Detail shot of sign on Asticou Road, March 2015
Neighborhood Life

Snow Pile Pleads, ‘Take Me First! I’m a Space Saver!’

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JP real estate agent Mary Wallace gave voice to one line of argument as the city starts picking up space savers on trash days this week. She made a sign reading, "(Snow Pile) Take Me, I'm a Space Saver" on snow-choked Asticou Road. On one hand, the city has faced some backlash to removing space savers, given that so many spots on neighborhood streets are filled by snow. On the other hand, some residents are celebrating the formal end of space savers. Adios!

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City Services

Sweet Snow-Thrower Action Hits Hyde Park Avenue

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Snow thrower in action at Hyde Park Avenue and Ukraine Way on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. Credit: Richard Heath

Hyde Park Avenue, which has been producing some of the neighborhood's worst traffic, got a much-needed deep cleaning Tuesday. Here are some photos, including a sweet "after" shot at the bottom. If you love this sort of thing (and who doesn't after what we've been through?), please check out this video of a snow thrower working Hyde Square and these photos of an snow melter at the Arborway Yard.

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Weather

More Snow Coming Tuesday Night

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Forecasters differ on how much snow Boston will see late Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service predicts 3 to 5 inches, while WHDH estimates 4 inches and WCVB calls for 2-4 inches on the coast but just a dusting inland. The city has received 100 inches of snow this season, though as meteorologist David Epstein points out, it depends on how you measure it. In other snow now, in case you missed it, Mayor Marty Walsh said residents can keep using space savers indefinitely. He's temporarily lifting the "Menino rule" to use them no more than 48 hours after the end of a declared snow emergency.

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Pondside space saver, February 2015
Transportation

Mayor Lifts 48-Hour Space Saver Rule

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Mayor Marty Walsh says go ahead and use space savers past the "Menino rule" of 48 hours from the end of a snow emergency, according to an interview with the Herald and a slight wording change on the city's Website. “There’s no parking out there in the city,” he told the Herald. “There are snowbanks in the city that just haven’t melted at all.”

The city's Web site, which used to advise to use space savers for no more than 48 hours after the end of a snow emergency, as of Monday instead says, "Space savers are meant to be used on a short term basis, with 48 hours as a guideline." Space savers have become flash points on some of Jamaica Plain's crowded streets, with tires reportedly being slashed and passive-aggressive sign wars erupting.

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The first evening the "snow bar" was operational.
Neighborhood Life

Snow Bar!

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The winter of 2015 isn't just space saver wars, ice dams and cabin fever. Texas transplants Kristy Nardone and Chris Haynes of Eliot Place turned the eight-plus feet of snow into a deluxe "snow bar" for the neighborhood. Nardone was kind enough to share these photos of the bar's evolution.

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Photo of the Day

You Can Have This Spot Over My Dead Body

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Undead shoveler, Bourne and Catherine, February 2015. Credit: Peg Preble

Peg Preble photographed this poor fellow at the corner of Bourne and Catherine. We ran a caption contest on the Jamaica Plain News Facebook page. We had lots of inventive ideas, but Audrey White's caption "You can have this parking space over my dead body" was the winner. Hat tip to Andree Zalesk (of JP Green House) for letting us know about this great photo!

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Parking

Passive-Aggressive Signs Sprout in Space Saver Wars

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Space saver in #jamaicaplain "Be decent... Try not being an asshole (for once)" @universalhub pic.twitter.com/HWBAmXcbY6

— Bobbie (@girlinjp) February 19, 2015

The message on this space saver, found at the corner of Myrtle and Pond, starts out politely enough. But read to the end. "Please do not move this space saver. It is valid for 48 hours following the end of the snow emergency — so until 6 p.m. on Friday.

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Ice dams are common all over JP, including this Prince Street home. Taken Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015.
Weather

Brrr. Wind Chill of 18 Below Possible Friday Morning

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The National Weather Service warns of dangerous cold in Jamaica Plain starting at 3 a.m. Friday. It issued an advisory to expect wind chills of -18 and temperatures of zero. That's cold even by our recent standards. The advisory runs from 3-10 a.m. Friday. The Jamaica Plain-based MSPCA reminds us that the cold can be dangerous for pets.

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City Services

Video: Montreal-style Snow Thrower Cleans Hyde Square

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Take that, Montreal! @02130News @universalhub @marty_walsh @MattOMalley #BOSnow #JP pic.twitter.com/rJzFaOpoXj— Shamus Moynihan (@ShamusJP) February 18, 2015

On Tuesday I found myself at the stop for the 39 Bus outside Canary Square kvetching with a former Montrealer who has for decades lived in JP about how much better his native city removes snow. Then JP's Shamus Moynihan posted the above video from Hyde Square. For comparison, here's a similar clip from Les Habs country:

Montreal still has this on us, snow-removal wise: If you miss the siren that the snow machine is coming by your street, they'll just tow your car around to the next cleared street instead of all the way to city tow lot on Frontage Road. But it's sweet to see some Montreal-style snow removal right here in JP.

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Weather

Snow Melter Toils Away at Arborway Yard

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Barletta Heavy Construction used a Canadian made snow melter to evaporate tons of snow removed from tracks by the MBTA. The melted snow is pumped into  Stony Brook  which flows northeasterly in a 7 foot brick culvert under the busyard. Credit: Richard Heath

For snow-weary residents, it can be a beautiful sight: Piles and piles of the stuff being melted away. That's what's happening right in Forest Hills as crews work the snow melter at the Arborway Yard. Here are a few photos.

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