Vent Time

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

So, yesterday was the 1st wednesday of the month and I get a ticket for streetsweeping. Fine, I haven't gotten any in a while, no big deal. So, I come back from work and park on the other side. As I was leaving this morning, my roommate tells me "They're ticketing you" and I'm like, what the hell now, so I go down, and I realize today is the 2nd thursday of the month. So, I'm out $100 in the space of two days. I like having clean streets as much as the next guy, but if arranging them on back to back days isn't exploitative, I don't know what is. I'm calling my ward alderman.

Comments

[teko.livejournal.com]

The streetsweeping thing must be so lucrative for the city -- they just loooove it when this kind of thing comes up and stock up on orange envelopes :)

As bad as Somerville can be, Cambridge is worse, which I discovered when I parked farther down the street than usual recently, not realizing I was on the "Cambridge end". They ticketed me, then immediately towed me at 7am. If paying $100 for two days of sweeping's bad, then paying $75 for towing, a $30 ticket, and a chunk more for car repair afterwards is just sucky.

Not so lucrative

[hillville.livejournal.com]

I heard Mayor Joe say that, for the tickets where they've raised the fines (snow and sweeping), the total revenue has gone down. Apparently, the higher cost makes people take the rules more seriously and there are a lot fewer violations.

And Somerville hardly ever tows for street sweeping, while Cambridge does it all the time. (Personal experience, dammit.)

I wonder which strategy yields more revenue and which one is a more effective deterrent?

At least Somerville does a better job keeping the roads clear in winter.

Re: Not so lucrative

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

They experimented with towing a few years ago. There was such an uproar from the public, they stopped towing and increased the ticket fee instead.