jacq

The next time the Regional Water Authority needs to test the flow of the city's fire hydrants on a weekday morning (or any time), a process that leads to dirt entering the water pipes of neighbors so that brown sludge pours out of their faucets when they turn them on to make coffee/brush their teeth/take a shower -- I wonder if maybe, just maybe, someone might give the people in affected neighborhoods some advance notice? Because having MUD coming out of your faucets instead of water is not the most pleasant surprise when you're trying to get ready for work or school. Or maybe this kind of testing could be done late at night, or in the middle of the afternoon? But in any case, with some ADVANCE WARNING? Would that be possible?

Just wanted to give props to a gallant city plow driver named Rich who helped extricate my car from a snowy, slippery parking spot yesterday morning. Thank you!

Well, the crap plowing job on York St. sure led to a debacle today when a delivery truck, unable to turn properly out of the Art Gallery driveway, got stuck in the middle of York St. Normally this would not be a problem a) because York St. is supposed to be wide enough for trucks to turn easily and b) even if a vehicle was blocking one lane, there is supposed to be another lane that people could use. Instead, the fact that both sides of the street are clogged with piles of icy snow, forcing people to park well into the traffic lanes, has caused the entire street to be reduced to one narrow lane down the middle. It is a total clusterf---. City people, PLEASE get on the ball when it comes to plowing. There is no excuse for this, either on major downtown streets or residential streets.

The large, heavy, covered recycling and trash bins the city gives us are so great at keeping out animal scavengers. Not so the human ones who come out in the middle of the night each week before trash pickup to root through our recycling bins in search of redeemable cans and bottles. This causes a huge clatter while neighbors are sleeping, and seems potentially harmful if people have mail and personal papers in their bins. Is there a way to put a stop to this?