People in South Boston use many items to save their parking spots, but the mayor says all of those markers must be removed by Wednesday or they’ll be picked up by the city. (credit: CBS)
BOSTON (CBS) — Boston residents saving parking spaces with an assortment of household items have until 6 p.m. Wednesday to remove or lose them. They must also remove snow, ice and slush from sidewalks by city ordinance and from private property under the new Supreme Judicial Court ruling.
Paul Petrone of Braintree keeps the sidewalk in front the South Boston three-decker he owns shoveled but finds little space for the snow.
WBZ-TV’s Ron Sanders reports.
“It’s tough. It really is. It’s hard. I just try to do the best I can. I take the snow home with me to Braintree, make a few trips,” says Petrone filling the bed of his pickup truck. “Going to Braintree on my front lawn,” he says.
In Charlestown, Charlie Kirk has the same solution to clearing a parking space, with an added benefit.
“It gets the snow off the street and not on the sidewalk and more importantly it gives a lot of weight to my truck which is lightweight in the back.”
“You know I know it’s a tough thing, a lot of work shoveling that street out, but that’s a public street,” says Mayor Thomas Menino.
So after 6 o’clock Wednesday evening, space savers ranging from beach chairs, to milk crates and trash barrels, coffee tables and a variety of folding chairs will be removed by the Department of Public Works. That has prompted some people put out things they don’t want such as an old TV or a cat scratching post.
Mayor Menino says he’s also concerned about pushback, people throwing snow into streets and sidewalks.
“That’s the second snowstorm we have. It’s not a forecasted storm, it’s when people throw snow out in the streets and make them impassable,” says the mayor.
Jim Travis has a reputation for conscientious snow and ice removal on E. 5th St. in South Boston. “I’ve always believed in having a passable sidewalk because of kids going to school, people going to work and myself going out. I do want to have a clear spot. So, I just make sure I shovel early, salt and shovel again to get it down to bare ground,” says Travis.
The city’s Inspectional Services Department had received 180 complaints about unshoveled sidewalks as of Tuesday afternoon. City officials said they had towed 670 vehicles impeding snow removal.
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