City news release:
Mayor Joe Ganim today declared a snow emergency for Bridgeport as updated forecasts are calling for up to eight inches of snow expected to impact the region between mid-day and tonight. As part of the snow emergency, parking is banned on all snow emergency routes in Bridgeport and is restricted to odd side of the street parking on all city streets until further notice to make a clear lane for city snow plows. Vehicles parked in violation of the ban can be towed and owners can face a fine of $100.
A full list of snow emergency streets is online at www.bridgeportct.gov/bptsnow Both commercial and residential property owners are responsible for clearing snow from the sidewalks in front of their buildings. Any property owners who fail to clear snow in front of their properties can face a fine of $100. It is also a violation of city ordinances to shovel snow into the street. Anyone found doing that can also face a fine of $100.
Any resident may call the Bridgeport Emergency Operations Center hotline at 203-579-3829 with any snow related emergencies. If any residents suffer a loss of electric power, they can call the United Illuminating customer hotline at 800-722-5584. Both hotline numbers will be fully staffed and operating 24 hours a day during the snow emergency. Snow emergency parking areas are available throughout the City. A full list of parking areas can be found at the following link:
www.bridgeportct.gov/content/89019/89753/95485/95501.aspx. Parking in the school parking lots listed will be permitted beginning this evening.
For the latest updates, resources and information about the snowstorm, residents are asked to check www.bridgeportct.gov/bptsnow, local television and radio news outlets and follow the City of Bridgeport on Twitter and Facebook.
These snow emergencies are the reason the city needs to be more aggressive and tow abandoned and unregistered cars.
People with driveways should use them and they should encourage their neighbors to use their driveway too until the snowplow cleans the street. The more cars off the street the better job the plows can do.
I “think” this is Joe Ganim’s (and Ricci&Co) first big snowstorm. Will be interesting.
From my own “personal” perspective, The City/Snowplowers did a good job. Just around where I live, BPT residents who park on the street had a greater compliance with the “order” to park on the odd side. On my side street, parkers did not observe the odd-side parking and the quality of the plowing was less effective due to the non-observance of the odd-side parking. It is quite clear. The critical part of successful snowplowing in Bridgeport is observance of parking regulations during the snow event. I have said this before, the Park City has become the Parking Lot City. The effectiveness of city snowplowing is directly affected by the on-street parking.