Why did Somerville fail utterly to handle thie storm properly?

[feoh.livejournal.com]

Why was the snow removal process botched so horribly that plows weren't out at all on Sunday and many side streets weren't plowed at all until last night?

The result has been a nightmare. I just spent an hour and a half riding a bus to work that usually takes 10 minutes or maybe 20 on a bad day or of it rains. Cars are forced to crawl along, traffic backs up. The entire city becomes some sort of giant constipated nightmare vision from hell with noone getting anywhere and everyone wishing they were anywhere else but trapped in the bus/car they've been in way too long.

On top of this, while many people do a good job, a startling number of people and even businesses utterly fail to shovel their sidewalks.

What's up with that? I watched an elderly lady take a nose dive into a pile of muddy snow this morning because the Kwik Mart on Highland Ave barely shoveled at all (There's a narrow trench not even big enough to solidly put your foot down, much less walk normally).

I just don't get it. This is not rocket science. We live in New England and we get snow on a regular basis. The fact that we've been spoiled the last few years by wimpy winters shouldn't cause us to forget how to deal with the weather.

Grumph. Anyway, pardon my rant but it just seems too far out of whack not to speak up.

Comments

[komos.livejournal.com]

Remember those millions of dollars that were not not given to municipalities? You can't cut budgets and expect services not to suffer.

[marm0t.livejournal.com]

Also: remember January and February? I'd bet we ran through a lot of the money earmarked for snow removal back then. Two severe winters in the same calendar (or fiscal) year: bad.

[komos.livejournal.com]

The State fiscal year runs from July to June. Not sure about Somerville's, but I'm guessing that Jan and Feb came out of last year's budget.

What's up.

[feoh.livejournal.com]

OK so that explains the lame snow removal effort. What about all the total lack of shoveled sidewalks?

I can even understand lazy homeowners or especially renters not shoveling their walks, but I'd think businesses would be concerned about the liability aspect.

Re: What's up.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Can't speak to the latter. I know that the owners and not the renters are responsible for snow removal for residential rental properties, so that may explain one piece. As far as businesses, that's just bad juju.

Re: What's up.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

My landlord has on all his apartments' leases that the tenants are responsible for snow removal...

Re: What's up.

[komos.livejournal.com]

In that case, you have entered a contract to do snow removal for him. That's perfectly legit. Where there is no lease or no provision for it in the lease, all maintenance falls to the property's owner.

Re: What's up.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I can understand if businesses didn't shovel until yesterday, since many people were unable to get to work on Monday, and no employees = no shoveling. (My school was one of the few that didn't have a snow day -- grrr! -- and a lot of other *faculty* were absent, because they lived on tiny unplowed roads or ice-covered hills or in the middle of nowhere...) But not shoveling by a reasonable hour on Tuesday is, I agree, pretty goofy.

Re: What's up.

[enmascarado.livejournal.com]

If employees can't make it, owners could still get a contractor to do snow removal. There were a few businesses that didn't do anything that were open (like every Dunkin Donuts I pass on a regular basis). The Prospect Hill School managed to clear its basketball court, but didn't touch its sidewalk. My favorite is St. Ann's Church on Medford St., which cleared the path from the door to the street, but not the sidewalk. Apparently to let you know that they're open if you want to pray, you just have to have the faith in God to cross a tightly packed highly trafficed road.

On a related note, those people who shovel from their driveway to their door but neglect the rest of their sidewalk should be severely punished.

-Dan

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

A recent article in the Globe noted that the storm's impact was underestimated and only half of the city's plows were deployed until over 8" was already on the ground on Saturday.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I agree.
The walk from Hancock Street & Summer along Summer to Davis Square is a nightmare. There's a large stretch where you just have to walk in the street. It's insane.

Our house shovelled...I live in a triple-decker with 3 apartments. But it looks as though a lot of people just didn't bother...and you know, there really aren't that many elderly or infirm people in my neighbourhood..at least, if there were, you'd have thought I'd have seen them at least once in the 3-1/2 years I've been here...
And isn't it interesting how the houses with decorations often are the ones not shovelled?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

And isn't it interesting how the houses with decorations often are the ones not shovelled?

i live near a *very* decorated house, and i have to say the folks there are fabulous. they were out there with a massively industrial strength snow blower and not only did they do their own sidewalk and driveway, they did the sidewalks for several houses all around.

i expect it's a combination of civic-mindedness and getting to play with a very large toy. :-)

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well I did say "often."

I think it's more that the snow gets in the way of their display...hehehe...

But at least round me, the ones that are more decorated tend to be less shovelled. Of course, I'm practically in Cambridge; that may have something to do with it.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

I live on a side-street off of Broadway (Derby) and my street STILL has a good three or four inches of snow piled *on the street*

I just moved here from North Allston in September, and I am quite disappointed with Somerville's response to the storm. Little plowing, salting or sanding. I remember hearing plows at all hours going down my street (Easton) in Allston. In Somerville, who knows? Luckily, the residents have been pretty good about clearing (albeit narrow) paths down sidewalks, but, ugh, the roads.

Also, yes, in the standard rental lease, snow removal is the owner's responsibility, though when I lived in Allston my (absentee, awful, neglectful) landlords wrote it into the lease for us to do it. Not sure of the legality of that...

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

The State Sanitary Code (from MA Tenants Rights (http://www.state.ma.us/consumer/Pubs/tenant.htm) says:

Snow Removal: Every exit used or intended for use by occupants of more than one dwelling unit or rooming unit shall be maintained free from obstruction.

To me that's unclear because all the other responsibilities (kitchen, heat, etc) say explicitly "by the landlord" so it does seem there's nothing preventing the landlord assigning those duties to the tenant. If you can't get them to remove the clause, and you sign, you've agreed to do it.

If anybody knows differently, I'd love to hear it. I hate absentee neglectful landlords.
If anybody knows

[dmaze]

It hasn't seemed that terrible to me. I wound up walking between Davis and Teele Squares along Holland Ave. Sunday night and the sidewalks were pretty passable. I was surprised that there was basically no road maintenance being done on Saturday (and disbelieve it was Boston's city manager's fault). It looked like most of the streets were at least a little plowed, and you could actually see lots of asphalt in my neighborhood (Ten Hills) this morning.

The bus system has seemed exceptionally screwed this week, though. The orange line on Monday was a disaster; it seemed like there were more riders than usual but they hadn't added trains to compensate. Busses were taking forever to show up, and forever to get anywhere; at least the bus drivers seemed competent, but that's not enough to make up for the rest of the city forgetting how to drive.

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

I was surprised that there was basically no road maintenance being done on Saturday (and disbelieve it was Boston's city manager's fault).

My bad, it was the public works director. (http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/343/metro/Boston_aide_says_he_misjudged_storm+.shtml)

"Boston's longtime public works director acknowledged yesterday that he at first vastly underestimated the weekend snowfall and deployed less than half of his snow removal equipment on city streets, as the full brunt of the storm struck Saturday morning."

[marlatiara.livejournal.com]

"I wound up walking between Davis and Teele Squares along Holland Ave."

There's a stretch along that way (on the right, near the playground) that still has several inches of mushy snow on it. Nothing has been shoveled. I gingerly made my way through yesterday but it was difficult and I was glad I was wearing boots.

[ceo]

You'd think, if the city can't afford to plow properly, they'd at least be out there ticketing people for not shoveling and for parking on the snow-emergency side. There's a lot of revenue out there, folks. :-)

Every day of this makes me happier to have an entirely Red Line commute.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

all i can sanely offer is: be safe! http://tinyurl.com/y60v
great toys for walking on those hazardous streets/etc.

having been in the city last nite, i even contemplate shoving a spot so i can park in a primo location, i did get there early enough with my car, and had a shovel. the big question arose: where am i going to put it, that doesn't annoy someone? not the street. not on another parking spot, not on the actually clear sidewalk, throwing over the sidewalk into what is effectively someone's yard or garden probably a nono and even more backbreaking.

in order to do any more plowing, even tough ups, it's going to cost a lot of money. snow removal (trucking it out) will cost a HUGE amount. they used to do that, and dump it in the bay. i understand one of the reasons they stopped is the cars they accidentally dumped too :) well, and pollutants. so, where can they put it? it's practically hazardous waste once on the ground.

tricky stuff.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

i know i had a lot of trouble shoveling my bit of sidewalk because, by the time i was able to get to it, someone had shoved 3 feet of snow onto the sidewalk while digging out their car. i managed to make a reasonable path by then shoveling most of that snow onto my front lawn, but the snow was already compacted enough that i couldn't always get down to asphalt.

i too am surprised by the road conditions, especially since they seem to usually go overboard on the plowing during the first snow. perhaps it was the unexpected severity of the storm or that it was a weekend (many plow operators may have been away, since we don't usually get something this bad so early in the winter).

The city got a lot of flack last year for ticketing and towing during storms. We all bitched about getting tickets after 2 days just for not shoveling out our cars (evidence that hadn't been moved). The roads suck now because they are narrow, but I'm more pleased that people are making due instead of getting ticketed and towed. Let's be careful not to be hippocritical about our desires. (granted, i've been getting annoyed where i usually don't, and i'm very sorry for your shitty commute.)

What's up.

[feoh.livejournal.com]

Here's the critical difference though - you DID shovel. You did your part, and even though you couldn't get to bare asphalt you at least attempted to create a passable corridor through your sidewalk so people could safely walk on.

This is all anyone is asking for, and honestly I think people who can't be bothered to do evn that much SHOULD be penalized in some small way.

Also I think all the people who are just leaving their cars buried in snow are contributing to the horrid traffic and all the problems I cited above. Maybe towing is too harsh but there has to be SOME way to force people into doing the right thing or else living in a city as we do becomes a living hell for all concerned.

Re: What's up.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

ugh - people not shoveled -at all-?? yeah, that's negative karma points right there. i hate that. i thought you'd meant they'd just shoveled poorly.

As far as digging out cars, I disagree with you somewhat but that has a lot to do with no place left to put the snow. It seems like it takes more room to have a car and separate pile of snow than to have one big (high) pile. All that is moot when it comes to parking illegally in the snow emergency spots though.

Re: What's up.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Good for you for helping out your landlord.

Whether he's had 4 heart attacks or not, it's still his responsibility, and if you didn't help, then he could hire someone to do it for him.

snow : A Learing Experience

[dylanashes.livejournal.com]

Clear roads and Timely transit.. We take these things for granted. Now we will appreciate them....



...until we forget again.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

a lot of people who don't look ill are.
the snow wasn't expected to be so much - and some people probably thought they could do it themselves, and only realized too late that we were going to get 2'. finding someone whom one can pay to shovel snow and is still free to do so once a storm has already hit is *really* difficult.

i know some people who don't shovel are just idiots - but some have a reason for it. should they be ticketed? absolutely. (i'm actually surprised that more people haven't been. the city's so broke i was expecting it to start the next day.) but they're not always simply unfeeling jerks for not shoveling at all or for doing a crappy job of it.

[ex-meta.livejournal.com]

Personally, the thing I hate more than not shoveling at all, is doing a half-assed job and leaving a thin layer of snow which gets compacted rapidly and turns into a sheet of ice.

If you're going to shovel, do it properly and brush away the last of the snow. Otherwise, don't bother.

[hyperliminal.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that as soon as the snow hits the sidewalsk become utterly impassable for anyone with a physical disability such as wheelchair or crutches or bad balance. Even when the sidewalks are shoveled the paths are never wide enough for, say, a motorchair, and the curb cuts are rarely cleared. It's a shame that for a city that's usually decently accessible, Somerville becomes un-navigable for anyone with a permanent or temporary disability. I know several people who lose significant mobility or become entirely dependent on rides from friends, etc., in the week or so after a storm.