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Sweeping Day on Park Drive
By cosmo.catalano on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 8:48am
Or, as the tow truck companies call it, "payday".
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Comments
Conspiracy
Have lived in the city for years, had my car towed twice, and have only seen maybe two street cleaning vehicles--one was parked. I am still not at all convinced the city actually does clean the streets.
Would not be surprised to learn there's some kind of conspiracy going on with Big Towing. Either way, leave my car alone, you jerks.
I don't think the City of
I don't think the City of Boston has jurisdiction over Park Drive, it's MCR's domain. Another weird thing about Park Drive is that the resident only parking signs say violators will be towed. Now if we could only get those signs for all resident parking streets I'd be happy.
Turner earnestly wrote:"Have
Keep living in the city for a few more years. They may finally come to your neighborhood, too. After years of neglect, the street-sweepers make a weekly appearance on my street. Odd side first and third week. Even side second and fourth week. Rumor has it a field trip to the South End will produce many street-sweeper sightings.
Would not be surprised to
Would not be surprised to learn there's some kind of conspiracy going on with Big Towing. Either way, leave my car alone, you jerks.
learn to read the posted signs, and follow the laws.
Then the Jerks won't tow your masshole-mobile..
You can always rent a spot
That way, you won't have to put up with the owner of the streets - the DCR in this case - making rules that you can't seem to be bothered to follow.
Looks like there are plenty of signs explaining when this will happen ... and even cheapomatic cell phones have calendars with alarms these days.
The Price of Cleaner Streets, I Suppose
Wish there was a middle ground between towing and ticketing (well, that wasn't booting). Happy as I am to have the streets swept in my neighborhood, it's terrifying to wake up at 7:58 and realize I might be about owe the city not only money, but a few hours of my time trying to get my car back. Park drive is especially strange since they sweep both sides on the same day.
Lately I've been trying out the free sms alerts at streetparker.com. It's been pretty effective at warning me before I get towed. Still going to be sleeping with one-eye open though November though.
True my city doesn't tow and
True my city doesn't tow and I have to admit on at least one occasion I realized my car was illegally parked but was too hung over (college days before real job) to deal with it, and I would just pay the 15 ticket. One person a week on my street does not move their car during sweeping, so there are always dirty spots out there. If they towed I know people would move the damn cars rather then just eat the 15 bucks.
Look at that wimpy little
Look at that wimpy little wheel-lift tow truck in the middle of the road while all the flatbeds load up on second cars.
I narrowly dodged having my car towed this morning, but I will testify that they are definitely cleaning the street. There were two men with shovels breaking up the nasty stuff, and a big old street sweeper running laps up and down the road.
Park Drive didn’t have a parking ban for street cleaning at all until a couple years ago. They used to have people walk the road with brooms and sweep around the cars.
DCR controls Park Drive.
DCR controls Park Drive. Street sweeping is done on schedule and done quite well in the neighborhood. Sweeping day is also usually used by Boston Sewer to clean all the storm drains and catch basins. With all the leaves from the park, and all the trash from idiot RedSox fans littering in our neighborhood, street sweeping is really important to prevent street and sidewalk flooding.
If only the tow companies were as aggressive during RedSox games. It is absolutely infuriating to see multiple out of state cars parking illegally during games, given that they are usually in the spots just as everyone is getting home from work.
I hear you, it's not just
I hear you, it's not just out of staters, there's plenty of massholes w/o permits. How do we get MCR and the city to tow the violators? This is such a win-win for the city and for Fenway residents, city makes $, we get our parking spaces back and get revenge on massholes.
Multiple jurisdictions
I'm fortunate to live on a street that abuts the park (Back Bay Fens) and so falls within DCR (MCR?) jurisdiction. Besides street sweeping, towing is also enforced for resident parking -- lemme tell you, it's a wonderful thing. Adjacent streets in city jurisdiction are also posted Resident Permit Parking Only, but violators aren't towed. Many visitors seem to consider the $40 parking ticket a fair price for the convenience of street parking. I mean, who cares if residents can't park in their own neighborhood for a few hours? Screw 'em, I'm here for a good time!
What I don't get is why Boston has this no-tow policy, even in areas (bus stops, bus/firetruck leeway at corners) posted as tow zones. Nor do Boston Police, ever that I've seen, issue parking tickets when the Parking Enforcement Officers (a/k/a "meter maids") are off duty, like after 8pm and on Sundays. As Fenway Resident says above, the lack of concern is infuriating, and just another example of the city's casual attitude toward transportation-related quality of life issues. (Mr Mayor?)
I'm afraid I became a Parking Nazi a few weeks ago, on a night that the State Police weren't enforcing the parking regs during a Red Sox game. As an out-of-state driver who had been parked in a resident space started to leave after the game, his passenger stepped out and dumped a load of empty beer bottles on the adjacent sidewalk. I happened to see the dirty deed take place, and let's just say the "discussion" ended with my being roundly cursed and "saluted" as they drove away, leaving me to clean up the mess.
As a result of this little incident, I've developed a take-no-prisoners attitude about parking violations within DCR's jurisdiction. A quick call to the State Police barracks at Leverett Circle (617-727-6780) is all it takes. Other Fenway residents may wish to, as they say, keep this number handy.
By the way, the change from guys-with-brooms to mechanized sweepers and storm drain pumps was mandated a few years ago to reduce the volume of pollutants flowing into the Charles and its tributaries, in this case the mighty Muddy.
Adjacent streets in city
Its true if you think about it. Parking in a local garage costs more then 20 dollars, and that is a guranteed charge. Getting a ticket is 40 dollars, and that is not guranteed. So its a gamble, you either pay 40 or nothing, do that a few times and only get caught once its a bargain.
When it comes to towing versus not towing I do not think the city makes as much off of towing as we are lead to believe and that is why it does not happen in many scenarios. When you start towing people stop parking... People stop parking you stop making money from tickets/towing. I would imagine one single illegal spot can bring in multiple tickets A DAY as opposed to an occasional big payday. Plus voters are much less annoyed by a ticket on their car rather then their car being impounded. I would imagine towing to sweep the streets happens so they can clean the streets knowing full well many people wouldnt move their cars in dense areas for a simple 40 dollar ticket.
I stand corrected
A reliable witness has photographic evidence that Boston cops do ticket drivers parked in the pedestrian zone at Downtown Crossing, so I take that part back.
Not sure the issue
I'm not sure what the issue is here. I mean, the signs are pretty clear as to when this will happen and why. I'm more annoyed by the tow truck vulturing that goes on around private parking lots where tow companies are paid to keep out anyone who isn't using it for the business(es) that own it...and can be somewhat overzealous at times.
But towing cars to clean streets (especially anything near Fenway) doesn't seem like a bad reason.