Snow policies

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I thought I remembered that if there's a certain amount of snow, we ARE allowed to throw the snow into the street when we shovel it. Do I remember incorrectly? and if not, what is the magic amount? Have we hit it yet?

I'm a little concerned about my back, to throw the snow on top of the pile that's already as tall as I am...

Also, does there come a point when Somerville OFFICIALLY says "You know what? No, you can't park on the even side of the street until further notice, sorry." We know that there's been towing, but it would be nice to know of an official policy...

Does anyone official read this anymore who can give official answers? Does Ron count as official? B-)

Comments

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I believe you may be looking for this tidbit: http://library.municode.com/html/11580/level3/PII_C12_AI.html#PII_C12_AI_s12-9

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

YES. that was what I was looking for. Unfortunately, it's phenomenally unhelpful... We're not likely to have 40 degree means any time soon...

On to plan B: make a HUGE pile on the sidewalk, and dig a tunnel through it for pedestrians. Bonus: The next time it snows I won't have to shovel at all!

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

It has been impossible for anyone to even try to park on the even side of my street, for at least a couple of weeks. I don't think anyone has attempted to shovel out a space, either. The snow left behind by the plows extends 4 feet past the curb into the street, and is 2-4 feet deep. "We're going to plow to the curb this time" my ass.

Or maybe the city did that intentionally, to prevent people from thinking maybe just maybe they could safely park kinda sorta close to the curb.

Here's hoping we see some 40F days soon.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

They'll plow to the curb just before they actually collect all those lawn chairs and trash cans that are illegally holding spaces.

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

A DPW worker did just come to our door to let us know that it is highly likely the city will ban parking on *either* side of our street (Willow Ave) tonight. He seems to be making his way from door-to-door though I doubt everyone is home at this hour.

[squirrelitude]

Is it a ban for snow removal purposes?

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

Are they putting up signs so people who come by at 6:00 will know that they can't park there?

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Do you live on the 2 way part or the 1 way?

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, throw snow in the street. Who cares about cyclists, anyway? It's not like their(our) lives are hard enough during the winter as it is.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

I'm considering investing in a trebuchet to throw snow at the cyclists. Why leave it to chance?

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

Well, if it comes down to dumping it in the street and letting the cars running over it melt it, or leaving it for the pedestrians to deal with... Well, there's a whole lot more pedestrians on my street than bicyclists. And anyone who's biking in this weather is more than a little crazy to begin with.

Granted, it ends up freezing, and that becomes unsafe for everyone, so I'm not going to do it, if I have any choice in the matter.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Oh, get over yourself. You have to be smack in the middle of the street in current conditions anyway, and you don't HAVE to bike if you don't want to. Everybody has to walk in it to some degree.

[tamalinn.livejournal.com]

::headdesk::

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

One of the nasty things about tossing snow in the street (especially busier streets) is that you're driving along a totally dry road then suddenly there's an ice slick where some thoughtless person tossed snow into the street, the street becomes quite hazardous to drive in. If it's near a corner, or if a cat jumps out, or even if a pedestrian is walking along, a car might not be able to avoid a nasty incident.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

This is why we're not allowed to do it unless the weather has a mean about 40degrees... if the mean is 40 degrees, it's unlikely to freeze...

And I understand why not to do it, it's just a matter of where do I put the extra 16 inches I'm going to get on Wednesday? Pretty much anywhere I put it, it falls back into the sidewalk, which defeats the purpose.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

East Arlington right now has a parking ban...only allowing parking on one side of the street and it has been like that for a couple of days. I dont know why they wont do that here...it is so hard to drive home because of all the one way streets near me with double sided parking. Last night there was a war because 3 cars were going one way and 2 wanted to go the other way and there was no driveway to pull in, no space to pull over in...they ended up having to back up to Broadway! Also this morning a big box truck was stuck on Day St and I couldnt get to the post office.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

So far in the last week or so, TWICE, I have seen moving trucks blocking streets. One was blocking Cypress, forcing my girlfriend to back up onto Central. I had to call 311 and get the cops over to get them to move.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Another option would be temporarily making the street one way, or do not enter at one end.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

It sucks to do, but the snow packs pretty well currently - level off the tops of your enormous snow mounds by cutting the top and packing it on the sides, etc, or just smushing the top of the mound down. The resulting big, flat area on top provides a place to pile more snow.

And yes, it stinks to lift the snow up there.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I've been doing that already! it's still high enough to strain my back!

Teele square parking

[ravingwanderer.livejournal.com]

Curtis Street heading out of Teele Square has part of its length festooned with DPW sawhorses with "no parking until further notice" signs. (This is on the even side of the street, where several cars parked during the last few snow emergencies. A bunch of them got towed yesterday.)

They did a good job removing snow from lower Holland Street last night.

Re: Teele square parking

[ron_newman]

They're doing more of it tonight starting at midnight -- see this post for more detail.

[duneidieann.livejournal.com]

I saw a printed sign on the windshield of a car parked on the even side of Francesca this evening that said there is no parking on the even side of Francesca and they will be towing. It had today's date. Don't remember the exact wording. Of course this is the case with a snow emergency anyway but this was something I hadn't seen yet (I have seen those yellow signs on the wooden stakes around town.)

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I am sooooo not missing Somerville right now.

[ron_newman]

How are they handling all of the snowstorms where you are now?