I watched with glee as the car of a local miscreant was towed away. During previous snowstorms, this person left his car parked on the street in spite of a citywide parking ban. As a result, plows could not effectively remove snow, narrowing the street so much that emergency vehicles could just barely make it through. Last night, police cruisers rolled down the street several times, stopping along the way to tell residents to move their vehicles into the public school lot located just around the corner. Most vehicle owners immediately heeded the order. Two cruisers parked side-by-side in the widest part of the street, waiting. A bit after the parking ban officially went into effect, a tow truck arrived and hauled away the car responsible for repeatedly narrowing the street. It’s the small things like this that bring a little joy into an otherwise monotonous and irritating season.
Today, Mayor Segarra issued a State of Emergency due to the record snowfall:
(January 27, 2011) — Mayor Pedro E. Segarra issued a State of Emergency today because of the record-shattering amount of snow that has fallen this month in Hartford.
“Storm after storm after storm has hit Hartford and we need State assistance in clearing away the snow and ice so that we can accommodate all the people who live, work, and visit Hartford. Urban areas like Hartford are densely populated and have less open space so there are limited options as to where to put these growing mounds of snow. Connecticut’s Capital City is the job center for the region and state and we must be able to keep pace with the demands that come with this responsibility, We are home to major hospitals and corporations so public safety and safe transportation are essential,” said Mayor Segarra.
Mayor Segarra signed the State of Emergency because of rapidly deteriorating conditions after this most recent storm, on top of the snow and ice accumulations from the storms of the past two weeks.
“The conditions of our streets must not put our residents and properties at risk,” said the Mayor.
The parking ban remains in effect until 8:00 p.m. Thursday, January 27th. If your car is ticketed and towed, information on its location may be obtained by calling the HPD Record’s Division at (860) 757-4150 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Please have either the VIN (Vehicular Identification Number) or the license plate number available. You will be given the name of the company that towed your vehicle, their telephone number and your tow number. In order to avoid or minimize storage fees, please pick up your vehicle as soon as possible. Storage fees begin to accrue after 24 hours. The tow charge is $108.00.
The $99.00 snow emergency violation ticket is separate and payable to the Hartford Parking Authority.
Once again, Mayor Segarra urges property owners to shovel their walkways, sidewalks, driveways and curb-cuts and clear-away snow from fire hydrants. Please do not shovel the snow back into the street.
“The City can’t do this alone. We need everyone’s help and cooperation from individual residents to large corporations.
Reminder: Regularly scheduled trash/recyclable pick up on Thursday will be delayed until Friday and Friday’s pick-up will now occur on Saturday.
Budget note: Hartford’s snow removal budget for this fiscal year is $730,206. Though figures are still being calculated and monitored, there is less than $300,000 remaining.
Shelter update: Immaculate Conception (860-724-4823) at 560 Park Street is open, as is McKinney Shelter (860-722-6922) at 34 Huyshope Avenue.
The Mayor is reaching out to the business community. Details will be released once those conversations are complete.
We might not be able to control the weather, but we can do something about how we respond to it. Taking responsible actions as community members is part of that.
Robin
In addition to the roadways, let’s not forget the pedestrians. I had an interesting walk/trudge to work this morning as sidewalks were randomly shoveled (part of a sidewalk would be shoveled, then the next 30 feet wouldn’t be. God forbid anyone shovel their neighbor’s sidewalk). After I slip-n-slided on one stretch and nearly fell I just walked in the street, and got honked at and yelled at by drivers to “get out of the road”. Of particular interest are the medians at wide streets like Charter Oak/Buckingham at Main, which is supposed to be a half-way point in the crosswalk, but has become a repository for snow, forcing pedestrians onto Main Street. Rather than clear a path for foot traffic, the city merely dug out the manhole in the middle, leaving icy snow all around. I know there is nowhere to put the snow, but there will be nowhere to stack the dead pedestrians either.
Kerri Provost
Thanks so much for this comment. I have had the same frustration. This morning I thought I’d take a bit of a walk since I had the day off. I only made it as far as my neighborhood coffee shop because my stress level was through the roof. Three residences would have their sidewalks shoveled, then the next wouldn’t. The street wasn’t really plowed, so that wasn’t a great option either as there was only room for one car to travel down it at a time. I really hope that nobody on my street has need for an ambulance or firetruck today because these vehicles are going to have a heck of a time getting through.
lobonick
glad to see that the local miscreant’s car got the tow.. nothing like a nice tow to wake someone up..
Kerri Provost
Yup! People can ignore tickets, but they have a harder time ignoring a missing vehicle. For the record, the car is operational, so it’s not like the person couldn’t start it to move it off the street.
Heather B
I’m so glad to hear this happened on your street. I’ve been keeping an eye on my street where a car has been violating the parking ban all day. When a plow came through mid-morning, the best the driver could do was call it in and skip the area. I was really hoping we could avoid this problem since Mayor Segarra promised a crack-down on violators. The car is still there.
Kerri Provost
You know, I’d be more lenient if this were the first snow of the season, but by this point, people really ought to know what to do without being told.
Richard
Great report as usual. What a walk I had at 6:00 this morning to get to work by 7:00. All the no work no pay folks were out walking as the buses were not operating until 11am. I wonder who they think takes the bus? Of course it is the working poor. I noticed that the private parking lots were cleaner than the city streets, the walkway near the Armory, Capitol was a dream and the Bushnell must have been expecting a crowd today as they were almost all cleaned up. AT THAT HOUR!!! All of us on our own two feet made it to work on time.
So glad the car got towed. Tow them all I say. Dump them somewhere. I hate cars and folks who whine about having to snow blow their driveways and the snow plow that plows in the snow again. HA HA go back and shovel it out again Moe or better yet take a hike.
Can’t wait to hear the local liberal whines about why folks don’t park their cars in lots when it snows. The last whiners made me sick to my stomach.