Street sweeping delayed

Hi all.    Street sweeping, which was to begin on march 1st has been delayed.   There's still too much ice and snow on the streets to start an effective sweeping program.

There will be no ticketing or towing (or street sweeping) the week of

UPDATED - snow delay again - new potential start date is March 18th

We'll let know when sweeping will begin - DPW will evaluate road conditions week by week and let us know when they feel the streets are ready to be cleaned!

February business meeting

Our next monthly Eight Streets business meeting will be this Wednesday, February 13th, in the Boston Ballet 5th floor board room (corner of Warren and Clarendon streets)

6:30-7 - Neighborhood Networking.   Meet your neighbors in an informal setting. 

7-8:30 - Business meeting.  

On the agenda this month:

• 54 Dight st - seeing support for roof deck and balcony
• 290 Shawmut ave - seeking support for rebuilding dormer and adding roofdeck
• Open Member Discussion

Just a few local projects on the agenda this month.  We'll have plenty of time during open member discussion to chat about neighborhood goings on.

Hope to see everyone there!  

And a reminder that the meeting schedule for the rest of the ESNA year is on line -  mark your calendars so you don't miss a meeting!

Clear those hydrants

First off, two thumbs up to all fellow Eigth Streets neighbors.   Lots of clean sidewalks today, with the sun melting what little we had left.   Hopefully the rain won't flood the streets and sidewalks Monday night.

I did notice a few hydrants could use some more work.  Just begin able to see the hydrant isn't enough.  The photo on the left shows a hydrant not cleaned off well enough.

Fire fighters need to be able to connect a hose to any of the three connections.   That means you need 2-3 feet CLEAR on either side.   Enough for a fully equipped firefighter can get there and work to attach equipment.  

We also need a path from the hydrant TO the street.   Access from the sidewalk to the hydrant isn't enough.  The hoses need to run form the hydrant to the trucks.   if firefighters have to waste time digging their own way to the hydrant, critical firefighting time is lost.

If you see hydrants today that need more access around them, or need a path to the street, please do a little more shoveling.   We need to be prepared in case the unthinkable happens...

Snow Primer

Morning all,

It's been a while since we've had significant snow in the city, so here's refresher with some city and neighborhood information.

Your main source of information is the city's Know Snow web page.  It has snow emergency, school closing and other current information - as well as links to parking and snow removal resources.   The Parking Page will tell you the do's and don'ts of parking during snow storms/snow emergencies, as well as list garages that offer discount rates for residents during snow emergencies.   And face it, with 2+ foot forecast with lots of drifting, putting the car in a garage tonight might be your best bet.  The Snow Removal page has a lot of what I'll summarize below, with the do's and don'ts of snow clearing.

For snow removal, you have to:

• Shovel your sidewalk within 3 hours of snow ending.  (or 3 hours after sunrise, if the snow continues into the night).  If you've been through this kind of snowfall before, it's easier to shovel multiple times during breaks in the storm rather than shovel it all at the end.  But of course, be safe and use your best judgement
• If you live on the corner, you have to shovel both sidewalks
• If you live on a crosswalks, you have to shovel out the crosswalk and have a clear path to the street.  If you live on a corner, both crosswalks need to be done.
• When you shovel, the path needs to be at least 42" wide.   Having a path 1-shove wide down the sidewalk isn't going to cut it.
• Sidewalks:   don't throw snow into the street.  Cars: don't shovel snow into the street or back onto the sidewalks.  Snow 'officially' goes between the walking sidewalks and the curb, or between parked cars.  With the levels of snow, putting it somewhere will be a challenge.
• As mentioned in last weeks' blog post - after your sidewalk is clear, it's your responsibility to keep it ice-free all winter long, as snow can melt and re-freeze at night on the sidewalk.

Remember, tickets issued for not shoveling now have to be paid, or they will be attached to your property tax bill.   You can get a ticket for every day not shoveled.  Plus, with the citizens connect app people have on their phones, any pedestrian who runs into an unshoveled property is going to snap a photo and get the city on your case.  The fine is $50/day for residential and $200 for commercial businesses (although ESNA businesses tend to be pretty good about clearing their sidewalks).

For snow removal, it would be nice if you:

• Shovel out hydrants, even if not in front of your home.
• Help out a neighbor who might have trouble with snow removal.  And keep an eye on a neighbor whose only home entrance is a very deep stairwell.  (Yes, some people got stuck in their homes last blizzard)
• Shovel the sidewalk of a local pocket park.  With this snow, parks/BRA will take a long time to get to such things.
• If there's a big gap between cars, consider shoveling out a path from the sidewalk to the street.  Pedestrians, drivers, mail carriers, package delivery and garbage men will thank you in the weeks to come.
• If you can, shovel out the local catch basins/storm drain.   The forecast for Monday is 40 degrees and RAIN.   If snow is covering all the storm drains we'll have flooding, which will then freeze on us Monday night.

For this and future weather alerts, you can sign up for alert emails form the city at the Alert Boston page.  For those on twitter, you can also follow @NotifyBoston and @AlertBoston.  Both of those resources will get you literally up to the minute notices on emergencies and closings and other city changes (like the change in trash times today).


Stay prepared,  stay safe, and see you all out shoveling!