Description
Good Morning Mr. Ragucci, I have been walking the northwest quadrant of Stoneham the past couple of weeks and have found the sidewalks deplorable, specifically the top of William St., Elizabeth Rd and Drury Ln. to name a few. The problems are cars being parked on them, tree roots ruining them, overgrown shrubs and so forth. I can not understand why the residents in these sweet little neighborhoods are not complaining about the upkeep and safety of the public sidewalks. I know the few who that are parking on or blocking by not pulling into their driveways don't care about public safety but our town officials and departments should. Maybe we should be walking our neighborhoods and surveying the safety of our public right of ways a little more closely. Oh and thank you Mr, Ragucci for your many years of service to our town. I personally am sorry to see go. Best of luck.
4 Comments
Stoneham Town Administrator's Office (Registered User)
Bill (Guest)
Kathleen, unfortunately it is the culture of this town to turn a blind eye to vehicles parked on public sidewalks, unless the police are hounded by citizens on a case-by-case basis to address a specific situation. like yourself, I spend much time around town on the streets of Stoneham. I see dozens of cars every day completely blocking the sidewalk in all parts of the town.
If you read the local newspaper, you may be lucky to see one or two incidents of the police ticketing a car for parking on the sidewalk. You can be fairly sure that it was a result of somebody having to call the police to remind them that this is against the law, as opposed to them taking this on their own initiative.
I have personally seen the "tickets" that are left on the windshield of many of these cars. They are not actually citations that result in a fine, but merely a warning. This leaves basically no incentive not to just do it again.
I want to be clear that I have complete respect for the police officers in this town. I have met many of them as well as the chief of police. That's why I am baffled at why this issue continually goes unresolved and unaddressed.
This seems to be a very common complaint on this website. I think that there could be some public awareness statements made in the local newspaper by the police and followed up by action.
I am fairly sure that if people knew that this was a priority of the police, and that the odds of getting an actual ticket were high, this situation would be much reduced.
Unfortunately, until the chief of police makes this a priority and a directive to his officers, you will not see any improvements in this safety situation.
As always, I welcome and await a response from the police department on this situation. I do not make any judgment on their job because I'm sure there may be more to it then I may be aware of, but an explanation of why this seems to go an address in unresolved would be welcomed and deserved.
T Cicatelli (Registered User)
Closed Stoneham DPW 2 (Registered User)