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Ticketed South End resident asks why
By adamg on Fri, 03/13/2015 - 11:09pm
West Rutland Square
A South End resident who came out to find his car on West Rutland Square with a ticket on it yesterday for parking more than a foot from the curb wonders if this is a new way for the city to make money: Create a problem, then dun residents for it.
There is no way to park properly with the snowbanks in the middle of the road.
This is a 2 way street, but the city only plowed out one lane and has left it this way. It is the city's fault that the street is blocked, and now they are trying to profit from it.
My car is the red one on the left. As the picture shows, the snow banks are much further out into the street than my (or any other) car.
I called the D-4 police department and was told by Sargent Ridge that the cars were ticketed because the fire department could not get by - how ridiculous. It's clearly the snow and the city's inability to remove it that is clogging the street.
The mayor has not been able to handle the snow situation, and is now trying to profit from their ineptitude.
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Comments
Diagonal parking
is that the norm on this street?
No it is not.
Both right wheels must be within 1 foot from the curb.
It was indeed
I passed through this area a lot during the storm, and the residential sidestreets (and, surprisingly, main intersections of Mass Ave) didn't have their brobdingnagian piles removed for the majority of Feb. This meant that even with ample shoveling of the entire space, parking parallel to the curb would put a driver in a situation where they could not leave. People didn't initially park like that, but after a week or so of the situation worsening, someone figured out parking diagonally let them actually enter and exit their spots instead of revving on ice and slushee snow for 20 minutes. It really didn't block the usable road in any way (moreso than the snow at least), and it's only in the past few days that the large piles have melted to what's pictured.
This is not rocket science.
Don't park more than a foot from the curb.
It doesn't matter if there's a cardboard box, another car, or a snowbank between you and the curb.
Just don't park more than a foot from the curb.
Driver could have shoveled to the curb
I mean, they would have not right to enjoy their handiwork, being the South End and all, but the next day when they have to find another spot in which to park, they could just begin the process again. And again the next day. And again the next day. And so on until the driver would have shoveled the parking lane of the street.
Just shovel to the curb
and use a space saver. Who cares what the non elected South End space saver gestapo have to say? By the way , the angled parking in the South End after a snow storm is a tradition that goes back at least to the Blizzard of 1978. The cop who said the car was blocking a fire lane was lying. The ticket is inappropriate.
The real problem is that the city sucks at removing snow and is trying to blame everyone else.
Nice idea, in theory.
The driver may have in fact shoveled out a parking space to the curb, then driven to work, then returned to a neighborhood that mostly agrees that that act doesn't entitle you to that same space. Meanwhile, the city has done almost nothing to clear the streets of snow, leaving at least half the public parking spaces locked under snow mounds that now require a pick-axe to take down, when in snowless times there is one public space for every three or four parking permits. So you drive around for half an hour, then park as best you can given the slim-to-none pickings available.
Is the ticket technically justified? Sure. Does it reflect a system that desperately needs reform, say, by limiting the number of parking permits per household, or enacting alternate-side parking in the wake of emergencies for snow removal (or some other solution that smarter folks than I can dream up)? I'm certain it does. Do space savers ameliorate this situation or make it worse? I emphatically believe the latter.
I probably wouldn't fight this kind of ticket, given the effort required and the value of my time, but I hope a lot of people do.
Everyone should fight parking tickets.
Especially if its your first one, or if its something like this. Quick letter, admit fault but explain your thought process and compliment the City on what a great job they do enforcing parking regulations. Then put a smiley face at the end of your letter and tell the person reading it to have a nice day.
That being said, the City should have parking ticket warnings for something like this with a note saying they plan on removing snow from the street on a specific date and that the next ticket will be a fine.
Just another example of the
Just another example of the author of this blog trying to incite his readers against the Boston Police for comments.
You are a bit misinformed
Quick question: who issued the ticket.
I'm betting it wasn't BPD.
Do you have evidence of this?
Do you have evidence of this? Or are you just betting?
Why did the individual call the D-4 BPD station if it wasn't issued by the BPD? Please dazzle us with you ever all-knowing wisdom about everything.
Nah
I'll just let you keep making a fool of yourself.
Most people who have lived or worked in Boston know who does most of the parking violation ticketing. It isn't BPD.
Correct me if i'm wrong,
Correct me if i'm wrong, other than the ford explorer far down the street, the firetrucks were blocked by snow banks.
It's the City's fault?
record snowfall this winter is the cause, it's actually your fault you got the ticket. I thought folks in the South End worked out their parking entitlement issues.
And possibly
The city's failure to plow the street wide enough for fire trucks might have something to do with all the angle-parked cars. If the owners had shoveled enough to park next to the curb, the plows could widen the travel lane.
Many South End Streets
I work in the South End & there are many streets there, including the one where I work, that were never properly plowed. Even without angled parking these streets are too narrow for fire trucks and I've seen city busses forced to back out of streets because they've been narrowed so much by un removed snow. Just one more view from the South End.
What an (expletive)
Breaking news, you obnoxious yuppie: Outbidding the entire middle class for a place to live didn't buy you dominion over them. Grab a shovel. If you can't on March 12th build a pile of icy soot a foot high, that's your problem.
As for you, city of Boston, you've done an alright job of snow removal so far. I've seen plenty of dump trucks out, but none in the past week and a half. Get back on the stick. I still see mounds on Comm Ave around BU. Remove it.
Time to un-plow
Given the above-freezing weather, the city may be better off reversing the "don't push snow into the street" rule and instead ask everyone to flatten the snowbanks and spread the snow around so that it can melt.
Either way, the mayor needs to demonstrate some leadership and work with the people instead of against them. All he's done this month is say obvious things about clearing fire hydrants and storm drains.
If there is too much snow to
If there is too much snow to legally park, then South End resident either needs to break out his/her shovel or find another place to park that is legal... it's not complicated. He deserved the ticket.
THATS WHY WE USE SPACE SAVERS
THATS WHY WE USE SPACE SAVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you agreed with space saver you could have a nice spot dug out BUT NOOOlets have to fix every shitty spot that others half shoveled. You can keep the south end and its snobbyness.I live off of dudly street and it great over here no problems at all
City sets itself up for failure
The city needs to get with the program and set parking rules in place to allow the street to be adequately plowed and snow removed.
Its pretty simple, and we did it in Rochester, NY (A city that knows how to deal with snow).
It needs to be made that during winter months (or after every storm) you can park on the even side of the Street Mon-Wed and the Odd side of the street Thu-Sun.
- It prevents people from never moving their cars and causing huge snowbanks (if they do - ticket and tow).
- It allows over the course of the week the entire surface area of the street to become available for plows and snow remove crews to access.
- By creating constant "churn" of people changing parking spaces there is no need for space saving as the street is adequately plowed.
-In the winter cars are only parked on one side of a narrow street instead of two - freeing up a lot of room on the street for two way traffic to pass each other safely.
This is exactly how things
This is exactly how things were when I lived in Buffalo.
I still can't understand why people are allowed to leave their cars from Nov- April here in Boston.
Rochester and Buffalo........
are not world class cities. End of story.
I'll tell you why I don't like that
I look at my sidewalk, which has cars parked next to it, versus my neighbor's, with no cars parked in front of it. The plows at one point deposited a wall of snow about 5 feet high onto their sidewalk. In the end, up that way lots of sidewalks are impossible to clear without heavy equipment, while my sidewalk was relatively easy to clear. I don't want my sidewalk to end up like the ones up the way.
So, great idea in theory, as long as cars remain parked in front of my house. (Note, the cars aren't mine.)
Except for one little problem:
in most Boston neighborhoods, even when we allow parking on both sides of the street, there aren't enough spaces to go around. So taking half of them out of commission for the winter months just isn't going to work.
Isn't the parking situation
Isn't the parking situation something someone should take into account when they look for a place to live? If a car is essential to your daily life maybe you should make sure your residence has off street parking, or pay for an off street space nearby. I have always secured myself off street parking, even if that means sacrificing some other amenity to keep within my budget. If you're going to live in a dense urban center, parking a vehicle is going to be a hassle. If you park illegally you are going to get a ticket.
In the time it took to write
In the time it took to write that message, this person could have shoveled out the spot adequately.
Break the law
get ticketed for it, and then accuse the city of a revenue grab. Advise people who are ticketed for breaking the law to always appeal the ticket, even if they're obviously in the wrong.
With attitudes like that, it's no wonder there's such lax enforcement of traffic laws around here.