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311 complaint of the day: Ice-cream trucks don't belong in bike lanes, even if they're not blaring 'HEH-LO!'
By adamg on Mon, 07/15/2024 - 12:27pm
A disgruntled resident files a 311 complaint about the ice-cream truck whose driver keeps parking in a bike lane at Green and Elm streets in Jamaica Plain:
This is a daily occurrence here. Not safe to have people have to veer out into traffic around it.
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Comments
They don't care
These drivers do not care about this.
I'll spare my rant about the ice cream truck in neighborhood but my take is they do not care. They park where they want and before anyone can call N complain about them, they disappear.
These guys only care about selling their wares and nothing more. Gone are the days of a friendly ice cream man who is there to provide a service, not there to make a buck. Now its just to make a buck so they could care less about bike likes or fire hydrants or even if its safe for the kids to come to the truck.
And from my experience trying to complain about the one in my neighborhood is that Ice Cream trucks are weirdly regulated. I was pretty much told they were regulated on a state level, not a city level. So good luck if you want to complain about them.
How convenient
that the photo includes a phone number.
Even Funnier
It is from the know it all Bike Elysium - Somerville.
Pretty sure
Somerville stayed in 617. 781-666 appears to be assigned to Saugus but it also looks like it's mostly mobile numbers so there's not much of a geographical connection.
You are right
The mark of the beast remains for all landlines in 02144.
Not quite
There are other NXX codes in the Gateway to Meffa and the telephone exchanges don't always quite line up with the city borders. Far back in the mists of time I had a Cambridge phone number and a Somerville address -- saved me $10 or so a month on my phone bill to not need the Metropolitan local plan.
Not always...
Granted, I live in 02143, but I started out in 02144, and have always had 776 for my landline, to my infinite disappointment.
666 Exchange
Surprised it isn't assigned to Salem. Boo!
it IS
978-666-XXXX is assigned to salem. My friend who owns two witch shops purposely got 666 numbers for his shops. I wanna say one is 666-EVIL or 666-DEAD , but can't be sure.
fwiw.. Salem is in 978, Swampscott is still 781.
Today's ice cream vendors are seriously creepy
First of all, this is 2024 and not 1955, so I'm not sure why "ice cream trucks" even exist, but they seem to have made a big comeback in the past several years, after years of lying fallow. And they all blast that same drunken sounding "HELLOOWWW" music at ear splitting volume. Is there one overarching company or are these guys all independent? The ones I have seen are disreputable looking. Often wearing filthy sleeveless undershirts, cigarettes dangling from mouth. They pull over on corners and intersections where it is not safe for children to run to and from them.
Why shouldn't ice cream
Why shouldn't ice cream trucks exist today? It's not like 7-year-olds are going to order their ice cream on GrubDash.
I'll give you reasons
1. Kids can get most of these varieties these trucks sell at any bodega
2. Parents will be glad when ice cream trucks go away (due to the "mommy mommy I want ice cream" fights that happen when a truck appears)
3. We should be mindful of what kids are eating. Ice cream is pure fat and sugar. Sure its up to the parents, but ask any parent what its like dealing with #2 and they take 3 bucks out their wallet and say "Go".
4. We need to be mindful at marketing to children. This is purely marketing aimed at kids. We don't allow toys inside cereal anymore, and McDonald's isnt allowed to push happy meals onto kids anymore. Why is this any different?
I think we all know what it's like dealing with #2
Ice cream trucks really hit a nerve. I always remember the ice cream guy being kinda shady and down on his luck going back to the seventies. I've never encountered the 1950s well groomed and informed good humor guy.
LOL
I know your ice cream truck. This is the same guy who I have issues with. Dirty tank tops, smoking cigs, stops unsafe for kids. And that ANNOYING "HELLLOWWW" every 28 seconds.
And yes they are creepy now. Its all independently owned. Anyone with a truck, a freezer on a generator, and a permit can drive an ice cream truck. So now you have the less than stellar drivers now.. cuz its a pop up business. Fill up your truck, then just drive it around and sell your wares.
These trucks seriously need to be regulated like regular food trucks are.
How difficult is it to go
How difficult is it to go around? It's a one-way street and tens of thousands of people biked it in the Darker Ages without a bike lane.
How difficult
How difficult is it for the truck to find a legal spot to park? Not hard.
The biker shouldn't have to go around if the truck driver actually did their job and followed the law and NOT park in a bike lane.
There's legal parking across the street
And when some kid gets hit be a car while running across that street to get some ice cream, kinopio will probably not chime in about how cars shouldn't be allowed on Green Street.
Me, I'd prefer to let the truck spend 20 minutes there a few times a day. They let Boston Frosty park in the lane at the Public Garden, and that's a busier road.
You pretend to care about
You pretend to care about people's safety while advocating that a private business be allowed to break laws and endanger cyclists. There are also legal parking spots next to this park on Lamartine Street that this truck driver chooses not to use. I'd suggest informing yourself on a topic before commenting on it.
Me, I'd prefer no one be endangered and the ice cream truck screws off back to the suburbs.
Speaking to pretending to care
Again, can't wait for your feigned outrage when a kid gets hit by a car at this park running to get some ice cream from the vendor who cannot stop on the proper side of the street.
Maybe
Drivers should be cognizant when traveling in residential areas, observe safe speeds, anticipate children, etc etc
It's a lot to ask, I know...
I mean, I'd prefer to treat stop signs like a yield when biking
You've hand waved away one of those law breaking instances as not a big deal.
Would you be consistent with the other?
About as difficult as ...
It would be for you to stop commenting on every post.
Ha
Pot calling the kettle black
Squatter's Rights
I'm not paying rent on that space in your head. I escaped the trailer park - no need to pay for squalid space unfit for occupancy.
Oh, and you dredging me up in every thread != me commenting in every thread.
For those zero people who might actually care, it is easy enough to document that your accusation is absurd and hypocritical by clicking the username and using the "track" tab.
Try your poll ...
On Truth Social and report back.
It’s not how difficult it is.
It’s how dangerous. A giant sight hazard like an ice cream truck is especially dangerous.
Why not?
If there’s no bikes using the bike lane why isn’t any vehicle allowed to stop for a few minutes. Probably some old complainant with zero children.
Why stop at that idiocy
If there aren't pedestrians using the sidewalk, why isn't a vehicle allowed to stop there for a few minutes?
That
is stupid. Would you park on the sidewalk? Bike lanes are an integral part of the roadway. Sidewalks are not.
Wait till you hear about curb cuts
Its going to blow your mind!
Would I?
I am reminded of spending time in Beijing, where parking on sidewalks was commonplace. In some neighborhoods, the sidewalks had been paved with large decorative tiles, which were sadly too thin to support cars. I haven't been back in years, so I don't know if the parking situation or enforcement have improved.
So you do not live in Boston
In JP cars and trucks are frequently parked on the sidewalk. Owners of parking pads park use sidewalks as part of their parking pad when their or a guest's SUV is too long for the parking pad (and a few feet is too long to walk from parking on the street). I'm thinking of a certain neighbor who frequently allows blocking their sidewalk.
When vehicles use up sidewalk space then folks who are careless about riding bikes on sidewalks can't use the sidewalks. Not fair to them!
Oh, what sidewalks are first for when a person is walking? Pshaw. Walking is so passé.
You aren't using your brain
You aren't using your brain so I guess its fair game to store stuff inside your head.
There is a gated-off, unused
There is a gated-off, unused road next to this park, to the east of this park, closer to the train tracks. It would be a no-brainer to have a food truck park there to stay out of everyone’s way but serve the park easily.
Next to an illegal off leash
Next to an illegal off leash dog run full of aggressive dog owners? Not a great place for kiddie ice cream
"How difficult is it to go around?"
Fabulous self-own, you just answered your question from earlier. Its all about aggression!
This was my complaint
And I’ve reported trucks at this same location multiple times before. Yes, it’s possible as a cyclist to go around the truck, but if I’m biking and my 8 year old is on her bike in front of me, it adds a pretty large amount of stress—I have to call to her to pull to the right of the bike lane and wait for me, then I pull up on her left, and then I have to signal to a car, creep in, take the lane, get her to the right or me, then move forward through the intersection together and have her move back in front of me to go back into the bike lane. That is the whole point of the bike lanes—to make it safer for all cyclists. And yes, this truck could find a legal parking spot!
IMHO ice cream trucks went to
IMHO ice cream trucks went to hell when they started selling easily store purchased products instead of soft serve ice cream.
The Google maps image does not show a bike lane in this area as of October 2023.
Come On Everybody
It's an ice cream truck, for kids that are outside.
Don't you remember?
The joy in waiting for that Bomb Pop/Frozen Toe/Choco Taco?
Live a little, smile a lot more.
Beat the heat, with a frozen treat.
I don't remember @DEMO
I'm Mr. Frosty years old. There were plenty of corner stores with the products you described in my neighborhood @DEMO; But the closest Dairy Queen was across from the Neponset Drive-In when I was a wee lad in Inner City Boston. "Made me wanna holler"
alas
Choco Tacos are no more.
I'll say it...
...Choco Tacos suck.