It is not "rocket science " as the saying goes.
Today , when I saw the poor condition of Farmington Avenue and Sigourney Street, a major intersection, I told myself I couldn't just complain. I thought in fairness,I needed to check and see if maybe chemicals weren't working right because of the low temperature. I risked life and limb on Hartford's streets and ventured west to the City line.
I knew I had arrived in West Hartford when I was blinded by the sun shining off the newly fallen snow and the reflection of the sun off the wet, clear pavement. Why does a few feet and a City
Line sign make such a difference?
Then I recalled Pedro Segarra's explanation during the last Mayoral campaign. It is those suburban scoundrels coming into Hartford and sweeping the snow off their cars, crippling Hartford's traffic.Maybe Mayor Bronin can ask them not to do that....please.....during his "Bail out Hartford" regional tour.
I also understand the problems of clearing City streets with vehicles left on the streets. But I also realize that there has to be a better way to get the message out, not just when a storm is impending. It just seems some what immoral to declare a parking ban, tow residents vehicles and subject them to fees of over $200.00 per vehicle if we don't then properly plow those streets after we tow.
I know HPD tries to coordinate those efforts, but there is a breakdown somewhere. It also seems wrong to ask residents to park in school lots and then tow the cars that obey the ban because they don't get their cards back onto the un-plowed streets soon enough when the ban ends.
If we can put up the "blue light special" strobes , why can't we identify the first ten or fifteen spots in school lots as "tow free zones" for residents to park so as to not obstruct school operations. Many of these residents who are towed are Hartford's "working poor" and are quite possibly sleeping at 11:00am or whatever time they now face the Board of Education imposed towing because they are coming home from working two or three jobs just to survive
And for the dozens of residents who were towed from school lots today, let me ask why? What was the rush? Just to show that they can still be controlled? Hartford's Schools were closed today due to the snow. They are closed for the weekend, and Monday is a holiday. But I guess the Hartford BOE proved its point, they are in charge of school properties, even though those same residents they towed pay the bills for those properties.
PARK AND WASHINGTON STREETS
DOWNTOWN, SHOULD BE INTERESTING FOR XL CENTER EVENTS THIS WEEKEND
FARMINGTON AVENUE AND SIGOURNEY STREET
HOW DOES WEST HARTFORD DO IT RIGHT? BARE PAVEMENT, NO SNOW AND CURB TO CURB
31 comments:
Kevin, I will agree with you on most of this post. However, most of the Hartford pictures you posted still showed plowable snow. You must plow first, then apply salt. Regarding the schools, the PD didn't start towing until after 1pm....I mean come on, really? The parking ban ended at 8am, highly publicized, they can't set their alarm for 8am and move their car so the school lots could be cleared? 1pm was AMPLE time!!! These "people" would leave their cars there all weekend if allowed to. You basically move one problem, parking on the street, to another problem, extended stay at your local school. Come on now. But to expect any type of full compliance in a city like Hartford is just completely beyond reality. Give them a break on that.
These city streets are really no better than the Segarra era. But you know what, at least Pedro was out there trying to boost morale by lifting a shovel, cooking and buying hot chocolate for DPW workers. Has anyone seen Bronin? I haven't. This is the same mayor who said he was gonna get illegal guns off the street and hire more cops......so really what makes you think he's going to get the city streets properly cleared of snow???
They need to be taught how to drop the blade first.
"plowable snow" a day after the snow stopped, why? Maybe DPW should be plowing later after the storm moves out instead of bringing everyone one in at 2am an waiting for the first flake to fall almost 5 hours later. DPW is in disarray for numerous reasons, but we just can't seem to get it right. And I don't want to draw conclusions without knowing, but you sound like you have a driveway or at least somewhere to properly park. And HPD started towing cars from school lots at 11:00am, but I am not faulting them, they have a procedure and they follow it. The Traffic division functions well because they have policies and follow them, whether it is an event at the XL Center or a snow tow.. My biggest issue is we go through the trouble of a parking ban and then don't plow the streets, why? If we aren't going to plow our streets curb to curb, then just give up and let nature take its course. Parking bans, in addition to the inconvenience to residents also hurt Hartford's businesses who rely on street parking. It is New England, it is winter, snow happens. I just think we can try a little harder to get it right.
Completely agreed Mister Brookman.
9:49pm
Do you want to bet Elm Street was plowed down to bare pavement and curb to curb. No DPW plow driver wants to be stopped and accosted by that driver ranting "do you know who I am?" like HPD was when they had the street blocked for an event
Ohhhhh......Sarah....GOTCHA!!!
9:53PM
Good point, when I questioned the number of DPW plows driving around with their blades in the air, I was told I didn't understand how it works. The drivers are all given "assigned routes" and aren't allowed to drop the plow blade until they get to their route. I guess no one gets it that they have to use Hartford's streets to get to their routes so maybe they could plow along the way. What is next, telling cops to keep their eyes closed and ignore any crime until they get to their assigned patrol area? Fuzzy logic or Hartford reasoning?
10:09PM
Sara is too busy running operations at City Hall, she hasn't taken over ordering salt... YET.
"Don't you know who I am?"
Well Kevin, I have personally seen State DOT trucks get off 91 on Jennings Road and keep the blade down on Jennings to loop to the other side of the highway. I've seen State plows do this also on Market Street and many other areas while they plowed on and off ramps and the city or local street in between. Our highways are plowed guardrail to guardrail. I've actually seen state plows sparking off the guardrails. There's no excuse for a city plow not to be down on any city street. Maybe our streets would be clear if they were. That would be like a cop saying I'm not leaving my area to help out a resident in need of help in another area that that area cop is not available. Think about it.
You probably won't post this Kevin, but I don't care what anyone says, Charlie was a much classier First Lady, probably the best in history. You can't even compare Sarah to Charlie.
10:27
They both thrive on their "sphere of interference". Although Charlie took some time to get his sea legs, the current first lady started even before Pedro was out the door, just ask around at L&I. Charlie cost us some money in acts at DPW and Elizabeth Park, Sara has only just begun.
10:27PM
I guess "lady" means different things to different people
Charlie has class......Sarah has no class.
The parts of West Hartford I was in were horribly plowed, no pavement in sight.
Bottom line: Hartford is still covered with lots of snow. Disastrous performance by the city, nothing less.
9:18am
The pictures tell the story, night and day between the two towns
9:21am
I guess we can say "business as usual"
Can't we have the pd plow the streets again? They did it better than the dpw workers last time we had a blizzard. The cops even help me get out of a snowbankI was stuck in
Bronin just tweeted out that DPW worked with HPD throughout the night and made a big push and we should all see a difference!!! Is he high or something? Downtown is clean along with Trinity Street, but does Luke even drive any further than beyond 500 Main St? He should take a ride deep south and take a look around, if he remembers how to get there.
Clearly you didn't state where. My guess is you were on New Park Avenue in Hartford but thought you were in West Hartford. There is absolutely no comparison between Hartford's streets and West Hartford's streets. And Hartford has 20x more equipment and manpower, with nearly zero results. Cops still have to direct DPW as DPW has no competent supervisors.
Mister Brookman, you should look into making a We the People app for the phone, would be awesome. You know, like the news app the failing Hartford Courant has. I would never pay for any fake news the Courant "reports", but I'm sure you'd possibly become a millionaire with a .99 cent app!!!
While I fully disagree with you on the Blight Manager position, which we desperately need, I agree the plowing in Hartford is once again, historically atrocious. From the email I sent you, a photo included showed my measurement of snow remaining one day after the storm, to be five feet from the curb on Linnmoore St. That's 5 feet on each side. We now will have lay ten feet of road space until spring. It becomes difficult to plow hardens. Segarra once exclaimed to plow "to the curb." Not any more if indeed, his order was ever carried out.
Those who drive plows need to be told repeatedly then monitored because they mostly have short-term memories. I observed on the storm day, plows driving and plowing on the same path that had already been plowed instead of widening the path. During the previous storm when 2-3 inches of snow fell, some residents complained days later ( whrn thr temp was a spring like 48 degrees and melting any remaining snow) that their driveways were blocked. The mayor's assistant responded by sending plow crews out and there was no snow to plow. It was a total waste of thousands of dollars just to calm residents that something was being done.
This foolish response only reinforces demanding behavior on the part of residents to think they can have a plow come out any time they need. We live in New England, not a tropical paradise. When it snows, we shovel and sometimes shovel again and again until the sidewalks and driveways are cleared.
My criticism of Mayor Bronin is I don't think he is aware of those administrators and public works making errors that cost the city many thousands. He once ran on the concept that "we can't afford to do business as usual." That is a great platitude but I don't thin anyone had heeded that idea. Example; the fiasco on Brookfield St with the speed bumps and bike paths. Early on, we advised in NRZ meetings that Jim Ford was making a mistake by not making the bumps contiguous. He opened them for the bikes. We told him bike riders didn't mind riding over a bump. He responded thAt it endangered the bikers. After, most cars veered into the bike paths creating a real menace for the riders. Later at same NRZ, he called for four foot high orange cones to be bolted into the street at the bumps. And this would be removed and refit every season. Costing thousands of dollars. We stated that city drivers would knock those cones off their base within a few weeks. His lawyer assistant show us spread sheets showing how they worked in other locals. They didn't listen and most of the cones were knocked off. He finally relented and told us that black top would be used to fill in the bike paths. But last October, he stated there was no money remain to cover the costs. Now, most cars and many school buses veer into the bike lane endangering bike riders. If anyone disputes this, I have photos of school buses riding into the bike lane. One bus number is clearly visible as bus number 6164.
We are doing business as usual, Mayor Bronin. Isn't time you gave some attention to you administrators and the sustancial waste of city resources and money? I understand the big picture you have to deal with. But I think you are oblivious to operational issues that are draining or at least causing millions of dollars of waste. I have only illustrated a few. I am sure there are more. It was your constituent relations officer who responded to the driveway complaint by ordering Petel in Public Works to send plows out on a ghost mission to plow non-existent snow. The correct response would have been to suggest to the complaints that the office would look into the matter then consider it closed. Now we need plows to push five feet of unplowed snow to the curb. Where are they, Mr Mayor. Get with it buddy.
As Bronin takes his pitch to the suburbs to help Hartford because we are all intertwined, and that hartford hosts their residents that work and dine there, failing at basic things like plowing make it a hard sell.
It's amazing Luke would send out that tweet without checking the entire city. All that was cleaned was downtown area and XL Center for the Monster Jam tonight, City Hall area, and of course Trinity Street. Bronin's whole rolling up his sleeves act, creating an illusion that he's "getting to work," is absolutely nauseating at this point. Bronin's term can't be over quick enough.
The parking ban was suspended in downtown until after the UConn hockey game on Wednesday night. If that doesn't tell you who runs the City, I don't know what does.
4:06pm
Considering the snow was still 8-10 hours off at that point, that is a decision that seems to make sense. UCONN sports, including Men's Hockey, draws a lot of people downtown and that benefits businesses downtown, many of them who are starving for customers during winter months. Hartford is not a business friendly City, but the occasional common sense helps
It doesn't tell me who runs the city....what are you insinuating? Why wouldn't the ban be suspended to accommodate parking for the game? Did the residents in the rest of the city really need the ban suspended?
Kevin, what's the possibility that plow drivers deliberately aren't dropping the blade due to Bronin's demoralizing attitude towards workers and his strong arming for concessions and pay cuts along with less benefits? These guys aren't paid all that well as it is.
4:29Pm
Probably a very viable theory, but I guess we won't know unless someone is willing to contact me in confidence to tell me. I do have to say though, I had more snow plows rumbling by my house today after the blog posting than I have ever seen in my time in Hartford, coincidence, possibly, but it was entertaining
4:22PM
Uconn is a stakeholder in the City now with a sizable investment. I doubt they have the time to weigh in on parking bans, but every little bit of advice can only help a dysfunctional City Hall. And the bigger question is really do the residents of Hartford really need a parking ban to clear the streets 12 hours before the first snowflake falls?
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