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Did Boston declare a snow emergency and not tell anybody?
By adamg on Sat, 02/06/2016 - 1:38pm
You may recall how, on Thursday, the city announced there was no snow emergency and don't even think of putting out space savers (then repeated the message as the snow began to fall yesterday), let alone for the post-emergency 48 hours.
And yet, when some concerned citizen reported these two space savers on Colborne Road in Brighton (and not even shoveled out, for Chrissakes), the city replied:
Case Closed. Case Resolved. allowed for 48 hours.
The city has yet to respond to this complaint about space savers at Harbor View Street and Dorchester Avenue, which includes a screen capture of one of the city's own no-snow-emergency tweets.
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Comments
48 Hour litter window?
This if of course the problem with a non-policy policy; no one can agree on the non-rules.
But even the pro-spacesaver camp must agree that the spot should be shoved!
ugh, these are all over my neighborhood
It barely snowed. Brushing a light dusting off your car does not constitute "digging out", and just pulling out and not clearing a spot definitely isn't worthy of a saver (such as in the picture). I'm not against the system in situations where you've gotta actually dig through a mound of snow drifts. 48 hours, fine. But good grief...nobody spent multiple hours on this.
It didn't "barely snow"
Unless we are in Buffalo or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was 7 inches.
Now, should people be putting out buckets to mark spaces? All I can say is that some people on my block spent roughly 15 minutes on their space, which to me seems like they didn't earn anything (and yes, so some no one earns anything whenever they move snow to create a space, but whatever.)
Simple answer
No. Because there was not a snow emergency. Period.
I dunno
Let me flip this circumstance. You remember times when the city declared a snow emergency only to have the low go off to sea or to have warm weather turn a half foot of snow into a half inch of rain, right? In those instances, according to the Menino Doctrine, asshats would be able to throw the lawn furniture out on the street for 2 days.
Our current mayor, like his predecessor, put it best- let's be reasonable here. The odd thing is that I am not defending Mr. "pull the car out and put some buckets down without shoveling", just noting that 7 inches is not something to sneeze at.
You do raise a good point
but that's on the city to figure out. The city says 48 hours after the end of a snow emergency, and that's what it should be.
I agree that 7" is a big deal, but why have a policy at all of it won't be followed?
Seven inches of snow is a lot, but
it's not unmanageable.
Never said it was
.
Agreed
Seriously, I'm trying to to get sucked into this topic, but blowing off the storm total, well, I can't leave that one alone.
Barely snowed
The snow is mostly gone today. It was 4 inches here in Downtown Boston.
It took me a while to clear my car, but it was mainly because it was pretty wet and a bit frozen to my car. The previous storm was more snow.
My theory is...
...people can't tell the difference anymore. Because of the way the news is reported now, because local stations go wall-to-wall for any amount of snow at all, any flimsy amount of snow is now a "snow emergency" in people's minds. The space savers, the "bread and milk" hysteria. Likewise, local
weather will refer to temperatures of 25 degrees, for example, as "frigid", a word that was once reserved for subzero or close to subzero temperatures. 25 degrees is not "frigid".
MDOT also
I drive to NH last night. All the road side signs are warning about coming snow emergency. At least north of 128 this is for 1 inch - maybe as much as 3 inches - of snow.
That's funny
I was walking around the Back Bay at noontime today and I swore I saw snow on the ground.
As I always say, there are arguments pro and con, but let's have both sides at least stay grounded in actual facts before interpreting these facts. For instance, how can someone claim that the did something to be granted some rights, albeit temporarily, when they didn't even make an half assed attempt to shovel the space out.
tis but a dusting
I drive. I cleaned my car off for work with a brush. While I'm no authority on what constitutes proper use, if you didn't have to even shovel to get out then using a saver seems excessive.
I chucked 3 spaces savers on
I chucked 3 spaces savers on one flippin block of i st. in Southie today. Yes it did "barely snow" and any suggestion otherwise is absurd.
Dont waste time notifying the city, just take matters into your own hands and clear any garbage off the street that is "saving" someone's spot. Enough already.
that doesn't help anything
You're only setting the next guy up, who parks there without knowing it was previously "saved."
It does help things, actually
It does help things, actually. If you allow some people to save spots after negligible snowfall, others follow suit and the problem gets worse. Nip it in the bud.
As for creating problems for others, i disagree. You dont get to claim public space in these situations (following an actual snow emergency, i wouldnt remove savers even after 48 hours, since people go insane).
By your logic, why can't people "save" a spot all year round? Is removing a cone from a spot in july wrong, because the next person to park there might get their car vandalized? No. Same logic applies here in February after a dusting that required close to zero shoveling.
I disagree
Unilateral action by an individual could lead to conflict. Just walking down the street grabbing cones or chairs or whatnot from shoveled spots will just lead to someone parking in the unclaimed spots, drivers coming back to find their spots taken, with the potential for property damage or the odd chance of violence.
This is not to say that the practice has to be tolerated. The Menino Doctrine accepts that space saving occurs but puts limits on when and for how long it may happen. Places like the South End and parts of Chicago have decided, as communities, to ban the practice, but with community input.
As I always plead on this topic, let's be reasonable. Even though a solid 25% of Bostonians think the way you do, just up and deciding to change things without consensus will not help.
Im not changing anything, it
Im not changing anything, it's never been accepted practice to save a spot after a neglible amount of snow, has it? Further, the city was out the next day chucking savers as well. Was the city wrong to do so? The person who finds another in "their spot" is unaware it was the city that moved their saver, no?
And as i said above, i dont remove savers after an actual snow emergency. I doubt 75% of the city thinks space savers were appropriate after friday's snow, and i dont think i am in the minority here.
Neglible amount of snow?
It was over half a foot!
All I'm saying is that when the city deals with this, all is on the up and up. When someone who doesn't park a car on the street decides to remove these things, they might cause a conflict between 2 people needlessly. If you have an issue with these things, call City Hall or park your car in one of the spots and leave where your car was for someone else.
Friday, I saw point of the savers. Today they looked stupid. I got a car in front of my house whose owner put out a cooler when they went out this morning. But in the words of Pope Francis, who am I to judge?
You should really find
You should really find something else to do with your time, rather than what amounts to a silly tantrum.
Also, as another poster pointed out, you are just creating problems for other people.
Complaint reopened
https://311.boston.gov/reports/56b64fe40485ea5eec2408ca
311 should do their damn job.
Amateur hour
under the Walsh Administration. You don't say?
Space saver removal
Has anyone ever actually seen the city come and remove these space savers? Actual sightings are about as rare as Lechmere trolley sightings. There are serial offenders in my East Boston neighborhood and the city does nothing about it. You'd think they'd have even more time to remove these nuisances when it was such a minor snowfall as this and the city isn't falling apart.
If enough people just removed
If enough people just removed space savers they see after a pathetic little snow fall like this the problem will solve itself.
Only when a stink is raised
Or when the tradition is being exploited.
As I recall, the DPW used to be instructed to act on pickup day, viewing the chairs and whatnot as being trash. That said, people got tricky about the situation, making it a bit of cat and mouse.
Yes, the city took our new neighbor's spacesavers
He had three garbage cans (which he believed were "not allowed to be touched") and two traffic cones taken. Of course, this was only after they were on the street for two weeks after the first "snow" this year.
No, I didn't turn him in - although I did try to tell him that our neighborhood doesn't do the space saver baloney and he was probably going to lose them.
In his defense, the folks in the house on the other side of his are real jerks about taking up more space than they need (ie a car parked across a two car space) - with their rhode island and new york registered cars. And they don't shovel.
Yup
I saw DPW driving down W 5th in Southie when it snowed a couple weeks ago.
It's just symbolic of something very stupid and pigheaded
Too many people have shown they SIMPLY DON'T CARE what the law is.
And the mayor's office is afraid to tell people that spacesavers have to end.
This is just embarrassing.
agreed
I think this is what the problem is. No politician wants to just say no to space savers and run the risk of losing votes in the next election. And you know this would have a major effect on votes due to how much of a polarizing issue this is.
I very much doubt there's much overlap
between Boston residents un-civic-minded enough to abuse space savers and the 20-30% who go to the effort of voting in mayoral elections.
Okay
You never know. And the politicians know that.. why rock the boat when you don't have to.
you're right
It's too bad the issue comes down to savers, rather than focusing on a comprehensive snow management strategy. Nobody would even need to save spots if the city cleared odd and even sides separately. If they actually fined property owners for not clearing sidewalks, that would generate at least a bit of cash to put into it.
No Shovel
No spot
What are they thinking?
this is bordering on the absurd. Who leaves a space saver with so little snow.
In my neighborhood, I did an un scientific study of about 25% of the streets and found one spot saver for about 20 unoccupied spots. That means there is one idiot who looked around, thought to themselves, no one else is using a spot saver so I am going to be the backwards idiot to use a spot saver. Or, they are testing the system. Or, they are so oblivious to their surroundings that they just don't care.
The same person probably doesn't pickup after their dog! Do a story on the number of 311 reports on dog stuff being left around
People who
find these odious should form a "Neighborhood Watch" group and go around after dark patrolling the neighborhood pitching them in the trash. It's clear there's enough per neighborhood to form a group, based on the number of Citizens Connect posts that go up in Eastie, Southie, and Brighton.
If all of the space savers in a several block radius are gone, it's less likely that someone's tires will get slashed. Or they could leave some sort of little sign that says "Neighborhood Watch Association Removed Your *write in description* space saver because it was not a designated snow emergency," to prevent innocent drivers from having their cars vandalized.
Jesus H. Christ
Give it a rest. Or move to Brattleboro, Vermont or something.
Brattleboro's not bad
I'd go with Manchester Center myself, but to each his own.
Anybody looking to sell some scrap?
Like, say, random pieces of crap dumped in the street and cleaned up by guys with a truck? http://www.universalhub.com/2013/space-saver-entrepreneurship-two-guys-d...
Yeah
Here in Chelsealand... which did not have a snow emergency, I saw space savers this morning on my street.
Shortly after, many appeared in the dumpster on the corner. I have no idea how that happened *snicker*
I just
So I'm an asshole (according to some).
I just moved more space savers out of spaces on my way to the store... I come back from CVS, and they are all back.
People really are so f'ing entitled.
Unless you want to park there
Unless you want to park there, then just stop being so fixated on it. It's an immature mindset just do that to things just because you don't like them but you weren't going to park there anyway.
Go to Oregon
Occupy a bird refuge, you malingering pissant.
Yeah!
An ABANDONED Visitor's Center, that's what the 'federal installation' they 'occupied" is. The media reports glossed over that. Imagine if instead of 'scary' white ranchers and farmers, they were 'oppressed' fill-in-the-blank .... there'd be 'spontaneous' marches down Mass Ave in Cambridge, downtown on the common, etc. in their defense. And I'm not even saying I agree entirely with their cause.
The federal government owns:
90% of the land in Nevada
50% of the land in California
50% of the land in Washington state
This is repeated throughout the western states. Of course you'll see conflict.
You are way way way off
I actually spent some of my childhood living in that area. I also have some family in that area.
1. Visitor's center WAS NOT ABANDONED. It has 12 full time employees who manage the refuge and perform other duties.
2. When I grew up there, ranchers were allowed to let cattle roam and loaded the land with them to the point of ecologic collapse. Barren land with blowing clouds of dust and bullshit so thick that you couldn't see to drive. Once the federal government started managing their lands, they have recovered tremendously.
3. The land - ALL of that land - belongs to the Native tribes if the Federal Goverment steps aside. The Ute and Paiute were forcibly marched 300 miles in JANUARY to Yakima and Umatilla from Southern Oregon and Northern Nevada so that their tribal lands could be ranched without settlers having to respect the native's rights to their reserve. Don't give me any of your talking points about who really owns that land or the land in Washington - my cousins (Cayuse - Federated Tribes of the Umatilla) own it!
4. None of your heroic terrorist thugs lived in the area, and had no business being there anyway. The Hammonds are a family of bullies and this has been well known since I lived in the area 40 years ago. Their abuse of one of their own was their ultimate undoing.
You don't know shit about any of this, and it shows. You have no concept of Western history, and less concept of Western life. Heck, I bet you think a cow is about the same size as a St. Bernard. Go crawl back in your anonymous hole and play internet cowboy and leave the land to people who know what they are doing with it.
That was not the same anon,
That was not the same anon, by the way.
Or you could just get some
Or you could just get some actual hobbies instead of moving other people's items in the form of a little petty protest, but you would rather just engage in silly meaningless behavior that doesn't even involve you and just results in problems for other people that might park there.
Your petulant comment speaks volumes to your personality.
It's hilarious that you tell
It's hilarious that you tell Eastern MA local's to leave if you are a transplant yourself.
Or you could just find some actual hobbies instead of passively aggressively moving other people's space savers while you had no intention of parking there.
Your snarky garbage accomplishes nothing and brings no substance.
Why would you move the savers
Why would you move the savers if you're not going to park there yourself? All you're doing is setting someone else up and running away from it.