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Rob Cheyne submitting comments re: the snow removal ordinance.
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Official Text
To the Honorable Board:
I’m not one to complain very often, but the recent snow removal during and after the recent snow storm left much to be desired, especially on the oft-neglected side streets.
On Tuesday, the day of the storm, I went out at noon to shovel and the plow had not yet come by at all. Much later in the afternoon (around 3:30pm), a single private contractor plow came by and made one pass, but did nothing to clear up the large snowbanks that were accumulating, and frankly didn’t even do a particularly good job on the part he did plow. When I finally went back inside after 4+ hours of shoveling, the roads were still very much a mess and our hopes of a city plow coming by were diminishing rapidly. One clearly never came because the road was still a narrow slushy mess when we woke up the next morning.
I spent the following morning shoveling the remainder of the snow that had fallen overnight. Not 15 minutes after I finished (around 11am, the day after the storm), the large city plows finally showed up and plowed everybody on our street back in. Driveways were completely blocked, and snowbanks fell over, re-covering entire sidewalks. This of course only impacted those of us on the even side of the street, a pattern that plays out every single storm and every single year. The odd-numbered houses had their cars to protect them from the plows, so they were left with clear driveways and clear sidewalks, as they always do.
Today, the fire department showed up to clear out the hydrants that the plows covered over. They made quick work of them, but left a huge amount of snow in our driveway and on the sidewalk. My wife was home sick with the flu, and went out to ask them for help cleaning it, and the response was “well you shouldn’t have shoveled snow onto the hydrant!”, and then they coldly drove away. There were three or four of them there, and it probably would have taken less than a minute for them to clean up their mess. The sidewalk was left in a messy, dangerous state until I got home and cleared it. Prior to the last big plow showing up the day before, we had cleared the hydrant ourself down to the sidewalk, so this was not a mess that we created. Even discounting the rude behavior, the fire department should not be in the business of removing one dangerous situation and creating another.
Finally, the bottom of our street where it connects to Route 16 is relatively dangerous even on the best of days. We have a traffic light that helps, but I see people run that light at least every other day, even in the middle of summer. In the winter, the plows habitually only clear a single lane, and a huge pile of snow always builds up there, creating a potentially life-threatening blind spot for residents. Very similar things happen on all the streets that run parallel to mine, and elsewhere throughout the city. This also happens every single storm, every single winter.
On top of all this, we recently received a memo about the city issuing fines to residents if they don’t clear their snow on time. How is this penalty structure even remotely fair if the city is continuously giving us more work to do? Do we, the residents, get to issue a fine to the city when their snow removal work is not up to snuff? Is the point to keep the sidewalks clear for public safety or to generate revenue? This policy just adds insult to injury.
To be completely clear, this was not just a manifestation of this particular storm, but rather a systemic repeat of a pattern I’ve experienced every winter since I bought my home here in 2005. I grew up in a city that got a LOT more snow than Somerville, and our roads were never as bad as ours are here during the winter. I wouldn’t even bother complaining except I’ve seen it done so much better than this.
All this said, I’m never one to complain without making suggestions for improvement, so below I’ve made some suggestions that may help for future storms. I spoke with many of my neighbors during and after the storm, so I know they share my concerns and would like to see some changes made.
Thanks for your time and attention on this serious matter, and I’m happy to discuss any questions you may have. I sincerely hope this is both helpful and productive, as that was my intent in writing it. I’ve CC’ed the Aldermen and City Clerk in the hopes that a cohesive, centralized solution that works well for the entire city can be achieved.
Best Regards,
Rob Cheyne
Proactive plowing of side streets:
If the plowing is done proactively during the storm, we never would have accumulated as much as we did, and the impact would have been far less. If you assign a couple of city plows to run up and down all the side streets though out the storm, and clear it to the sidewalk, not just a single lane, things are much less likely to pile up as they do. The small, private contractor plows seem to do the minimum possible work, and consistently do a terrible job as a result.
Also, if the plowing is done during the storm, the snow that the plows knock onto our driveways gets removed as part of the normal shoveling process that we are already doing. If you wait until the last flake of snow has fallen, you end up with very large snowbanks that collapse as the plows come by. This creates a lot more work for everyone, and lot of angry residents. This is a completely avoidable problem.
Improved plowing:
Roads should be plowed all the way back to the sidewalk, or as close as possible, after every storm. The fact that there is emergency parking in place leaves that entire side of the road available for the large plows to come by and clear out the streets in just a couple of passes. Only plowing one narrow lane during the storm, and then leaving snowbanks after the storm is a missed opportunity to keep the roads clear and safe. If the plowing was more thorough, cars can then re-park on the clear side, and the city plows could then clear the other side. This isn’t just a pipe dream - I grew up in a town where they did exactly this, despite getting a LOT more snow each year than Somerville does. Except in very unusual circumstances, our roads were always back to normal within a week of the storm.
Improved emergency parking:
The even-side snow emergency parking is grossly unfair, and also leaves behind a permanent mess. For emergency parking to be truly effective, it must alternate back and forth between the even and odd sides of the street somehow. There are many ways that this can be done, but having it always even number, year after year, means that the even side people always unfairly incur the bulk of the extra shoveling when the plows come by. Aside from that, not alternating sides creates a situation where we can never truly clear out the mess around where the cars were parked during the storm. If you get multiple storms in a row, the roads become a permanent disaster for weeks, sometimes well over a month. Again, this is a completely avoidable problem.
Here are a couple of alternatives:
- I’ve seen cities where cars literally have to move every single day to the odd and even side based on the day of the month. Odd days=odd side, even day=even side. Because people are always moving back and forth, the plows can keep the other side clear to the sidewalk, and then when the cars move to the other side, the plows can clear the other side. Within a few days, things return to normal rather than leaving mountains of snow spaced every 8-10 feet down every street.
- If this is too much, emergency parking could also alternate by week (1st & 3rd week of the month odd, 2nd & 4th side of the month, even), or even month (odd months=odd side, even months=even side). The more frequent you can alternate the side where cars park during snow emergencies, and clear out the previous mess, the less likely that another storm will come by and double the impact.
Having numerous times during the season where the emergency parking switches sides affords the city the opportunity to create truly clear and safe roads throughout the winter months.
Additional assistance for folks who need it:
There should be a city service for elderly, sick or otherwise disabled folks to receive assistance when their sidewalks or driveways are plowed in by the plows. And it should happen in conjunction with the plowing, so people are not stranded for days after the storm waiting for help to show up. I know that one can currently make special requests, but according to the person I spoke with on 311, it gets prioritized very low.
Also, when firefighters are clearing hydrants, they should be sensitive to the fact that the residents may not have been the ones who covered the hydrants in snow, and at least keep the sidewalks clear while they are doing the work so as not to create further dangerous situations. Punitively leaving snow on driveways and sidewalks is never an acceptable practice for the fire department.
Clear hazardous situations:
Create a task force whose job is to drive around the city with a bobcat or similar tool and clear the ends of streets where blind spots have developed. If a service like this already exists, it should be expanded to address these concerns. Reducing visibility at the ends of a street due to incompetent plowing is a lawsuit waiting to happen if somebody gets killed because they couldn’t see someone running a light.