Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Rocks Of Ages

15 Fearing Street

You sagacious types have probably noticed the somewhat sudden sprouting of large rocks outlining the lawns of rental property all over town.  The reason is of course to keep tenants or their guests from parking on the lawn. 

The reason absentee landlords take the issue seriously enough to decorate their property with large boulders is because they don't want a $100 fine from the building inspector. Yes, the fines go to the owners not the offenders.  And it seems to be working.

 Corner of Main and Shumway Streets

I asked code enforcement officer, aka the enforcer, Jon Thompson for a breakdown of tickets issued thus far in calender 2013:

Here is the breakdown of the 112 violations / complaints that I have responded to since January 1st of this year.

Health Complaints:  40 (Rentals), 5 (Owner Occupied)

Parking: 56 (Rentals), 2 (Owner Occupied)

Zoning: 5 (Rentals), 3 (Owner Occupied)

Building Code: 1 (Rental)


So as you can see "parking" is #1, and the vast majority of tickets are issued to "rentals".  But the fine goes to the owners, hence the motivation to actually do something about it.  Like planting a crop of large boulders. 

South Pleasant Street

Of course there are outliers: 

20 South Whitney Street, early October

51 North East Street, early October

15 comments:

  1. So now we are giving them something heavier to throw through the windshields of parked police cruisers....

    Larry, you honestly don't think that two (if not one) young men (or even some young women) wouldn't be able to lift those boulders high enough to toss onto a parked vehicle? Really???

    What ever happened to having "Tex" tow anything he saw in a certain place? Worked damn well in the past....

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  2. to anon: those boulders weigh about 800 lbs each, no one is tossing them anywhere. Replace the word "Tex" with "Buzzy". And what is the deal with not being able to park on my lawn?

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  3. Or having a fuzzy couch parked there all summer.

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  4. Larry can you talk to your neighbors and suggest that they use barrels to mark road dangers.

    More visible and less likely to be driven over, moved, used as a megaphone or stolen by pranksters.

    The unmarked steel plate on East Pleasant St (last week) was hit by many vehicles traveling at full speed. There was no warning- and it could not be seen (can't the plate edges be marked with caution yellow?)

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  5. I think Guilford is still hiding under his desk after the Select Board chastised the Town Manager over the broken water fountain at Sweetser Park.

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  6. Trust me, Guilford does not hide under his desk! Maybe he's still looking sheepish ...

    I, too, have wondered why they don't just spray paint the dangerous edge of those metal plates.

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  7. His military background no doubt.

    He did tell me the solutions need to come from the contractor, NOT the town.

    In other words, "not my job."

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  8. Larry, you need to understand that the contractor "owns" the job site, as if it were their own personal property, and you can't just go do things there. Unless you insisted on accountability clauses in the contract, you are screwed.

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  9. I say nuts to everyone.

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  10. Where they are not banned nor allowed in a banquest.

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  11. To whomever thinks that drunken hooligans can't move 800 lbs rocks -- well, how much does that Metawampke statute weigh? It's big, it's made of metal, and I'm guessing that it ain't light.

    You're eventually gonna find those rocks in the middle of the road some night -- worse if they aren't in the *middle* and someone either hits one or has to swerve around it and hits someone else.

    Just saying....

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  12. Rocks in the road? Who cares -- that's the least of our worries!

    What about the asteroid hurtling toward Puffton village at 70 bazillion miles an hour?

    Or the living dead clawing their way out of the coffins in West Cemetery, trying to escape so they can eat the flesh of every last person in the Loose Goose?

    And how come no one's talking about the convoy of tanker trucks full of sarin gas precursors, barreling along Route 9 with faulty brakes, heading straight for Cumberland Farms?!

    Sure, go ahead -- scoff at my bedwetting nightmares. One of these days, I'll have the last laugh. I will, I tell you!

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  13. Or the "suspicious package" left in a public place that actually is a backpack nuke.

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  14. convoy of tanker trucks full of sarin gas precursors, barreling along Route 9 with faulty brakes, heading straight for Cumberland Farms?

    I personally would be worried enough with the one tank truck with upwards of 5000 gallons of gasoline that is headed FOR the Cumbys with a delivery. Roll that over on College Street and you'd have one really interesting situation....

    The least experienced drivers are the ones hauling gasoline -- it's cold & wet work as each load has to be filled & delivered outdoors with little (if any) shelter from the elements. More senior drivers get to drive things that don't involve hauling wet 4" hoses around in the rain.

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