Mayor James J. Fiorentini didn’t need to ride in a snowplow Thursday.
Mother Nature can take credit for saving Haverhill thousands of dollars in downtown snow removal costs.
Yesterday, the city posted temporary no parking signs in preparation for a planned operation to collect remaining snow along downtown streets, place it in dump trucks and take it away. The effort typically involves paying police officers to work at overtime rates and hiring private contractors and dump trucks. David S. Van Dam, chief of staff to Mayor James J. Fiorentini, calculated the anticipated costs.
“We would have overtime. It depends on the hours certainly, but thousands of dollars,” he said.
However, with record-setting warm temperatures and fast-melting snow, he said, Fiorentini cancelled the plan. “We have definitely postponed it. There is no snow expected through Saturday. The daytime temperatures will be in the 60s,” he explained. WHAV meteorologist Gary Best says there is a slight chance of a shower Friday and showers are more likely Saturday.
In fact, the National Weather Service reported Boston set a new high temperature record at 12:36 p.m., Thursday. The temperature reached 66 degrees, surpassing the old record of 65 set in 1990.
Van Dam said the city will not incur costs for scheduling, and then cancelling, snow removal.
“Mother nature is working for us, and we’ll take her assistance for snow removal,” he added.
The. It should be ashamed of the condition of downtown and the la k of snow removal after the storms.
Paid parking and yet no place to park without your mirrors getting clipped by passing vehicles.
Busses and trucks making it impassable for two way traffic.
The downtown should be opened up curb to curb, snowbanks on the sidewalk make it difficult to walk behind le to sidewalk.
Mr Mayor, instead of riding shotgun in a plow truck put on a pair of gloves and shovel..
So there is a plus to global warming er, global cooling er ,, no wait…oh yeah…climate change. The Mayor is happy about it !
Everyone is happy to save money on snow removal but the fact is that for the last 14 months, every month has been warmer than the same month a year before. Despite decades of warnings, we have gonbe past the tipping point on global warming and the consequences will follow.
Albert – here’s an idea, shut your heat off at night, since it’s so warm and getting warmer with dire consequences coming, you really don’t need your heat at night – right?
Give it a shot.
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ANOTHER week has bone by and still no State Of The City update from Jimmy Taxman.
Are things “that” bad that now you’re not updating taxpayers as to what is going on?
What are you hiding mayor?
Jimmy Taxes…you bought a city vehicle and hired employees with the sole purpose of driving around downtown to ticket as many cars as possible. YOU said the money generated through that new revenue source was to be used for the upkeep and beautification of downtown. Not surprisingly, you are not fulfilling that promise.
What is the money raised through all the ticketing going to be used for????