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Its like that all over the
Its like that all over the place. Wayyy too much water and the humidity/rain hasnt let up all summer. Ive noticed a severe increase in mold/mildew where I live where we never had problems like that before. Gotta get the bleach/water mixure ready for some spraying.
Union Square flooding
Video (via Bostonist).
That's not Somerville
That is in Medford. The photo shows where Harvard St goes under the MBTA tracks in Medford, a few blocks away from the Somerville line.
Corrected
Thanks.
Adam was half right
He's still half right ... or is that half wrong?
One side of Harvard Ave is in Medford in that photo, the other is in Somerville.
My husband taught at St. Clement's School for two years - the "upper" school is in Medford (to the right of the photo, just beyond the tunnel and across Boston Ave.), the "lower" or elementary school is in Somerville to the left (through the tunnel and across Boston Ave. from the Gas Station - which is also in Somerville).
Meanwhile, Rt. 60 is closed for unknown reasons. And the brownstone with character that my company is moving out of this week is having yet another interesting water problem downstairs that has taken internet and phone lines out.
Welcome to my warming globe.
OK, I don't know from Somerville
I'm an across-the-river kinda guy, so I depend on the kindness of strangers to set me right :-).
No, it's entirely Medford
I'm looking at an official City of Somerville map as I type this. The picture shows the underpass of Harvard St. in Medford under the Boston & Lowell railroad tracks. The Somerville line is three blocks further forward towards Powderhouse Circle, at Pearson Road. There's a big "Welcome to Somerville" sign as you enter.
It's possible that telephone exchanges or the post office don't agree, but all of St. Clement's is in Medford. And so is that gas station.
For some reason, the trees also start at the city line. Harvard St in Medford is bare, while Warner St. in Somerville is lined with large shade trees.
The Map is Not Functional Reality
Given the general disdain of signs and maps in these parts, it isn't surprising to me.
Those two school buildings have street addresses in different cities. I believe the gas station receipts say Somerville, too, but I know damn well that school splits on the line as I have dealt with mailing HR things when Dave worked there.
The borders are pretty messy in that area, because they tend to follow previous land use patterns (e.g. the racetrack and the quarries) and not current ones. Our mail carrier, who grew up in that neighborhood, has mentioned an attempt to change the boundaries at some point - 50s, 60s or so and get them mostly on streets instead of through subdivided lots and buildings. That may have resulted in the official city map that you reference, but if you mail something to Medford in that area it will be returned.
Somerville also tickets cars parked on several of those streets and the signs are different. Medford doesn't enforce parking - particularly around Catholic churches (stated policy, yep) - so you can tell what's Somerville and what is Medford by the parking situation. If you move down Harvard St. past Boston Ave. toward Powderhouse, and make a left across from the church and go behind the elementary school, you are in Somerville. Park your car there without proper stickerage or for too long and you will be ticketed by Somerville.
The whole Somerville,
The whole Somerville, Cambridge, Medford fiasco is just a big mess. It would be nice if officials from the three cities sat down and negotiated for different addresses and streets to make things make more sense. Go out, find all of the messed up streets and neighberhoods and just sit the three mayors (each with a citizen advisory board) in a conferance room for a weekend and let them hash out better lines for the city limits.
I have a friend who lives in Somerville, but the other half of the street is Cambridge. The Cambridge half of the street always has parking because there are less houses on that side, so all the Somerville people have to park on their side of the street or risk getting towed by Cambridge.
Medford enforces pahking
Medford does, in fact, enforce parking. I just moved to Winter Hill in Somerville, got a resident parking permit, and parked my car for the weekend on Kilsyth Road, right around the corner from my apartment. I came out to my car this morning to find two $25 tickets from the city of Medford for permit parking violations. At first I was thoroughly baffled, since my Somerville parking permit sticker could not be more obvious. Then I noticed that the tickets were from Medford. Naturally there is no signage to indicate the city line, wherever it may be. I would assume that Broadway is the line, except that I live on the same side of Broadway as Kilsyth Road, and my address is Somerville. This is just asinine.
Somerville police department parking lot flooded, too
The Somerville News has photos.