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Erica Voolich submitting comments re: the snow removal ordinance.
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To the Honorable Board:
FYI: I live at the corner of Summer St and Linden Ave, so this is my perspective.
(1) The digging out of Summer St at that corner before the last storm made a BIG dent in the snow piled up in the 3 previous storms and lowered the piles before the last storm.
(2) I watched the snow plowing during the past storms. We have been asked to not park on the EVEN #-ed side. No one did. But plowing on Linden Ave (and other side streets) was only down the middle of the street, so now there is an enormous pile at least the width of the car parking on the even side. I do not know where the cars are doing to go when the parking ban is lifted and the cars return from the school lots.
(3) In the storm when there was a driving ban: next time why not have two snow plows go down the main streets one right after the other like they do on the Mass Pike. First plow move snow to middle, second plow move to side. I watched two plows go down summer st, both following same path -- not offset.
(4) I live on the even side of Summer St, so I get the slush along with the snow plowed onto my sidewalk -- often all the way across the sidewalk.
[two years ago in one storm, we couldn't open our front door, our neighbor was working his way up summer enough to get us out to help with the removal and the plow came up and buried the person snowplowing and the snowblower -- he ended up on the ground and the snowblower was broken].
I had written earlier suggesting the plows slow down going up Summer St, so the slush isn't thrown back as far as in past years.
For decades, we have cleaned off our sidewalk multiple times with each storm in order to keep the sidewalk shoveled.
It was definitely better this year.
(5) In the snow clearing from the first storm, when the city came by on Linden Ave after everyone had shoveled their sidewalks, the snow from the street was moved back onto the sidewalks (pictures shared with Mark N). The storms since then, no plowing has gotten any where near the curb... see (2) above. One neighbor had spent 9 hours snowplowing and shoveling around his property and those near by and he was furious after all that work was buried -- as was all the way down Linden Ave. Had the truck gone more slowly up the hill, less of the sidewalk would have been buried.
(6) I understand it has been proposed that next year we alternate odd/even by the winter years.
As wonderful and "fair" as this sounds. Not so for me and my attempts to shovel.
I live on the Even side of Summer and the Odd side of Linden.
When it is an Odd year, that would mean all of my lengthy sidewalks to be shoveled would be covered in the heavy slush, not just the Summer St side of my house. I'm not sure this senior citizen is capable of handling all of that.
(7) Driving around the city, I'm impressed with how much as been removed from main streets.
But what is going to happen when it is time to go back to school and the side streets are impassible?
(8) We have been trying hard to keep the corner open for a fire truck to make a turn -- even kept the snow away after snow removal and then a neighbor (middle of the night) informed a person (who parked near the corner where we were keeping it open for firetrucks), that they were blocking the crosswalk and that was illegal.
I realize parking attendants aren't working, but we will probably call the non-emergency police the next time it is blocked.
May the snow planned for this weekend, pass out to sea!!
Thanks
Erica Dakin Voolich