Snow emergency policy modifications

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Since I found myself with some free time, I wrote an email to my alderman.

If any of you are inclined to do so as well, you can find out what ward you live in here. and that will give you the contact for your alderman as well.



Dear Alderman Taylor,

I am a constituent of yours and I live at ** School Street.

I am writing to you about some possible adjustments to the Snow Emergency procedures and policies. As you well know there have been a number of recent problems.

First, many of us are grateful for the notification system. It takes a lot of guesswork and hassle out of knowing when there is a snow emergency. As a further refinement, would it be possible to set up 2 notifications- one to email people and a shorter abbreviated version that can be sent as a text message? I ask this because I currently receive both and the full notice requires 5 separate text messages.

Second, we had the situation today where the city declared the snow emergency over at 10am and requiring all cars be moved from municipal lots by noon. I did see that this was later extended to 7pm to allow those at work time to get home to move their vehicles and the extension is very much appreciated by many people. I think a better solution in these circumstance would be to set midnight of the day the snow emergency is ended as the deadline to move the vehicles. Even at 7pm, people might be hard-pressed to make it home by then and not everyone works the sort of job where they are allowed to leave early to tend to what many employers consider a personal matter. And because the schools and municipal offices are not open in the evening, this would not affect the conduct of city business.

Third, many people would like to see the '48 hour rule' abolished. While there is an interest in not having abandoned vehicles on the street, it appears that the law punishes more legal residents of Somerville than removes abandoned vehicles. Telling people they must move their car sends the wrong message to those who ride the T and only use their cars to run errands or for trips. An exception would have to be made for municipal lots requiring vehicles parked there to be moved by the midnight deadline.

Along with this is also the problem facing those like myself who travel for work and are gone for weeks on end. This is a problem not only for snow emergencies, but also for street sweeping parking. A couple of possible solutions would be to establish a long-term parking lot free to those residents of Somerville so that we are assured that our car will not be ticketed or towed in our absence. The second would be a registry with the police and/or parking department that the car is not abandoned and that we are away on a trip.

Adopting these suggestions would go a long way to resolving many of the problems that exist with the system and would make Somerville a more car-owner friendly city.

Many thanks,
Steve Zakszewski

Comments

'long term' parking

[bigrock.livejournal.com]

I think the easiest thing to do is only allow on street parking for more than 48 hours on the odd side of the street, since a 'snow emergency' results in no even-side parking. Therefore people who are out of town just need to make sure they find an odd-side parking spot.

Re: 'long term' parking

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

As pointed out, that would work for snow emergencies but not street-sweeping season.

[ron_newman]

Since there is street sweeping on each side of the street twice a month during non-winter months, the 48-hour rule is not needed to detect 'abandoned' cars. It should just be abolished.

[rekling.livejournal.com]

Hey, unrelated, but your letter says School Street.
Which end do you live on?
(If you live on the Somerville Ave end, and have wireless internet access, I'd love to talk to you about whether you'd be willing to share your network if I chipped in some money-- I don't want to pay the full cost since I barely use the internet at home, but for the times when I do want to use it, it would be nice to have. Or, even more to the point, do you know who's network "StudioCC" is?)

-Rek
** School Street where ** is on the low end.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I live between Highland & Summer and believe me, there's no way to gank a signal out of this black hole. Midpoint of a hill, ginormous brick building in the way- I went nuts trying to find a cellphone that could get reception here.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Personally, I am all in favor of making Somerville a more car-unfriendly place.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Trouble is, the current rules mean that those of us who have cars but are not inclined to use them often actually drive *more* often than we otherwise would, because we have to move every 48 hours. I don't mind the twice a month thing for streetcleaning, but every 48 hours is insane.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I think the point of the 48 hour parking regulation is for people to not think of the streets as permanant parking lots. They really are only intended for visitors and occasional overflow of driveways. The main problem is that nowadays way too many people have chosen to own a car and live in the city. There just isn't enough room for so many cars.

And, while I agree with you that the 48 hour ordinance mostly encourages people who already have cars to drive more often. I think in the grand scheme of things, it might make some people think twice about how much trouble it is to own a car in such a crowded area of the world. I know that's what happened to me. I was given a car as a present for my college graduation, because my parents thought I could use one. But I pretty much never did and just ended up spending a heck of a lot of money on the silly thing and was regularly stressed out about it being stolen or broken into, and making sure that it was legally parked, so I got rid of it and never got another one. So, as much as I dislike negative reinforcement techniques, I have to admit that it did work in my case.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

The main problem is that nowadays way too many people have chosen to own a car and live in the city.

A lot of the problem is people's inability to share a driveway. In my previous apartment, the owners lived upstairs and wouldn't let us use the driveway, even in case of snow emergency or long trips.

In my current place, the (single-width) driveway is long enough for four cars and is shared between the two apartments, but one of the people in the other unit (whose car is NOT registered in Somerville) always parks in the driveway right by the sidewalk so that nobody else can pull in. When I ask her about it, she explains (as though I am very stupid for even having to ask) that she NEEDS the driveway because she CAN'T park on the street, since she can't get a sticker.

[twe.livejournal.com]

Er, if she lives upstairs, why is her car not registered in Somerville? If she has lived in MA for more than 2 weeks, it's supposed to be registered in the state. She can update her address to her current address for free on the web. If she doesn't live upstairs, why does she have dibs on the driveway over people who do?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It is registered in MA, just not in Somerville. And while the address update might be free, I suspect the difference in insurance would be greater than zero, which is why she does it this way. I wouldn't care if she didn't make it our problem.

Why would it matter whether she lives upstairs or downstairs? The two units share the driveway.

[twe.livejournal.com]

My last question would have made more sense if I had said "in the building" rather than "upstairs."

Still that's really obnoxious of her (and should she get into an accident, she might be in some trouble with her insurance). Does your lease stipulate anything about driveway use? If so, I'd complain to the landlord. (Or ask for a discount on your rent, since you can't use the driveway. :)

The fact that she wants to cheat on her insurance costs oughtn't to deprive you of driveway space.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

driveway. hah haha hahaha ahahahahhahahahahahahah!

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Why shouldn't we think of the streets as parking lots? Those of us who choose to own cars already pay for the privilege, in terms of registration fees, insurance, and excise taxes.

And at least in my section of town, there's no problem with the amount of parking spaces. I've lived here 3 years and work crazy nighttime hours and only once in 3 years have I had to park more than 2 blocks away.

A lot of people here in Somerville have an 'anti car' mentality. For some people, yes, a car is a luxury and not a necessity, and for them it makes no sense financially to keep a car. But for many of us, a car is a necessity. If the citizens of Somerville decide to go Brookline and ban all overnight parking on any streets, well, then many of us would move.

[twe.livejournal.com]

Not all of Somerville is as nicely T accessible as Davis Square and even if it were, public transport doesn't work well for everyone. Cars are very useful for carrying everything from groceries and furniture to children, dogs, and those with limited mobility.

[entrochan.livejournal.com]

I would love to see some sort of "long term" resident parking lot. No snow emergencies, no street cleaning, no 24 hour limit. Fairly easily accessable from public transport (probably bus because subway accessable locations are so expensive). This would both provide an option for people who don't use their car for long periods of time *and* provide incentive for people to drive less.

[ron_newman]

I'd be for that too, but people who use it should have to pay for it.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

If that were to be a case, then I would propose that rather than suck the excise taxes we pay on our cars into the general fund to the benefit of those who don't pay the tax, the excise would instead be specifically earmarked strictly for services directly benefitting those who pay the tax.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's called the suburbs! My car addicted husband (he tried to go cold turkey a while back but one of his "user" buddies got him hooked again) parks his car at the commuter rail station near his work most of the time. The car only visits Somerville on weekends.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Well, getting rid of 48 hours isnt going to happen. I think all the cities that have on-street parking around here have a similar rule. And it discourages people from keeping a second or third car on the street.

( am i the only one troubled by seeing a third of the cars on my street still covered in snow? i.e. just sitting around taking up space )

But the two hour snow emergency thing has to go. What they should have, is a "roll up" to a certain time after the snow emergency is lifted, when you have to move your car out of the lot, with a two hour _minimum_ before.

Ex. It could be like 7 pm or 12 midnight if the emergency was lifted during the day, and maybe 7 am if it was lifted in the middle of the night.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

am i the only one troubled by seeing a third of the cars on my street still covered in snow? i.e. just sitting around taking up space

Why is that troubling? I see it as that many more people opting to use alternative forms of transport, which is a good thing.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

Especially when they announce during snow emergencies and the days following them that they want people to use public transportation. Besides, what's the difference between snow-covered cars in spaces and non-snow covered cars?

But the 48hr rule isn't usually enforced...

[jmorash.livejournal.com]

... right? So I've heard. I rarely move my car, except to accomodate street cleaning, and I've had no problems. But I live on a pretty quiet street.

That said, I would definitely pay for a spot in a reasonably-priced long-term resident-parking lot or garage.

Re: But the 48hr rule isn't usually enforced...

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

You might just be lucky.

If memory serves me correctly, for whatever reason after one of the big storms last year they did enforce the 48 hour rule and several hundred cars got ticketed.