Snow Emergency ?!

[ron_newman]

I just got woken up by a robo-call from 'Tom Champion' of the City of Somerville, saying that the city is declaring a snow emergency at 10 am, and that all cars must be parked on the odd side of streets by 2 pm. Wha?

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Oops, I posted about this at the same time you did. :-) (deleted it)

I don't even recall how I got on that Somerville auto-dialer news list, but I must say it's useful, in its way.

[ron_newman]

I think they just call everyone with a Somerville telephone exchange.

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

Just got that one myself. If 'Tom Champion' isn't some sort of snow-removal-related superhero, I'm going to be very disappointed.

[farwing.livejournal.com]

If 'Tom Champion' isn't some sort of snow-removal-related superhero, I'm going to be very disappointed.

Thank you for making me laugh! :)

[cemeterygates.livejournal.com]

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

I didn't think we were supposed to get that much accumaltian, and that whatever we got would be washed away by the rain soon after. Or is the flood alert on weather.com lying to me?

[ifotismeni]

.... i adore your icon. XD

[aki.livejournal.com]

There was an email on the snow-emergency email list, which you can sign up for, as well.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

You can also have the alert text-messaged to your cell phone. Which was really funny when I was out on tour down in Louisiana in 80 degree weather and getting all the alerts.

[pushupstairs.livejournal.com]

you've never received one of the Tom Champion robo-calls before?

though I don't know why the hell they're declaring a snow emergency for 2-4 inches of snow. I don't remember an emergency declared for 6 inches of solid ice on Valentine's Day.

I guess it was serendipitous that I decided to move my car last night, because I leave for work at 7:00! how many people does Somerville think are going to be home at 7:49am? perhaps try letting people know about this... the night before, instead of 2 hours before?

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I think it's the timing that prompted this snow emergency call -- i.e. the storm is supposed to be worst at rush hour. 2-4 inches at 5pm on a Friday is a lot different from 2-4 inches at 5am on a Sunday, e.g.

I hear ya on the car moving thing though. No matter how they do it, someone's going to get screwed.

[dreamgirly19.livejournal.com]

I just had a thought.

I wonder how many people they call at once, i looked at my caller ID and it says they called me at 7:40am. If you got called at 7:49, maybe they start calling earlier but it goes through each number at a time? Or am I insane for thinking this lol.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Don't you read the weather reports? The Big One is coming! Hide the women and children!

Honestly, I think the storm is going to fizzle out, but I don't blame the city for closing down just in case. We all remember the one from last winter (or the winter before?) when some towns *didn't* close down, and kids were left stranded at school.

My kid's school just called and told me they're closing early (as mandated by law, apparently, when a snow emergency is declared). This will be a pain in my ass today, but c'est la vie.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Which school is it? The Somerville public schools have canceled after day activities, but since the parking ban doesn't kick in until 3pm, they're still releasing at 2:30pm (according to their web page).

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

The city is rather stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one.

If they wait until the last minute to declare, then people who don't drive their cars to work might be towed with nothing they could have done.

If they declare early then there's a chance the snow isn't much.

I assume that the goal is to get the roads cleared and salted before evening rush hour.

I can't think of a better strategy, can anyone else?

[ron_newman]

A few weeks after Joe Curtatone was first elected mayor, he called a snow emergency for what turned out to be a rain storm. Lots of cars were ticketed and towed, and the city eventually ended up having to refund all the tickets and tow charges.

This looks to me like a repeat of that mistake.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Plus, since a snow emergency involves closing schools, better to do it as early as possible so parents can try to make alternate childcare arrangements.

[angelpiglet.livejournal.com]

So what if you are stuck at work and can't move your car till 5ish?

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Then you come home and move it or get towed, which is what the 311 told me. What I want to know is what exactly changed in the forecast between last night and today that prevented them from putting out the alert at say...7:00 instead of 7:45, when quite a few commuters had left? Jerks.

[dreamgirly19.livejournal.com]

I now have police cars driving up and down my street on their loudspeakers saying snow emergency and park on the left side of the street.

Its really not worth it because by the time he finishes one line he is down the other side of the street already so very few people can probably understand him. I am also sitting next to the window so its easy to hear however if I was in my living room I wouldnt hear it at all. What a waste.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i wondered why all the cars had been moved off one side of the street when i left the house this morning.... i got the call at 7:30 and since it woke me up i was contrary and didn't answer it. fortunately i was parked in the driveway. how early before the snow is supposed to start can you declare a snow emergency?

for their sakes i hope we DO get four inches of snow....

[obie119.livejournal.com]

I actually heard 6 inches, and then crappy sleet stuff. Our call didn't come til after 8, but we often move the car ahead of time just in case, because of the famous snow emergency that wasn't :)

[avacon.livejournal.com]

What we end up with depends on the storm track, but we won't know
that until the last minute.
WUnderground (http://www.wunderground.com/US/MA/Somerville.html) claims 6-10 inches total are possible tonight,
and the advisory is making it sound like this could be a repeat of the valentine's day
storm in the worst case (with 2" of ice on top of 3"+ of snow.

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

The Mayor. WHAT. AN. ASS.

He knows very well that many people will be towed because they couldn't leave their jobs to come home and move their cars by 2 p.m.

I am now going to lose 2 hours of my work day to take the T from downtown, back to Davis, only to move my car to nearby parking or worse, pay $5 at Alewife and then come back into downtown.

Seriously.

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

When I called 311 to point out that 7:45 was awfully late for me to be receiving an email, because many people have already left for work, the woman who answered told me that it couldn't possibly be an issue because I was only the second person who called to ask what the hell they were thinking. Yeah. I'll bet you and I are probably the only two people in all of Somerville who had to leave work to move their cars.

[ad-lib.livejournal.com]

ohhh, i imagine thats what was being broadcast from some car driving up and down the streets then.

can i say how much i LOVE having a private driveway? :D

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

Whenever I can, if I know there's snow forecast for the next day, or overnight, I park my car on the odd side JUST IN CASE! This mayor does like to declare snow emergencies on the early side. Waiting till 5 would not have made much difference. By the way, there's no state law regarding closing school during snow emergencies. Although they usually do go hand in hand, except in cases like this where the snow emergency is called way before the snow! A couple of years ago they had problems, in fact, when the snow emergency wasn't lifted after a bad storm, but kids returned to school. The staff found that the school lots were full of people parking there, as they legally could, during a snow emergency!