Street Cleaning Spectacular! Now through December 31!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I don't know when it happened, but earlier this month I noticed that the street cleaning signs have been updated, and alternate side of the street parking will now continue through December 31, rather than ending November 30 as usual.

I wonder if there was any reason for this beyond increasing ticket revenue.

I can't wait until the days when snow emergencies and street cleaning overlap, leaving no parking whatsoever on some streets. Yay.

Comments

Streetcleaners with Plow attachments?

[shu-al.livejournal.com]

I can't wait until the days when snow emergencies and street cleaning overlap, leaving no parking whatsoever on some streets. Yay.

I wondered that myself - will the street cleaners come with plow attachments so they can move snow too? Because I'd like to see them clean my street when it has about 8 feet of piled up snow on it.

Re: Streetcleaners with Plow attachments?

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Has Somerville ever gotten more than a few inches in December?

Re: Streetcleaners with Plow attachments?

[shu-al.livejournal.com]

IIRC, a couple years ago it did. It's New England, we could get snow any day now. ;)

Re: Streetcleaners with Plow attachments?

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. There was one year when we had a bunch of snow (http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/newsDetail.cfm?instance_id=225).

Re: Streetcleaners with Plow attachments?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

A few years ago, the first big snowfall was in November. I remember because it was the day of street cleaning and everyone had swept the leaves into the gutter. The leaves were covered with snow and when it finally melted, it was pretty gross.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Traditional "ain't that cute" snow days are Halloween and April 1, are they not? And, half the time, nothing sleddable in between. :(

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Even better: Snow emergencies overlapping with street cleaning overlapping with streets with parking restrictions because they're repaving!

One of these days I'd love to know why repaving always happens close to the beginning of winter instead of in the spring or summer. They always finish the paving so that you can only enjoy fresh, smooth roads for a month or two at most before snowplow season starts and the roads get chewed up. :-b

[dmaze]

It's come up in Aprils a couple of times in the past that street sweeping and snow emergencies overlap; in that case street sweeping wins, and it's okay to park on the non-street-sweeping side.

[kglue.livejournal.com]

Somerville is part of the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreeement - so maybe this is a shout out to global warming and delayed, but more severe, winters.

[dreamgirly19.livejournal.com]

Didnt all the weather forecasters announce due to el nino effects we here in the northeast will be having a milder than usual winter...maybe they are taking that and decided to keep us cleaner. Really it isnt a big deal we hardly get snow in December.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Odd, I'd have assumed the snow would win, as how can the streetsweepers do their job if there is snow in the way?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It's a big deal because it's four more weeks of thinking about that crap for people who don't have off-street parking. Not to mention a change from the way it's been done for the past N years, and thus easy for people to not realize and thus get screwed.

I still suspect it's nothing but a revenue-generator.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I honestly thought the city would have been far better off just being upfront about revenue needs.

I mean ticket + tow only yields so much money.

I think parking permits should be insanely expensive, like $200/year (with obvious exceptions for low-income/senior households). And then ticketing/towing should be limited to cases where it's absolutely necessary.

Between the more upfront cash and fewer meter maid salaries to pay, that should generate the necessary income. And in a honest sort of way. I'm actually not opposed to giving the city more money if I know it will be spent decently and if it's asked for/demanded via honest methods.

[ron_newman]

Wasn't this changed about three years ago?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Not in my streets afaik, and since I almost always park on the street, I'm pretty sure I would have noticed.

Oh, but you might know this: What is process for petitioning the city to make a street permit-only? A friend of mine lives on a quiet one-way residential but there is often no parking because it's right off a main drag with various businesses.

[ron_newman]

Take a look at this official form: Residential Parking Permit Petition

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I mean ticket + tow only yields so much money.

$5.3M in 2005. $6.5 projected for '06. It's big money.

From the Somerville budget:
==
FY06 ACCOMPLISHMENTS: [These were goal achieved in full]

• Increase total revenue by 10 percent. This goal is being met in total. As of March 31, 2006 YTD ticket revenue was up 22.4 percent and Meter Revenue was up over 90 percent over FY05.

• Increase ticket issuance by 5 percent. This goal is being met in total. Issuance through March 31, 2006 (latest figures available) is up 5.5 percent over FY05.
==

On some streets, like Orchard, they come around and ticket five minutes before midnight on Saturday, just in case anyone thought they might get those few moments for free.

[twe.livejournal.com]

Spring tends to be when most of the postholes open up, I think.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

What I meant was ... when they tow, the tow lot gets 90% and they get 10% of the tow price (I believe). Which means to make $100, they'd have to ticket + tow 10 cars. I'm just saying their are easier, less labor-intensive ways to get the same amount of money. It's just that those ways are a hair more transparent. Like, say, upping the price of a parking permit or having everyone with a registered car pay a hefty "snow removal fee" or something.

I also think it's unfair to shift such a huge financial burden to street-parking car owners. Isn't there another demographic that can be tapped to kick in?

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

But that's my point. If potholes are appearing in the spring, why not fix them then, or in early summer? The way things work around here, we have to drive on crappy, pocked roads well into the autumn before anything gets fixed, and we only get the benefit of the new paving for a couple of months at best.

[kvarko.livejournal.com]

No no -- you get a $100 ticket *plus* the tow company charges you $90 for the towing. The city gets their $100...

[kvarko.livejournal.com]

I dunno if they would actually sweep if a snow emergency is coming up, but technically the emergency is declared before the snow hits so that there's time to get cars out of the way. So during this period of cars being out of the way, but no snow yet, they *could* theoretically sweep.

But anyway: The snow emergency policy clearly says "odd-numbered side of the street ... unless otherwise posted."

When I read the original poster's comment about "leaving no parking whatsoever", I was surprized that someone could miss that in the policy, but I guess they're not the only one.

Some streets have no parking on one side at all, 24/7. If that's the odd-numbered side, then snow emergency parking is on the even-numbered side (the only possible side).

If the odd-numbered side is no-parking because of street sweeping, and a snow-emergency is declared, then you have to put your car on the even-numbered side because it's "otherwise posted" that you can't park on the odd-numbered side. When the snow plow comes, the cars are all going to be parked on the even-numbered side and the snow plow can just go down the odd-numbered side.

That seems to make sense if people have parked to avoid sweeping and *then* the emergency is declared -- people are already on one side of the street and so why make them move?

What would worry me is this: Street sweeping is from 8am-noon for the odd-numbered side and you parked your car on the even numbered side and then went off to work/school/whatever. If the snow emergency starts that afternoon, when the street sweeping parking restriction is over, do you have to come home and move your car? I would imagine you do.

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

Mostly that's because mediocre repaving has been done in late autumn. There's a certain temperature that it needs to be above to do asphalt "correctly," and the rushed fix-it jobs that happen in late autumn and over the winter don't actually last through the season much of the time - it doesn't bind right, and they just pop back out.

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

So...as a newbie to this, what exactly do you do if you're going to go out of town for a week, and you can only park on the street? Legitimately, as a resident, not as someone parking to go to the airport :)

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Suffer and pay.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

Mmhmm, but the city gets some percentage of the tow fee on top of the ticket. Are street sweeping tickets really $100 now? When I first moved to Somerville (2000) they were $15.

Have a friend move your car

[larsks.livejournal.com]

Ask a friend to move your car around, or see if a parking garage for a week would be cheaper than the tickets. Or do what I did and sell you car -- I was only using it once or twice a week anyway, and Zipcar finally put a couple of cars just down the street from me.