Public Hearing on Snow Removal Regulations Scheduled for Wednesday February 25th at 7pm.

[courtney o'keefe]

There will be a Public Hearing before the Board of Aldermen’s Committee on Legislative Matters on Wednesday, February 25, 2015, at 7 PM, in the Aldermanic Chambers, 2nd Floor, City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, on the Order of Alderman Mary Jo Rossetti, Chairman of the Committee, for public input related to the city’s snow removal ordinance (Ordinance 2014-12, found at Chapter 12 Section 8).

Comments

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

What does that mean exactly? How the ordinance is written up and followed thru with currently now (and in the past) or is this possibly a discussion to modernize/change the Ordinance?

[courtney o'keefe (from livejournal.com)]

This is a conversation regarding changes that were made to the ordinance this past December. The new ordinance gives residents a stricter timetable to clear snow.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the info Courtney; I guess I can see how people are concerned with the smaller time frame to clear snow- though curious if people who have gotten violations since the new Ordinance were deserving.

For this particular Ordinance what was the early process, I mean did they get input from the community then or did our elected officials decide for us? I ask that because I believe this is the second time a decision was made or work was done and then a bit of blow back from the community occurred. The other situation I'm thinking of was when the city placed new trees and after the work was done (and most likely fully funded) the city organized a meeting because some people were unhappy about having trees placed in front of there homes.

[courtney (from livejournal.com)]

The administration submitted changes and the Board approved them was the earlier process. Once approved and publicized, residents and business owners expressed their concern over the truncated timeframe. I'm wondering why the Board of Aldermen is backtracking on this and didn't place the updated ordinance in Committee for further discussion. A lot has changed since I was an Alderman.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Are there seriously people who don't like the new regulations? It seems so much simpler than the four hours of daytime.

[courtney (from livejournal.com)]

The hours and when the enforcement will take place is the biggest worry.

[ratushebarl.livejournal.com]

The problem is that the timetable doesn't work for people with nontraditional schedules. I work nights and am not awake at 10 AM; I feel about the new regs as a 9-to-5'er would about having to shovel by 4 AM if the snow stops at 1 AM.

In most of the recent snow events, the homeowner regulations were extended anyway, usually well into the following day. I haven't seen or heard of any enforcement at all. My takeaway is that the city itself doesn't believe this timetable will work; anyway, I'm not going to be moving my sleep schedule back by 6 hours to accommodate it. It just isn't on.

[missmushkila.livejournal.com]

Is there any way to submit a letter that would be taken into account by the Committee / Board of Aldermen without being physically present at the meeting? I would love to attend but am afraid I won't be able to.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

You can certainly submit comments -- email your ward alderman. I emailed my comments a couple of weeks ago (a few storms ago!) and heard back not only from him but from a few other aldermen as well. So they are definitely considering community feedback on this matter.

[missmushkila.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much! I just did this. Glad to know they're listening.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

I understand a "set-in-stone" ordinance/law needs to be established, but I really wish in situations of this nature logic and common sense could be applied. I see people that try very hard to clear their adjoining walkway and others that do very much the bare minimum.

[greyautumnrain.livejournal.com]

I think the main issue is those who don't shovel at all. There are a few houses near me where that is the case, I suspect they are houses where the landlord lives elsewhere. There was also (two? snowstorms ago) a house a block away from the Brown school that hadn't shoveled by the time the schools had re-opened. This was a bit of an issue on school mornings. At least I haven't had to worry about that for a week, and won't have to again until the 23rd.

They need a set-in-stone policy so that they can enforce something, but the vibe I've been getting is that it only gets enforced when neighbors complain, which most people aren't apt to do so long as the house appears to have put in a good-faith effort to let pedestrians pass without risking their necks. I'm not saying it doesn't matter what the law says, but common sense and logical flexibility are really hard to write into these sorts of things, so doing it on the enforcement end is probably the best solution.

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

My favorite part of the ordinance is:

Enforcement/Clean and Lien: If sidewalks abutting private property remain uncleared after 24 daylight hours from the end of the snow emergency (or snowfall if no emergency was declared), the City will make every effort to dispatch crews or contractors to the address for snow and ice removal. This work shall be carried out in accordance with the priorities listed under “Plowing Procedures.” In order for the City to recover its costs for the clearance of such snow and ice from public sidewalks abutting private properties, additional fines will be assessed and charged via a lien placed on the property in question.

This clears those properties where the owners don't shovel at all, and hits them with the cost. There hasn't been much time to test this part of the ordinance, because the snow just keeps coming, and the snow removal employees are all super-busy trying to clear the huge piles form major roads and other places where the snow is impeding emergency vehicles. But I bet if you call 311 or use the web interface (http://citizen.somervillema.intelligovsoftware.com/NewRequestLocation.aspx?serviceid=24660) someone may take notice.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

It's nice to know that the new Board of Aldermen is listening to their constituents instead of just rubber-stamping what the Mayor wants and damn the consequences. I wish they would have done this before approving it, but this is a change for the better. Now, when there is push back from the citizenry, the Alderpeople are listening and trying to fix the problem, instead of saying "tough luck, that's the way it is".

Elections have consequences!