From Mayor Finch:
Mayor Finch announced that sanitation and recycling pickups will resume Thursday morning. If your normal pickup day is Tuesday, it will now be picked up on Thursday; Wednesday routes will be picked up on Friday; Thursday routes will be picked up on Saturday, and Friday routes will be picked up on Sunday. The Transfer Station on Asylum Street will reopen Thursday.
Commercial and private condo complex snowplow contractors in the City who want to remove snow from their properties can contact the Emergency Operations Center at 203.579.3829 for permission.
The snow emergency remains in effect until further notice; residents must remove their cars from snow emergency routes, or risk being towed. Alternate side of the street parking is in effect – Wednesday is an even-numbered day, so residents should park their cars on the even-numbered side of the street by 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. Police will continue towing and tagging cars that have been left on City streets in violation of snow emergency and alternate side of the street parking rules.
“Cooperation from everyone is the key to keeping our streets clear,” said Police Chief Joseph Gaudett Jr. On Tuesday, police officers ticketed and towed cars parked on East Main Street between Boston and Barnum in order to assist the state Department of Transportation to widen the travel lanes by clearing more snow.
“Our city public works crews are working around the clock to clear snow and slush and treat the streets. We appreciate everyone’s efforts, and encourage everyone to do the right thing by their neighbors and clear their walkways and curb cuts, and most importantly, not throw the snow back into the street once it has been cleared,” said Mayor Finch.
Parking is available at several areas throughout the City including, the surface lots across the street from the Ballpark at Harbor Yard; North End Library; Veterans Memorial Park (entrance off Madison Avenue), Black Rock Bank and Trust; municipal lot adjacent to Ash Creek Saloon; City Health Department at 752 E. Main Street; lot adjacent to the former Waltersville School; Achievement First/Old Barnum School, and the open area under Route 25/8 overpass at Main and Catherine Streets.
If schools are closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, the following Board of Education parking lots also are available: Bassick and Central High Schools, Cesar Batalla, Park City Magnet, JFK Campus, Barnum/Waltersville, Blackham, Whittier, Jettie Tisdale and Luis Muñoz Marin schools. If school is in session on Thursday, the Mayor and the Superintendent of Schools ask the public’s cooperation in moving their cars as soon as possible so lots can be cleared for access by students and teachers.
City officials echoed the state Department of Emergency Management’s call to residents and business owners to “clear the buildup of snow and ice from flat or low-pitch roofs and decks because this latest winter storm could add significantly to the amount of snow on rooftops, increasing the risk of collapse.”
Note from Bridgeport Police Dept.: Cars left parked on snow emergency streets will be subject to tagging and towing if parked in violation after 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 31. Violating the alternate-side of the street parking rules also will result in fines. The fine for violating the snow emergency rules is $75; towing fees are extra.
A list of snow emergency streets can be found on the City’s website by following this link: www.bridgeportct.gov/pages/NewsDetails.aspx?itemid=144.
Note from Bridgeport Fire Department: Keep flashlights and batteries handy in case of power outages. If the power goes out, do not: use the stove for heat or use candles. To report power outages, call 1-800-7-CALL-UI.
Note from Department of Public Works: Sanitation and recycling pickups will resume Thursday. If your normal pickup day is Tuesday, your pickup will occur on Thursday; Wednesday pickups will occur on Friday, Thursday pickups will occur on Saturday and Friday pickups will occur on Sunday. The Transfer Station on Asylum Street will reopen on Thursday.
Note from Greater Bridgeport Transit: Bus riders should check www.gogbt.com for latest service updates.
Shelter information: Anyone in need of shelter should call 2-1-1 for assistance.
Emergency evacuation shelters: The following schools will be available for emergency evacuations: Luis Muñoz Marin and Longfellow elementary schools and Bassick and Central High Schools.
Ellsworth is designated a snow emergency street. Alternate side parking is not enforced nor are cars towed. It’s a disaster driving down that road, on both sides of Fairfield Ave. Alternate side parking is not enforced anywhere in Black Rock. From Canfield Ave & Wilson Street to Ellsworth & Harbor Ave alternate side parking and snow emergency parking rules are not observed or enforced. Calls requesting to have them enforced have also been unsuccessful.
Pat, I hear ya man. Many complaints from the public. PF Supervisor Tony D’s response to constituent complaints, “don’t break my balls.”
Same thing on Savoy S.t in the North End. Cars have been buried since the Christmas blizzard. Savoy St. is one lane for cars to get though–not one lane in each direction–one lane period. As of Monday, Crown St was down to blacktop and more than one lane. Does Mayor Finch even care???
lisawhite, City Councilwoman AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia asked me to post this:
Lennie,
I read your OIB earlier and noticed there is a problem on Savoy Street (part of my District). I contacted City Hall Administration along with Councilman Thomas McCarthy (part of his District too) and informed them of it. They are sending plows and Police again along with Tow Drivers shortly.
Please ask your readers to notify me if any other concerns or updates.
Thank you,
AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia
Councilwoman, 134th District
203-275-6412
AmyMarie.Vizzo-Paniccia@bridgeportct.gov
Lennie–thank you for forwarding AmyMarie’s message–but I will believe AmyMarie and Tom made phone calls to City Hall when plows, tow trucks and police really and truly show up!!!
I drove down Savoy St. this AM and it has been cleared. Snow has been removed from one side of the street and it is back to 2 lanes. Good job. It should have been done right the first time.
I wrote the other day how my street looks like a sled trail. I saw a supervisor’s truck drive by with the plow up in the air. I waved but he looked the other way, gunned the truck sliding all over the place.
He must have been on his way to plow up at the golf course. Isn’t that a snow emergency route?
CHS, went by the golf course yesterday. I wish my street looked that good.
The golf course is obviously closed. Did we sign a contract with Vazzy’s that we would plow up there for them? That is a large area and would take a lot of time. Time taken away from plowing our own streets, you know, the ones actually located in Bridgeport.
The golf course and the building occupied by Vazzies are under city control. I don’t believe the lessee is responsible for plowing. The city needs to plow that area in case of fire and such.
The problem as I see it is that the people who are doing the plowing are not properly trained and thus the plowing that gets done is minimum at best.
*** What do you expect, it’s Groundhog Day, no? *** HERE WE GO! ***
In a 57-unit mid-rise condo in Bridgeport. Our garbage dumpsters have not been pick up by the city since Friday 1/21/11. With this announced schedule we will not be picked up until this Sunday. That’s over two weeks. I know how hard and overworked our Public Facilities employees are working during these multiple snow events. However has the PFD thought about a Plan B for outside vendors to plow streets thus loosening up staff for their other tasks? Or sub out condo carting to carting companies during this snow emergency? I hope the PFD got a tan while in Florida because the taxpayers are getting burned on this deal.
Plan B is a Foster/Gomes administration. Remember that Gomes fully studied PF and made dozens of recommendations to improve services. I don’t think one of those recommendations was for the PF director to go to Florida during the worst snow storm month in the history of our state.
I know I do a lot of bitching on this blog and I am going to do it again.
First I want to thank all of the city employees who have been putting in long hard hours trying to plow these streets.
My bitch is with the public facilities management who are working these people long hours and in some cases unnecessary hours. Yesterday during the ice storm we had plows running up and down my street all day. The road was cleaned.
Last night at 11PM I heard the city plows again they went by my house 7 times and left the area at 11:30. Good I can get some sleep before the 4:30 arrival of the garbage trucks. Lo and behold at 2:30 the city plow truck is back. Why?
They could not widen the street if they wanted to, everyone’s garbage cans were out at the curb thus preventing this.
The street was clean in the afternoon, why all this added attention that accomplished nothing? Wouldn’t management been better off allowing these hard workers to go home and get some sleep?
To the management of PF get out of the office and check your areas, where the plowing was complete send the workers home instead of keeping them out for no reason. Wise Up.
TC, I believe that’s what you call milking the OT. As long as the workers are out, the supervisors can sit in their offices racking up the OT. No plan, no direction, no clue, and the boss is in Florida.
So what’s the snow removal budget and how far has it been exceeded? What’s the plan going forward as there are two more storms on the horizon and no end in sight? I bet no one can answer.