Friday, January 28, 2011

Fine for shoveling snow into the Street ??? Does it exist and does it violate our right to "Keep our Hard Earned Money"?

While watching the 10pm news last night they reported the NYC Sanitation department can issue tickets for shoveling snow into the street. Did any body else hear this blurb on the news last night? Can anyone substantiate this is in fact true? Has anyone been given a ticket for this? Is there a minimum quantity of snow that can trigger the summons? Can I give the city a ticket when the plow comes and pushed the snow in the street onto my car or driveway entrance? Will they start sending god tickets for sending the snow?

It seams silly and an invasion of my right to “Keep My Hard Earned Money”, that the NYC can given me a summons while emancipating my car from under a mountain of snow. I am not for placing mounds of snow capable of obstructing traffic in the street, but what’s wrong with placing a few shovels of snow into the street so I can dig my car out or clear a drive way. Personally, I think it helps the commuter situation since it melts easier on the black tar when sunny, and the constant trampling by cars or trucks also helps squash and melt the snow.

Please do get back to me with any feedback on this and or any other tickets that violate our “right to keep our hard earned money”. If there is a real issue and people agree with me I will e-mail the blog entry with your comments to Councilman Vacca who Chairs the City Transportation committee. I always see him out there fighting to improved transportation issues.



I just confirmed via his web site that Councilman Vacca does Chair the NYC Council Transportaion Comittee. I also downloaded a photo of him in his Sunday best from the site as well. As mentined above, I do plan on sending this blog with your comments to Councilman Vacca's office if warrented.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why the picture of Vacca?

Anonymous said...

People need to dump the shoveled snow on the curb side of their cars, not on the street side. A little more work, but if we don't cooperate, we'll be in this mess until April.
I love it when people scream about not wanting the government to interfere in their health care but they want it to spirit the snow away as it falls.

Boogiedowner said...

Did you see the amount of snow? How could all that snow go on the curb. It would be a 30 foot wall. The suggestion is not in touch with reality. I will post a picture so you can see what I am talking about. Maybe in Manhattan but not were I live in the Bronx. "a little more work", it's an impossibilty. Who is talking about Health Care? Who said I want the city to "spirit the snow away as it falls". What I want is to know if this is a law that can give the gov't a unreasonable reason to give me a summons.

I appreciate the comment. Please keep them coming.

Thank you,
Gregory

Guywithacause said...

Boogiedowner I am gonna have to disagree with you on this one. We have the plows clear the streets so that we can continue on with our lives, not so that it can simply be filled with snow again by those emptying their driveways, clearing their cars, sidewalks, etc.

If you have to have a large pile on the side, it is better than having a large pile in the middle of the street! I have a very narrow sidewalk, and we all simply piled the snow on the curb, yes a high pile but so what, NOT dumped it back on the street to make conditions treacherous.

And the gov't already has plenty of unreasonable summons/fees/fines, so this one would be right on par. I don't want the fine, but you should not be throwing snow back into the street.

Comparing the snow plows clearing the streets as them dumping it into your driveway or curb is just silly and unreasonable. They are trying to clear the snow as expeditiously as possible, and moving it to the side of the street/curb so life can go on.

Boogiedowner said...

Dear Guywithacause:

I am not saying vagrant piles of snow piles in the middle of the street should be tolerated. As I expected from the news coverage last night the city was out ticketed my neighbors for putting insignificant amounts of snow in the street. I will explain further in another post with photos of the the cities new "Most Wanted". As always thank you for your comments. I would be curious to see if neighborjood consider more oppulent are targeted for these special "taxes". If you know of any way to check stats to prove or disprove me please let me know.

Gregory

Anonymous said...

It is a New York State law as well. It is to keep people from endangering the safety of drivers and pedestrians by keeping the roads clear of debris. You are also not supposed to mow your lawn into the road either.

You CAN shovel snow so that it rests on the sidewalk, near the edge, leaving a clear path for pedestrians AND unburying your car. I keep two shovels in my trunk in the winter, it may be a real pain in the keister, but it is possible.

And I have done it, many times... with people waiting for me to dig the rest of my space out so they can pull in easily! I got into an argument with someone because he put all of the snow from his drive way AND sidewalk onto my CAR!! I made quite a mountain on the sidewalk, and as he raged, I left him my buisness card with a note telling him to call me if he got a ticket, and I took photos of the car before and the space after. No ticket. He was also much nicer after that.

People do it ALL OVER upstate New York, from the South Towns of Buffalo to the great big snow squalls of Watertown and Lake Placid.

You can keep your hard earned money AND shovel the effing snow without endangering people. Get a grip, learn how to shovel, and shut the hell up about it.

Anonymous said...

I must apologize, I would like to ammend my statement there about "shut the hell up about it". If you were ticketed for this, there must have been a pretty good reason, other than the location of where you were shoveling. I am personally glad that th elaw has been mentioned so that it will create more responsible drivers who will then also carry shovels, and move pile the snow correctly. I do NOT think that elderly people who can't shovel snow should get tickets for not shovelling their walks, or for not shovelling it properly. If this law is being enforced, then the proper way of disposing of snow needs to be made very public and very plain so that people do not get ticketed to help the city solve its budget issues, nor the Sanitation Dept. go over board. I lived near a hospital that closed, and the whole neighborhood seemed unable to deal with snowfall or lack of plowing. They had grown used to the luxury of promptly cleared roadways. There has to be a way of informing the homeowners and vehicle owners without making peole nuts.

And I grew up in the snowbelt and find all of this issue with WEATHER amusing.

Boogiedowner said...

My first angry comment with some nasty words. Thank you.

Once again my point is missed. The city has people handing out tickets for insignificant amounts of snow put in the street where there is no where else to put it. As stated I will post photos and explain. This is not for public safety; it is a “tax” on middle class people and property owners in the Bronx. If someone is obstructing the street with massive amounts of snow the law makes sense. What I am talking about is ticketing people for insignificant amounts of snow that does not make sense. Someone found a new way to tax the middle class property owners in the Bronx.

Gregory

Anonymous said...

What I do: Make 1 pile in front of the car, 1 pile by the back. The snow in front & back of the car can be tossed by the curb, leaving enough room to get out WITHOUT throwing snow into the middle of the street impeding traffic- that is just unthoughtful.

Anonymous said...

The sooner the road is cleared to dry pavement, the better. Even small amounts of snow can make the road slick enough to affect braking.

Sure, tossing the snow from the car might not make it impossible to drive down the street. But it can make it more dangerous.

Better to play it safe, and avoid the ticket.

Boogiedowner said...

I want to thank everyone for the healty discussion.

Gregory

Anonymous said...

"Healthy" not "healty."