Essex Street and Lyndenborough Streets havent been plowed yet.

When I went out to walk my dogs on Friday night at ten pm Sullivan Street had half a foot of snow on it, not having been touched by a plow, to say nothing of the smaller side streets. High Street was plowed a couple of times that evening, but not consistently overnight. With the amount of warning the City received regarding the impending snow, there was no obvious excuse. In the past seventeen years, as soon as the snow began to fall the plows were out and maintaining all of these streets. I suspect something else happened here that we are not being told about. An honest explanation is in order!

I think those of us that were towed from the Johnnie Foodmaster lot should be reimbursed. My street and most surrounding streets were not plowed when I returned home Sunday night. The Navy Yard lot was full and there were no other parking options. A neighbor told me that others were parking at Johnnie FoodMaster as it was closed and the lot had already been plowed. When I parked there last night there were nearly 100 other cars in the lot but by 7:30am, all had been or were in the process of being towed by 3 separate towing companies. The tow companies made a fortune off of this. The trucks were circling like vultures, some with two cars on the back. Not only did I pay a $35 cab fare to get to the lot, a $131 fee to get my car out, but I also missed several hours of work as a result. I'm absoltely furious that I am a taxpaying resident that had to pay because of the unexplained delay in plowing and the lack of snow emergency parking. The Navy Yard lot has been full since Friday, an alternative should have been announced.

After reading this, my confidence is even lower. Lots of noncommittal answers. Saying things like, "I heard that..." and "that's maybe something..." is not what should be coming out of a politician's mouth. People want answers. They want to know when the parking ban will be lifted. They want you, councilor, to be all over the scum sucking tow companies like white on rice and say to the residents of Charlestown, "Hey, I got your back." Saying "I heard that..." sounds like you're just gossiping about some rumor you heard.

Just happen to be Outside my house and would like people to know that our liaison for the Mayors office Danielle Fitgerald was just was at Lyndboro Street taking pictures.
So SHE is trying to get something done.

I was just going to say the same thing Joe. I just seen The Mayors Liaison out checking on streets taking pictures making phone calls to get things done. She even came down to chestnut street to check on the storm drain she said she was asked to do that first. It looks like to me that the Mayor and his people are still on the job and have a handle on the situation. I have to admit after one of the biggest storms in a long time to be 2 days after it actually ended and 85% of the snow removed and folks being able to return to there lives is pretty good. I also over heard her say how amazing the folks in Charlestown where that they came together to help neighbors and make sure nothing serious happened. I agree Danielle this is a pretty great town to live in.

I am a recent resident of charlestown and being a job commuter as much of Charlestown is (i assume), i am disgusted with the lack of imminence the mayors office is attributing to the parking issue. I also cannot believe the selfishness of the owner of the parking lot who obviously put in the call to tow all those cars. I dont care when you "arrived" back in the area, the fact of lack of planning on part of the mayors office in regards to dealing with the parking situation and the inability to provide substantive alternatives for us is what is most daunting. I dont have "patience" when i pay taxes for city services, e.g. plowing of snow, but still have yet to see any additional work being done to clear remaining streets and enable parking on main roads (eg bunker hill street).

What grade would you give the City of Boston for plowing the streets of Charlestown?

I certainly would not give it an "A", more like an "F".
How much do we get to fine the City per day, per house for not having the Streets cleared?
How about a Property TAX reduction?
Just seen Stephen Murphy on Fox25 covering the Mayors butt, putting the blame on the district supervisors. Please!
Mr.Mayor was out in West Roxbury ,did he travel any where else? Was he concerned?
It took three days to finally get a Snow plow to do The streets Charlestown, one place was the elderly housing on Main St and Lyndboro St are you kidding?
Remember the Mr. Mayor memo that was sent out?
Quote: after 3hours after the snow stops, you have to clear your sidewalk or be fined 50.00 a day till it is?
Mmmmmm what about the Streets? Hello! Mr Mayor!

Have another question,
This is for you Surface Option people,
Take a walk down Rutherford Ave today. Oh! Thats right, you can't, that's because NO one is cleaning the sidewalk,
So my question is Who is going to clean the "Boulivard " and bike paths?
Just a question?

JAP,

You're anger is justified but no one on high is listening. That's because what we're seeing today is the current state of affairs in this country: no accountability, pass the blame, and gouge the middle class for every dollar they have. The politicians have someone to clear their snow for them. They have ample parking. And they don't really care if you don't.

Absoutely right!

I'm wondering if anyone has been towed from any other unused lots besides johnnies? Has anyone tried to park at one of the school lots and gotten towed?

Don't think you can park in school lots during snow emergencies.

For All you Mumbles supporters:
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/02/rules_altered_to_hire_criticized_dpw_chief

How much fraud are you willing to take when it's this obvious?

Patty, who Joesph?

At 4 am this morning the City decided to "shift" the snow at the intersection of Sullivan and High Streets. This shifting resulted in a four foot pile of monstrous ice boulders blocking in our previously shoveled sidewalk and handicap ramp
(to say nothing of the boulders up against our house). While large portions of snow were removed from the intersection I can't understand how filling in the sidewalks and ramps with icy boulders could ever be considered snow removal. Do the city workers not own shovels? Are they not allowed out of their vehicles? Are they not held to the same standards as the taxpayers? As I spent the past two hours breaking up and removing the ice and snow, I had the feeling that I might just be clearing a space for more snow shifting by our DPW.

It's now 6+ days since the storm yet Bunker Hill Street still has great swaths of snow piled up along the sides so people can't park cars without being in the traveling lane and there is even sections where there is no possible way to even park. Yet this 'Snow Emergency' pathway was never was correctly cleaned when the cars weren't in the way. Given all of the extra the time they had it should have been.

I still see marked snow banks that need to be removed by the so called task force. Where are they??

I see sidewalks around public schools (the city is the abutter) not cleaned out so kids don't have to walk on the streets. Do we need to have a child hurt to get this addressed??

No effort has been done to clean the corner snow piles on many streets. Nor any effort to physically remove the large snow piles from the streets to open up needed parking spots. I would guess we have lost about 1/4 - 1/3 of possible parking spots in the community as a whole due to snow.

We have done better in the past not only during a storm, but how we recovered from it. The last super storm we didn't have the mess we have now.

pt2

Even after all of the screaming of people to the mayor, our reps & the city services I would have thought someone would have gotten the message to shape up. Sadly, It either fell of deaf ears of the management in the public works department or they don't have the man power and/or tools to do the job.

So the question, why has that happened and what actions are in place to correct it? And it needs to be corrected NOW not months or years later, so we can deal with the next storm and finish cleaning up from this one.

Folks on this site are so negative. If folks are so hateful and unhappy in this city, they
should actually do something positive about it, like run for office or the neighborhood board. Maybe move to a suburban environment with a drive way and less density!

Have to say, I'm not happy with the cleanup for this snowstorm. There are still issues with parking on Main St and Warren St. and the storm happened a week ago.... Not sure what's going on?

As I am not a regular "Patcher", I'm wondering if anybody has brought up the conversation of why the city allows people without Resident Parking Permits to park, shovel out "their" spots and hold these spots with their chairs, trashcans or whatever they can get their hands on. I know the city cannot tow these "scofflaws" but I really think tagging theses people and letting them know that even during a "weather emergency" the rules still apply. I know for a fact that it would have eleviated 6 spots on my street . Maybe an actual person with a Resident Sticker would have had the privilege to park, shovel and put their "marker" there. Somebody that actually has their vehicle registered and insured at their Charlestown address. Im sure this would not solve all of the parking problems which occur during "snow weather emergencys" but every little bit helps. BTW, after the weather emergency was lifted, the above mentioned vehicles were tagged by the Meter Department never to be seen again, that is till the next weather emergency. Also as of last night, Medford Street was a disgrace, down to basically one lane. I am a lifelong TOWNIE............

Dear Dan,
Wherever and Whoever gave you that information is sooooo dead wrong. BTD (the Meter Maids) are NOT given the day off. Accordinging to BTD they are considered ESSENTIAL employees and must report to work. They are the ones that are out ticketing the main thoroughfares for snow emergencies . I agree some streets were not passable by vehicle, but in this instance these vehicles were tucked in neatly, well before 8pm on Friday, Feb 8th. Also lots of times when a "weather emergency" is called we typically dont receive this much snow. Major thoroughfare in Charlestown I believe are Main, Medford, Bunker Hill and Chelsea streets, Warren may be also, not sure. I think, perhaps the next weather emergency all of the citizens of Charlestown should demand that Non Residents be tagged if the streets are passable. Although it is just my own personal opinion, I think Charlestown should either change their Res Prking Times or make it 24/7. South Boston's Res Prk hours (I believe) are 6pm to 10am. I am more of of fan of these hours than what we have in place. I think the RPP days and hours in Charlestown need a closer look. I personally, now I said personally, think it should be 24/7. JUST SAYING

Well, Dan they are considered ESSENTIAL, and they dont get the day off, during weather emergencys EVER. As far as not having enough staff, they work round the clock and they already have enforcement out here after 6, as a matter of fact, I believe thats their busiest time to tag the scofflaws. The problem is the people that sit in the visitor parking longer than 2 hours, making it difficult for the next person to access that spot. You have residents that own driveways or garages and feel its not necessary to register their vehicles at their ctown address like the rest of us, and when they get tagged for parking in the resident spot, because maybe they gave their driveway or garage spot to a friend of relative the get all high and mighty. After all they pay taxes and the rest of us just live in caves. As far as the Ctown "mall" Its always been that way, and only God knows where they are. Now it looks to me as though they have fenced it off for the construction that is taking place in Johnnies Foodmaster. LOng before resident parking, Charlestown was actually the best parking, for those commuters that didnt live here, park your car and hop on the bus. Long ago at one time if you told people you came from Charlestown they actually looked at you as though u lived in a cave, my has that changed............CHARLESTOWN IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN THE BEST LITTLE SLICE OF HEAVEN............JUST SAYING

Dan, maybe the residents that park on your street are well behaved and have resident stickers. Believe me THEY ARE HERE.......... BTD has about 200 parking enforcement officers in and around the city round the clock........................with different sections of the city having different enforcement hours..................I know where the gaslights are in the town it can be quite dark as the gas lamps dont project as much light as the electric streetlamps, but THEY are here. If you ever bump into one be very, very nice they work hard and take a lot of abuse out there........and besides you catch more bees with honey...............

There's a car parking regularly on Chestnut St. with no resident sticker. I've reported it about 6 times and he never gets tagged!

Call and give them the Plate #, they will be able to tell if they have one, maybe you just cant see it as they put them all over the cars..................They imput them into their computers and lets them know if that vehicle has one. It is also able to tell which neighborhood they are from

Hey Dan
I don't know where you get you idea that there are no meter maids after 5:00/5:30, where do you live? The meter maids are on our St. At 6:00 in the morning and I have seen them make their last run down here at 7:45 , enough time to get back to frontage rd. to end their shift..
And also for your information about the hours of the permit parking, it was decided by the BTD official , because none of the residents that attended the meetings at StFrancis lower hall could make up their mind, so they made the 8:00-8-00 time.
I myself would rather see 4:00pm till 6:00am resident only parking.
Who cares who parks in front of your house all day while you are at work?
When you come home at 8:00 or 9:00pm is when you would like to be able to park, and the game with the visitor spots is, you park at 6:00 pm and you can stay there till 10:00 am go figure!
Either do away with resident parking , or change the hours.

No Dan,
I think we need more housing built with "NO PARKING"

How's that White Elephant on West School St looking?
Or Nancy Sales and parcel 39 @ the Navy Yard.

Hey Dan,
Take a look at what the BRA and the CNC just approved at the Navy Yard, what a joke!

My goodness! The NERVE! Someone is developing an empty lot in a CITY!? That's outrageous!

Are you kidding me with all the complaints about the new development around town?

I've lived in Charlestown for 5 years and have always had to park on the street. Some days I find a spot out front, other times I have to circle for 15 minutes and park a few blocks away. This is city living folks -- it's never going to be free-flowing with open spots (unless you live down on Medford ha) and you might have to drive around a bit, but that's what you get when you live in Boston limits.

Hey Toonie,
Look around, how many multiple dwelling housing developments do we need in one square mile???
How about leaving a little green space,
better still let's get rid of all that too,
starting with the community gardens, let's put some housing at those areas also, what do you think?

I emailed LaMattina's office the other day and got a call back today. Communicate with your local politicians. Apparently they listen.

Joe - not sure what you're talking about. They have recently put a very large, but beautiful, building where that eyesore of a KOC building already was. They're building another in an empty dirt parking lot in the Navy Yard where a building once stood. The Warren street townhouses are beautiful and are in a lot that no one was allowed to step foot on. So, what precious green space are people taking from you? If it's green space you want....hit the sticks!

Yes and took away the sunlight from the elderly at the Zelma Lacy house,also all of Mishawam.
But, let's forget about ther quality of life!
Because we have a new high rise.
And the Warren st townhouse, lovely, just where I want to live right above and beside the highway.
And as far as the Navy Yard, correct me if I am wrong,but there is a building there. So maybe you got wrong information! Hello,.
And if you don't care about green space then why do you want to close the underpasses on Rutherford Ave, so you can have bike paths and parks? Hello!
And why are you concerned about Sullivan Sq. Rotary just leave that alone also..
And let's not forget about the beautiful resort area down on Medford St. (nancy Sale)
Just another wonderful place that I would like to live ,close to the carport,wind turbine testing,and less not forget the lovely housing project across the St.

So I ask you, Your Point is???

I wanna see a 38 story hi-rise where the Charlestown Working Theatre now is. c'mon, it will be a beacon, directing everyone to the other high-rises.

I believe that the BRA should give the land back to the community where they tore down housing and replaced it with a Community Garden , right at the entrance to Charlestown, get rid of that and build a a five story apartment complex there ,with retail stores under the apartments for, resturants and pizza places and maybe a tavern or two so the other end of Charlestown can benefit with some Re-development. Instead of a Green Space for fruits and vegetables.

I hope your not really seriously about that. The BRA can't take it back unless the Garden doesn't keep up it's obligation to keep it as it is under the deed!

It's still no excuse, but maybe this news would help explain why the snow removal/plowing was so exceptionally poor during the last snowstorm: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/joe_battenfeld/2013/02/battenfeld_city_fired_contractor_week_before_storm