricky to figure out where to put said snow since it can't go in the street or the sidewalks (and particularly difficult for folks with back trouble). Personally, I truly am a creature of habit with much on my mind, and I just didn't think of it--driving mode and parking mode are different mindsets for me, but I am pretty sure I will think of it now, particularly because I know I got lucky.

Why was the police officer not ticketing (and towing if necessary) anyone who was more than 1 foot from the curb as the law requires?

For one, I am not sure it can be determined at this point in time where one foot out even was (even if you happened to have a ruler or a tape measure handy--there is *a lot* of snow). Also, due to the limited amount of parking, I expect the police would get flack from folks who could not otherwise park near where they live.

[leko.livejournal.com]

It also drives me nuts when people park super far from the curb opposite driveways, making it very difficult to negotiate the turn. This happens all the time on Adams street (winter hill) and the driveway leads to parking for a couple dozen people.

It's not only about courtesy, it's about minimizing the chances that someone accidentally hits your car.

[dcltdw]

The moral of this story, kids? Be sure a car fire truck has enough space to get down a street between your car and the parked car on the other side of the street

Never driven a fire truck, but a box ambulance? Yeah. Those suckers are wide. Still, my impression is that they are nimble little suckers compared to an engine, or worse, ladder or tower truck.

[coeceo.livejournal.com]

That is tricky, I usually take cell phone pics of my car and the car across the street to document as needed.

I parked on the even side the other day and the car on the odd side was 1.5' off the curb so it made it a little tight. But again, I took pictures to show it was that guys fault that it was tight, they definately could have gotten much closer to the curb.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Yup--my car was hit that way a number of years back, but it was just aesthetic and I did not have the internal resources at that time to file a complaint, particularly since, when I asked a guy who lived in that house if he knew who might have done it, his defensiveness actually got kind of scary, so I let it go (let the car go not too long after, too). Thanks for making that point.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Yes--thank you for making that point to the absent-minded op (me); I clearly need all of them I can get:)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It would be nice if the city did a better job of clearing the even side of the street. What exactly is the point of the parking ban if the end result is going to be blocking off all the parking on the even side of the street for the foreseeable future, which is the case on my street and many of the ones around me.

I don't support people parking like asshats, either, but the whole situation is very frustrating. The City puts a lot of resources into collecting parking-related revenue and it'd be nice if they put more effort into actually maintaining parking.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

I expect the police would get flack from folks who could not otherwise park near where they live.
I have a major problem with this. They absolutely could park there if they moved some of the snow. And the attitude that taking care of the snow is "not my problem" is just asinine.

Oh, and make sure you keep a shovel in your car. There are lots of cheap collapsible shovels that easily fit in your trunk but kinda suck to actually use (but are better than nothing) and a few relatively expensive collapsible shovels that suck a lot less.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip--Igor (van) has one in it, which I would certainly consider using if there was less snow than there is--there are car-sized snow banks at the moment in a number of places where parking might be, some even bigger. That does not excuse folks from blocking up the streets so others can't get by--mea culpa.

[dcltdw]

*grin* The way I internalize this is: will my car prevent a fire truck from responding to my grandmother's house?

"Oooh. Umm. Well, heck, maybe I can park a bit closer..." :)

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

It would be nice if the city did a better job of clearing the even side of the street. What exactly is the point of the parking ban if the end result is going to be blocking off all the parking on the even side of the street for the foreseeable future, which is the case on my street and many of the ones around me.

Yeah, I have been wondering about that, too.

I don't support people parking like asshats

I didn't mean to be an asshat (though I arguably was in this case, thank you powers-that-be for preventing more severe consequences for me for having to be told this due to it not otherwise occurring to me. I have somehow not had the problem of not being able to drive on streets that I could not get by on due to snow (I am actually usually to nervous to drive in it if it could be avoided), so thanks to everyone for the feedback on something I might have otherwise known had I experienced it myself. I mean it. Feedback welcome.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Thank you--that's perfect:)

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

life link brand in particular has a fantastic shovel. lifetime guarantee last time i checked. mine is at least 15 years old. i kinda want a second one now they have a new generation out. also great for snow forts :)

#

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

Speaking as another bitter even side of the street resident. "Oh, this time we're going to plow to the curb! To make it easier for emergency vehicles to get through!" You had me going there for a minute, I really believed it would happen.

If the city is going to leave 2 feet of snow between the edge of the curb and the street, why the fuck should people have to shovel that out? And shovel it to where, pray tell?

[dcltdw]

Do you know if Somerville does snow *removal*? My impression is, it'd be nice if there was money in the budget to remove the snow, but there's barely enough money just to plow and sand the roads.

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

Yes, fire trucks & ambulances need access, I just wish the city would think about that in the tiny streets of Magoun Square & truck some of this snow out of there. Cars can barely make it down Nashua St. there's no way a fire truck is fitting down there. Guess the people who live down there just have to hope they don't need services.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

My biggest adventure every morning on my commute is just backing out of my driveway. Next thaw, I'm taking the nearest snow pile down to a boulder.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

That's impressive. Wow. How often do you do this? Just when there's lots of snow to deal with?

[frotz.livejournal.com]

I've seen them doing some in critical areas, but mostly I think the answer is "no". Usually they can get away with it, but the way this year has been going is a bit more problematic. (Municipal budget prioritization is a hard problem! Snow removal would be great, but do we really want to pay for it? Now I wonder what it would cost to hire a contractor to clear all the snow from a typical residential block.)

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Have you tried backing *in*? Going backwards into the driveway, and coming out forwards, usually makes it easier to maneuver in tight spaces.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Nobody has suggested what I consider the best solution: the city should post temporary no-parking signs on streets where there's not enough room to park on both sides because of snow piles. Cambridge does this, and it works just fine.

It works best if the temporary ban is on the snow emergency side (the even side in Somerville), and the signs go up before the emergency ends. But even if they go up afterwards, it still works a lot better than not posting signs at all and depending on people's estimation of road width. Especially if they're going to tow.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

It's hard enough to get in going forward. After 10 years in the place, I'm actually pretty good at the right angle to back out and backing in would mean I need to shave down the snow pile on the other side of my driveway, too (plus the awkward business of going past my driveway and dealing with a car behind me -- one way street). I'll stick with complaining.

[avjudge]

But that would mean admitting that they don't plow to the curb, that their plow-made snowbank had just narrowed the street by a couple feet. I don't think they'll do that.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

A shovel is irrelevant when there is nowhere for the snow to go, which is the case right now.