A concerned citizen alerted the city that somebody at 42 Belfort St. in Dorchester cleared his driveway by dumping snow right on the sidewalk, making it impassible.
How he topped it? He let more snow fall on it.
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Comments
wow
By Macophile
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 10:22am
So apparently it isn't just my neighbors who do that...
snow removal
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:44am
does anyone else have trouble with Boston's site for reporting snow removal problems? I fill out the whole thing, then when I click submit, it's like a dead end; nothing happens.
I guess that's better than Brookline, where I don't even have a clue what to do.
Yes.
By Trixie
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 4:16pm
I've tried on several occasions to fill out that form with no success. Of course the phone call to city hall is just as helpful. < / sarcasm >
Actually, I did have luck
By Jeff F
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 10:32pm
Actually, I did have luck calling the city's hotine after the web page refused to work. (I also contacted the site's webmasters and let them know about the bug).
I don't know if the code enforcement folks had anything to do with it, but less than a day after my call, one neighbor got with the program (he had rebuffed me when I politely ask him to do so originally). There was another fellow who I'm pretty sure did it on his own once I pointed out to him that all the neighborhood kids had to walk in the street to get to school because his walk was unnavigable.
But the realty company trying to sell the condos at the corner of Cornell and Kittredge blew smoke in my face - twice! - first saying they'd deal with it and then claiming it was not their responsibility but refusing to give me the name of the bank that owns the property so I could call them.
Finally, after a couple school days and the weekend had passed and the walk was still untouched, I went out early in the morning and cleared it myself. And I expect I'll have to do that again before Monday.
Send them a bill
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 10:41pm
Make it sound like you are a city contractor authorised to charge for the service. If they contact the city ...
You can also find out who owns the property from the assessor's database, if it is up to date.
JFGI!
By eeka
Fri, 01/21/2011 - 12:31pm
You can find out the owner of a property by looking at the deed. For Boston, this is at suffolkdeeds.com.
Thank you for the link eeka!
By Jeff F
Sat, 01/22/2011 - 2:10am
Thank you for the link eeka!
Applause for the concerned
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 10:38am
Applause for the concerned citizen! there's no excuse for that. the way things are going this year, that won't melt until March. In the meantime, all the pedestrians have to walk into the street (probably thru a puddle of icy water at the end of the drive), and risk the cars using them for pinballs.
Whoa!
By eeka
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 10:56am
I had no idea one could see all the reports like that.
Um, apparently some people making the reports don't know where they live:
https://mayors24.cityofboston.gov:4443/reports/4d3...
Hey, suburbanites
By adamg
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:01am
Get your own smartphone apps!
probably a GPS error
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:21am
The CC app is pretty crap, to be honest. The early versions always thought they were in one location.
Sidenote: looks like the city just got reported for not keeping the sidewalks in front of its own city hall clean:
https://mayors24.cityofboston.gov:4443/attachments...
It didn't work for me today too
By LifeStar
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:54am
A part of me does wonder if I'm looking at the wrong stop b/c I assumed the wrong direction. Most of the time the CC app is good, but there are hiccups. It's probably from the GPS servers on the T side though.
About Boston not shoveling their own sidewalks: City shovel thyself!
GPS Servers?
By mike
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 12:16pm
GPS Servers?
Mixed apps
By Kaz
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 12:25pm
I think LifeStar is mixing the MBTA bus tracking apps (GPS servers sending out bus location data) with the CitizenConnect app (uses GPS in smartphone to report your location on the request ticket).
One thing I've noticed (that I think people screw up sometimes) is that it only attaches your current location if you've actually loaded the map to have it refresh the location data it has cached from the last time you created a report. At least, last time I submitted a report, I think this was the case...and would lead to some people complaining about the location being wrong.
You're right
By LifeStar
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 12:57pm
Sorry, been mixing my apps today. One catch the bus app fail can ruin your whole day.
Actually, if you look at the
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 2:23pm
Actually, if you look at the picture, and you look at this streetview picture, it really does appear that the two match up. Pay attention to the sidewalk "lines", and the angle of the crosswalk markers.
Haha
By Kaz
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:30am
I've actually thought about submitting items that are within Cambridge and then realized...no, wait, that's stupid, what does Boston care?
That someone in Belmont would do it is just an "Oh, come on!" moment...I mean it doesn't even share a border with Boston anywhere.
Searchable posts
By downtown anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:49am
So how do you search this?
Cambridge St near City Hall is reduced to one lane much
of the in bound side. Makes for a huge mess when a game is
going on. Cities crappy plowing job when the streets were
clear of cars.
This photographer needs to
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 11:02am
This photographer needs to MYOFB!
Being able to walk safely on
By Flower
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 12:06pm
Being able to walk safely on the sidewalk is his/her business. A few years ago, I twisted my ankle and busted up my knee because I had to climb over a mound like this left on the sidewalk by private plow company. Snow walls like this are dangerous.
Don't tell me...
By Chris Tucker
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 12:09pm
...you live at 42 Belfort St., right?
Don't tell me..... you like
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 1:21pm
Don't tell me..... you like to tell people how to run their lives.
Oh!
By Flower
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 2:51pm
I should have seen the troll tracks in the snow. I hope you liked your cracker.
Time for a ...
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 6:12pm
Shovelathon at 42 Belfort? Would strongbacked flashmobs with shovels be able to move that mess into, say, the front porch?
Telling somebody to clear their damn walk BECAUSE IT IS THE GODDAMN LAW is everyone's business.
Gotta love it when the same people who laugh at people in Georgia or California or London because they don't know what to do with snow proceed to massively fail to shovel or drive in it themselves.
Don't tell me...
By The Beer Guy
Fri, 01/21/2011 - 9:04am
You're a member of the Tea Party?
I believe
By ClariNerd617
Fri, 02/04/2011 - 1:27am
that there is an easy test. All we have to do is ask her for her views on socialism.
Nope,
By Anon²
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 12:26pm
Rather the home owner need to GFUTA
(Get Fined Up The ASS)
Fines don't solve the problem
By boblothrope
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 1:37pm
I'd prefer it if the city shoveled the sidewalk, and billed the property owner for the work. At a high enough rate so it wasn't like a snow plow service you don't have to call.
Actually...
By somenerd
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 12:48pm
I believe the correct term is "MTOFB," for "Mind Their Own Flying Bismarcks."
"This photographer needs to Mind Your Own Flying Bismarcks!" is grammatically incorrect.
You're welcome. :)
It is the photographer's
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 1:13pm
It is the photographer's business, as it is everyone's, to make sure the public ways are passable.
Sounds like you need to
By chicken
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 1:16pm
Sounds like you need to SYOFS.
sounds like people need to
By anon
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 1:30pm
sounds like people need to SFTT
I think that everyone needs to
By eekanotloggedin
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 3:02pm
Recognize your responsibilities as a property owner to follow local laws and city codes, or else choose to buy somewhere else where you agree with the local laws/codes (RYRAAPOTFLLACC,OECTBSEWYAWTLL/C)
Chuck Turner...
By Chris Tucker
Sat, 01/22/2011 - 4:14am
...is that you?
Naw. It's just a frustrated troll who read too much Ayn Rand as a lonely, acne-scarred, 98 pound weakling of a teenager.
What about the city?
By Lecil
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 1:34pm
This one looks to be clearly a violation by the driveway owner, and yes, he should be fined.
But what happens when the homeowner properly clears a sidewalk, and then the city/town (I'm bitching about Brookline here) then dumps snow from the street back onto that sidewalk, causing it to be impassible? Is the homeowner responsible for constantly clearing the walk, even days later?
Unfortunately it probably is,
By Jeff F
Thu, 01/20/2011 - 10:49pm
Unfortunately it probably is, and I've had to reclear bits of my drive/walkways after the plows pushed stuff onto them (even several days after the last big snow - I mean, wtf?!). While doing the work I rant righteously and with abundant four-letter words about the poor standards of the sub-contractors hired by the city, and the lack of oversight it excersizes over these thieves.
But like changing that third poop-filled diaper in one hour, it's one of life's unfair, nasty responsibilities that real grownups have to do regardless.