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Citizen complaint of the day: South Boston street-sweeping tradition needs to go
By adamg on Thu, 08/12/2021 - 11:12am
A fed-up citizen files a 311 complaint about the situation on H Street, where people get around the whole ticketing/towing thing on street-sweeping day by double parking on one side of the street:
Double parking for street cleaning should not allowed. Makes the community dangers for drivers and pedestrians and cars are left double parked well after street cleaning ends.
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Comments
Southie gets a pass
On a lot of parking violations.
On my street they ticket and tow you on street cleaning day, people who park their car and walk to Shawmut Station without reading the signs are in for a shock when they get back.
Arguably parts of Dot get a pass, too
It's interesting that you say that because I live near Shawmut station on Welles and have never seen anyone following the street sweeping restrictions as indicated on the signs or any actual enforcement, whether it be in the form of ticketing or towing. And this is an area that could really benefit from a good thorough sweeping! Not only that, but the only time I ever see sweepers coming through is not on the day the city/signs say it is to be swept. As a result, they have to go around all the parked cars, which kinda defeats the purpose. So like, what gives?
They street sweep every Wednesday
And they ticket and tow on my street
Yup, they ticket and tow on
Yup, they ticket and tow on Jones Hill on street sweeping days, where they only ticket on my street in Savin Hill.
I've noticed they are super
I've noticed they are super-quick at towing on sweeping days on streets around me as well (Fields Corner).
A neighbor of mine who is a nurse working night shifts got towed a few weeks ago, and if I remember it correctly it cost him a total of $240 (ticket was $40, towing $140 and the tow yard charge a minimum of $60 a day starting from the minute they drop your car in the yard) -plus a lot of wasted time.
A tow truck picking up 3 cars an hour could yield $600/hour; that's more than many of my neighbors earn in a week of hard labor. I can see why the tow-truck operators seem so excited on these street cleaning days.
I am hardly ever one to defend the car culture, but this seems like a complete racket where the city is in cahoots with the towing companies. Cars standing on the way of the sweeper present no danger. It would be so much easier and less wasteful to send a hand-sweeper with a broom to clean around the cars that stand in the way of the (mechanized) sweeper even if it means adding $10 per ticket to make up for his/her wage.
Moreover this policy target the least fortunate car owners who park on the street, not so much the people who make a comfortable six-figure and get to park in their single-family driveway in West Roxbury or some luxury-condo garage.
The irony, as shown in the report above, is that you are much less likely to get towed if you park on a bike lane or create some other danger.
Parking
I drove by there about an hour ago. What really stood out is the contractor's vehicles there (and everywhere in the neighborhood).
Each weekday morning and at times weekends, contractor's come in on any given street around here and take up residents spots.
I see the comment about how South Boston gets a free pass. We don't, but I think there needs to be more enforcement and expanded residential parking to discourage this kind of thing. We still have cars left by travelers going to Logan for extended periods of time. Take a bit of time and look at the amount of parking reports on 311.
Have a great day!
Darn those residents fixing
Darn those residents fixing or improving their homes. All these contractors parking in otherwise empty spaces make it harder for you to have empty spaces in case you might need them. And it's 100% legal for anyone to park between 10 am and 6 pm.
What I still don't understand is:
- What the heck does "Resident Permit Parking 10 pm - 6 am, Mon - Fri" mean? Can nonresidents park at 12:01 am on Saturday? What about 12:01 am on Monday?
- What's the point of 2 hour visitor spots in effect from 10 pm - 6 am? Who is visiting the neighborhood for 2 hours or less at 3 am?
- How is anyone supposed to have an overnight guest? All other neighborhoods, even Back Bay and Beacon Hill, have some unrestricted overnight spots, but Southie does not.
Odd hours for sure
Moved from South End to South Boston about 5 yrs ago and was also confused about the odd resident parking hours. (10pm to 6am M-F)
As it was explained to me, BTD rules say a non-resident could legally park at 6:01am on a Friday and would then have until 10pm on Monday night before they were in violation.
(In my area, it’s the same rules, but from 6pm to 8am.)
Apparently BTD feels residents don’t have a need to park on Friday nights, all day Saturday, all day Sunday or on Mondays before 6pm.
The visitor spaces are their own special weirdness.
Oops
Sorry for the double posting
My area of Southie is
My area of Southie is absolutely swamped with contractors. It's not hard to spot them. Nobody with a half a brain would choose to live in Southie and expect to find parking for a massive Dodge Ram.
If the spots were open for contractors to take...
then the residents weren't exactly using them, were they?
Bizarre to think you should have a monopoly on public land you're not currently using. Can I reserve a chunk of the Common for my picnic blanket before the next Shakespeare performance?
Contractors are allowed to do
Contractors are allowed to do this, so long as they have commercial plates and signage on their vehicles.
What else do you suggest they do? Carry a bunch of tools and lumber on the T and then walk a mile to the site?
Free pass
I mean.. having resident spots on the streets at all is getting a free pass I’d say.
lol.
"Closed with status: Case Resolved. Area clear."
Gotta love 311.
In the rural hinterlands of
In the rural hinterlands of HP, we don't even need to move our cars, at least where I live.
All by yourself...
You've just achieved a 50% mark-up in HP real estate values
Same way Holy Name
Same way Holy Name parishioners are allowed to double park and block the bike lane every Sunday morning on Centre St in Roslindale, because rules don’t apply to some people.
Or maybe they misplaced the
Or maybe they misplaced the Bike Lane.
Shut up yuppie.
Shut up yuppie.
That comment was never heard
That comment was never heard in Old Southie.
No.
No.
What is your derogatory designation?
Presumptious solid waste orifice?
Ah, South Boston the home of
Ah, South Boston the home of space savers and street-sweeping double parking. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like . ..
Boston parking, only for me,
Boston parking, only for me, not thee.
Whiner
You want your street cleaned but are against moving the cars? You live in a city that has street cleaning program.
Move out if you don’t like it.
No one's against moving the cars
They're against moving the cars to an illegal location where they're blocking traffic and the ability of other cars to get in/out of spaces.
How about people move their cars to somewhere where they're actually parked legally, like the rest of the city does?
Roxbury has streetsweeping
But they don’t ticket or tow.
Ahem
Some drivers are lazy self entitled jerks. Many of them.
Rather than double park
They could pull the same stunt I saw Beacon Hill residents pull (they did a whole news segment on it on one of the local TV stations (maybe >10 years ago?)).
The vehicle owners get in their cars when they see the street sweeper coming (maybe BTD, too?) and pull away from the curb ahead of the street sweeper. They drive around the block, essentially getting in line behind the sweeper, and then re-park their cars. Pretty efficient if you as me.
The caveats are: 1. You know what time the sweeper comes by; 2. It's consistent on the time it comes (within the usual 4 hour window); 3. You have the time to be able to do this shuffle.