New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Did you know that in most towns and cities you can be fined for not clearing the snow from the sidewalk in front of your apartment or home? You wouldn’t think so considering everywhere you walk you see unshoveled sidewalks. While true, you rarely hear about people being cited for it, because police seldom enforce it, and when they do, it’s typically because someone fell and hurt themselves and the incident drew their attention.
Not the case in Boston, where they are eager to fine people for not shoveling the snow from the sidewalk to the tune of $50 and as high as $400. Yes, $400.
How much money altogether are we talking about? Well, Boston’s total for the citations amounts to $84,650.
Now, with revenue this high, don’t be surprised if other towns and cities decide to crack down. New Bedford and Fall River not only have aggressive parking attendants, but those cities generate tens of thousands of dollars from each snowstorm that a parking ban is announced.
It’s sort of human nature to flaunt rules and regulations as is demonstrated by the dozens of cars that are towed every snowstorm in spite of every single news outlet and Facebook and Twitter page warning everyone. Call it the Blockbuster Video effect: the company made massive amounts of revenue from late fees. The Library Effect: overdue fines. Or the Speeding Effect. You get my, er…snow drift.
Even if you missed the parking ban announcement, you’re lying if you say you didn’t know there was a parking ban because you everyone knows that when there is significant snow, there will be one.
That means that if New Bedford were to decide to enforce the shoveling of snow from sidewalks, they would reap tens of thousands of dollars as well.
Every. Snow. Storm.
