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Presenting the 2015 Chevy Avalanche, Boston edition

Buried vehicle in Dorchester
The sign

Snow mound or car? On Westmoreland Street, the answer would seem clear - if not for the sign sticking out of the snow, as roving UHub photographer Neil found out last night.

Earlier:
There's always that one guy who tries to take the fun out of everything.

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Comments

..."I can't be bothered to dig it out or have someone else do it for me, so if a snowplow does happen to come down this street, just go around me, do an incomplete job, don't worry about the extra parking spaces you could clear in front of and behind me, and screw everybody else. I'll come back after the snow melts. Thank you."

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could not agree with you more! Beacon Hill is full of these mounds as are parts of Roslindale. It's free car storage for people who don't need them every day. And more obstructions for the rest of us.

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Westmoreland Street does not have residence parking and street cleaning rules are not in effect. Therefore as long as the car is registered and insured, there is nothing wrong with waiting for the melt if the owner so chooses. Westmoreland Street is not Beacon Hill. There is not a surplus of parking per se, nor is there a shortage.

Besides, something tells me that the owner of the vehicle might be the Statie or related to the Statie who lives in the engorged three decker across the street from here.

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I seem to recall this rule where your care would be ticketed or towed if it wasn't moved every 3 days. Couldn't find it on the city's website. Anyone recall this? Pete Nice?

(Not that it would be enforced or anything but I'm curtios to no if it's on the books.)

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Never heard of that and I've lived in Boston since 1993. With a resident permit and no street cleaning, why should people move their cars if they don't have to? They'll just need new parking spots and the city won't come by and plow the original spot to the curb. I don't get the rage.

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Where I've also lived. The law had nothing to do with snow removal, obviously, and seemed designed to keep abandoned or non-running cars off public streets. I don't think it was strictly enforced but if your neighbors had a broke down shitbox parked in front of your house there was a way to take action.

I could see benefits of that law here. Have to move every 3 days, take your space saver with you!

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Your vehicle can be towed, and auctioned or destroyed, if it's deemed abandoned in Boston. That has been the case since the late '80s when abandoned cars were a real problem. What I couldn't find was how long a car has to remain in a spot before it can be considered abandoned. But I recall it was fairly short, or at least a few years ago it was, as I remember a case where someone went out of town and their car was destroyed while they were gone (this was probably in the 1990s). In reality this is probably only enforced when neighbors report it, and maybe not enforced at all this winter.

http://www.cityofboston.gov/towing/#abandonment

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48 hours leaps to mind, but it's a tickle on the edge of my memory.

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It was parked in front of my house for a few weeks. Never moved. Never saw it before, and I know the cars around, and there is little reason for someone not from the area to be parked where it was. I also believe this it was parked where for some reason no one parks their car, but that is a fuzzy memory.

In short, called it in and the city came and put a sticker on it saying it was abandoned. A few days later, it was gone.

With everything going on in the city, I don't see this being top priority. Of course, give it a few weeks and perhaps the city will make a pronouncement of "look, things have started to melt. If a car is still resembling a snowbank by Monday, we will start to tow." That'll get things moving.

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Pretty sure you have to keep all of your different stickers available to the cops if you park in public. Inspection, resident parking, registration, license plate...none of them are exposed.

If the car is suspected as abandoned, then I think the cops put a notice on the window which lets them tow it after 48 hours unless you call the number on the paper.

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Great point that this neglect isn't just taking one available spot, but screwing up any snow removal efforts in the surrounding area. But god forbid someone clear out their car and save the spot for two days after a major storm...

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At this point, I think the rule should be, if you dig a car out of a snow mound, it's yours! It's kinda like cracking open a geode.

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...there aren't any Ferrari geodes...

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The threat of towing by the city of Somerville by 2pm today on my street has encouraged some pre-Juno abandoned car owners to finally slink back to the neighborhood to extricate their vehicles. Two guys were hacking at one car for about 2 hours, spreading all of the snow into the street. They finally got their car out and left the parking spot and street full of snow. Another girl and her boyfriend came sans shovel, spun the wheels for awhile trying to drive out without shoveling, chiseled at the ice with a windshield scraper, and then gave up. A couple of others disappeared under the cover of darkness. All in all, almost no more cars taking up 1.5 parking spaces. I would call that progress.

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Not content with blocking more than a travel lane in each direction on "main artery" Westland Ave, now they're blocking the few narrow paths carved through the snow and ice from the meticulously cleared sidewalks (no sarcasm -- they are pristine!) to the street. I've never been so tempted to vandalize a parked car in my life.

And, of course, still no sign of snow removal equipment, parking enforcement, or any other sign of winter public works activity. With one moderate storm on our doorstep tonight, and another reportedly on the way.

I truly think the city has just given up, and I think the mayor and his minions think they'll get away with it. Sadly, they're probably right.

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