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Linda Siraco submitting comments re: the snow removal ordinance.
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To the Honorable Board:
It was suggested by Mark Niedergang in a comment on the Somerville Times website that those who cannot attend the public meeting on Feb. 3 should write to you so that their comments could be made public.
I have made several long commentaries on the same site regarding the poor way that the City has dealt with residents who have had issues with snow removal before and since this record snowfall. As a resident of a single-family home who lives with her 81-year-old mother, we have no relatives or friends who are able to help with snow removal. I am forced to do it all on my own, unless one kind neighbor takes it upon his/herself to help. Since this last storm, nobody has come to help, probably because they are all busy with their own cleanup.
I have been trying to clear out the snow in front of our driveway for the past 3 days, and will again be attempting to do so tomorrow (Friday, January 30). Since I live on the even side of the street, whenever there is a major storm, they plow all the snow not only TO the curb, but OVER the entire sidewalk, making it a serious issue.
After this record storm, there sits a wall of snow roughly 5 feet high and about 5 feet wide along the entire length of the street. While some neighbors seem to have managed to clear a path along the sidewalk and opened their driveways, I live just on a curve near the end of the street, and for this reason the plows push even more snow into this area than anywhere else.
My driveway has been blocked by this 5x5 foot wall of snow since Tuesday, and I have been unable to clear a path to the street other than an opening on one end for mail delivery. It will likely take me at least a couple more days to possibly get enough removed that I will be able to take my car out to buy groceries or other necessities.
There is no reason why the plows have to barricade the residents in their homes when they can make some openings after they have finished plowing the streets. The priority seems to be clearing streets over anything else, but they forget that without the ability to reach the streets, that is of little use to everyone.
My main concern is that living with an elderly parent, were there a need for medical attention, or a need to call Police or Fire, there is absolutely NO way for them to reach a home on the even side of the street because of the extreme amount of snow walled up along that side.
This is unacceptable. Public safety is not only the need to clear the roads, it is a need for clear access to and from the homes in the event of an emergency.
The City of Somerville offers NO help whatsoever for any resident who is unable to leave their home after a storm, other than to offer a weak program to be paired with a teenager who will shovel for a fee. It is also noted on the site that there is no guarantee that the teenager will provide the service or do it to your satisfaction.
I feel this is a poor attempt by the City to remove any responsibility for clearing their own public sidewalks, and pass that responsibility on to the residents. We need a valid service in place to at least create access TO and FROM the street so that residents can be assured of help in the event of an emergency.
If the City worked with landscapers in the area that would be willing to provide emergency clear-outs after a storm, and posted the phone numbers for those individuals on the COS site, it would be a lot more useful than expecting a teenager to come by with a shovel and do a job that he/she is ill-equipped for. If we have to pay to clear the City-owned sidewalks, at least the job would be done properly.
When it is possible for residents to clear sidewalks, I'm sure most of us do not have an issue doing so. But when snowfall is at an extreme, it is simply unfair to leave us to bear the burden of doing a job of this magnitude. Other cities, such as Boston, have snow farms and equipment that make it possible to remove excess snow from areas where space is at a premium. For a city the size of Somerville, this should also be possible, especially now that more high-income families seem to be entering the City.
With regard to the Snow Removal Ordinance changes, reducing the number of hours by which residents are expected to clear the sidewalks is completely unfair. 24 hours should be enough time for most residents to clear sufficiently, unless we have a severe storm such as this one has been. While commercial businesses and larger properties likely have access to equipment that will make that job easier, residential owners do not all have the ability or the income to afford to have a professional service, and have to work around their own schedules to accommodate the cleanup.
We need to have a fair program in place that allows residents to clear the snow in a reasonable amount of time that allows them to do so either before or after work hours, to offer a helpline for residents that are not able to clear a path to the street after a snowstorm, and to alternate the sides of the street so that the burden does not fall on the same homes every time there is a storm.
As a lifelong resident of Somerville, over the years I have been made to feel as if I do not belong in my own City any more. I feel that whenever there is a severe snowstorm, the City expects us to fend for ourselves and bear the burden that should be taken up by those who are being paid to do so. Expecting residents to just take care of one another is a poor way to handle a City. The City should be taking care of us, and I feel that is not being done at all.
A number of years ago after a similar storm, we were trapped in our home for 3 days until my father was able to get a DPW worker to open a path to the street. Every time there is a severe snowstorm, I worry that we cannot get out of our home if something were to happen, be it a medical issue, or a fire. NO resident should have to worry about this, or have to be trapped in their own home because they cannot shovel themselves out.
I have made several comments on the Somerville Times website that go further into detail regarding these issues and my experiences, which can be read at
<http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/somerville-copes-with-a-blizzard/#comment-45151870213251723>
I hope that the City takes all the residents' issues into consideration, and comes up with a solution that can be fair to everyone. Even if all the issues cannot be resolved at once, any that improve this situation would be a message that our concerns do not fall on deaf ears.
Sincerely,
Linda Siraco