There was little fanfare a few weeks ago when the Mayor and City Council passed a new ordinance prohibiting parking and standing in bike lanes or marked shared lanes. The fine: $100. This puts it on par with blocking a bus stop, fire lane, fire hydrant, or handicap ramp.

via BU Bikes.

Location

Why? Mainly because of all the illegally parked Boston EMS trucks, Department of Public Health SUVs, and the news vans- all there for a conference at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center. The Channel 7 news crew was even blocking the sidewalk with their camera gear, sitting unused and unattended.

Or, as the tow truck companies call it, "payday".

Aside from the whole entitlement thing, I'm left wondering what this small thing (maybe 18 inches high) is normally used for. Dual Tinker Toys holder?

The Snow Emergency and Parking Ban in Boston was lifted this morning at 9:00 am.

This was confirmed by the Mayor's helpline 617-635-4500 and Boston's snow webpage:

http://www.cityofboston.gov/snow/

"12/19 10:00pm: The snow emergency and parking ban will be lifted at 9:00 am Saturday morning."

After hearing about cities all scurrying to cancel school tomorrow, I asked a few people what their towns were doing. One town government member - who declined to be identified or to identify his town - told me his mayor was being shortsighted and knee-jerkish.

According to my source, this Boston-area community has handled this first storm of the season with a complete lack of common sense. I've written a post over on my blog about the situation, and here's an excerpt...the entire piece.

This street (Longwood Avenue- Google Streetview avoided part of it) is extremely congested. It's also one of two ways to get into the emergency room for Children's Hospital. The lanes are small on this three lane road, and the whole thing is marked no-parking.

But hey: the balding, grey-haired, bespectacled masshole owner of Boston Transportation Department Vehicle with plate # 3045 (who encouraged me to "go ahead and report the tags" but wouldn't tell me his name) apparently feels "it is [a parking space] for me", and parked blocking 1/2 of the only lane going towards the hospitals, and making it dangerous for bicyclists who need that space. He was busy chatting it up with a bunch of other people in suits and ties in front of the Mass College of Pharmacy. Commish, was that you? Maybe that gut wouldn't be so big if you found a proper parking space like everyone else, and walked. Always nice to see the rules mercilessly apply to us, but not to you?

The Globe cites a report that proves that. Naturally, the Globe doesn't provide a link to the report, so here it is.

Right now, there are many police cruisers, both marked and unmarked, parked on Avenue Louis Pasteur. A large number are parked illegally, either in no-parking zones, bus stops, and even blocking crosswalks (in front of Boston Latin, a school zone.) This is an area where both the MBTA and MASCO run a large number of shuttles and need all the room they can get just make the turns. The State Police, Northborough, Danvers, and Boston were among the 'representatives' who showed up with marked cruisers. The unmarked cruisers and personal vehicles had various "I'm a cop" signs- raid jackets in windows, ticket books on dashboards, radios left in plain sight, or emergency lights.

They are attending a conference in Harvard Med's New Research Building, held by IACP, regarding Project Safe Neighborhoods. IACP is a police chief association, so there are probably a bunch of chiefs amongst these lawbreakers. Of note- there are multiple pay lots within 1-2 blocks, and public street parking within a few blocks.

Update: photos from twheaton. More welcome, especially showing plates and the signage showing they're illegally parked.

Joe Keohane tells his South Boston neighbors to shove their persecution complex into the nearest puddle of melted snow and stop bitching about the nerve of the mayor for asking them to clear the streets of their cones and crap already:

... Of course Southie, which is as close to a lawless breakaway province as we have in Boston, responds to this like a bunch of Southerners who got their Confederate flags confiscated by the federal government. They have no time for logic. They're too busy playing the victim. "He's really got it in for us, let me tell you," one resident says of the mayor. "I really feel like he's singling out South Boston."

Of course he is, because you barbarians are the only ones doing this. ...