The Third Decade

24 hours of snow

I asked for it and am still getting it. Sheesh, 24 frickin' hours of snow. It's beautiful, but I'm ready for some sun now.

Utility poles

Utility poles are a lot sturdier than I expected them to be. I just watched one of my neighbors crash and bounce off the pole in front of my building twice. The wires twitched a bit, but the pole looks fine so far. Can't really tell how the car fared, though. It would've sucked to have lost power because of a crash after the storm itself was fairly mild.

Is your kid sometimes late for school?

I think I know why.

Truck vs. Curve

It's truck season again. This morning a FedEx truck got stuck trying to make the turn in front of my building. The driver waited around until a pregnant woman waddled out of her home to move her car. Seeing how close he came to the utility pole, I'm surprised he was able to open the driver-side door. 

Seriously, though, the city needs to do something to regulate the flow of large vehicles around here. Yesterday, two chartered motorcoaches drove past and on Monday another truck got stuck on the same curve. That driver, being much less patient, blew his horn a few times until one of the neighbors came out to move her car. 

Two years ago there were never this many trucks (or any buses) coming down this street. My guess is that the online route mapping services list my street as one of the most convenient alternate routes between I-93 and Jamaica Plain. Unfortunately, those services don't take trucks into account. This is likely going to become a bigger concern as construction begins in Jackson Square and Dudley Square. Hopefully the neighborhood can get the city to be proactive before things get out of hand.

What? Again!

OK, seriously, who do we need to talk to about trucks coming down narrow side streets? It was funny on a warm sunny Sunday evening when everyone was around and just hanging out. But now it's 9pm on a work night. I don't have a car to move, but I listened to the truck's engine idling for 40 minutes outside my living room window as neighbors walked around from building to building trying to find drivers to move their cars. There has to be some kind of regulation about this. If there isn't, there should be!

Seek Alternate Route

Dear City of Boston,

I know you're busy with building skyscrapers, planting trees, and solving crimes, but could you please do something about the traffic around here? I don't mean anything weird, like trying to get people to respect traffic lights or drive slower, I'm talking about adding a sign or two to tell truckers not to drive down narrow, winding streets making us residents worry about our homes...or utility poles. Please see the picture below. It took a while for this truck to get down the street. Most of the car owners on the block had to move their cars and then wait as another truck came by. Ironically, they were making deliveries to the city-owned Public Works yard at the bottom of the hill, but couldn't you have given them better directions? Or place a sign at the top of the street? Either will do.

Thanks.