Montreal City Weblog

Kate 09:47 on 2021-01-17 Permalink Reply  

• Meezly 11:15 on 2021-01-17 Permalink

  I’m surprised they don’t make an exception for snow removal – wouldn’t it be more efficient to remove snow AFTER curfew, when there is no one on the roads or sidewalks, and everyone had moved their cars?

• Kate 11:36 on 2021-01-17 Permalink

  I think they will. It’s mostly a matter of making sure people move their vehicles before the curfew falls.

• Ephraim 12:40 on 2021-01-17 Permalink

  And how do you ensure that people are allowed to move their cars after curfew? It’s cheaper to get the parking ticket than the ticket for breaking curfew. And SPVM are power crazy at the moment… no one trusts them NOT to give you a ticket for moving your car.

• Kate 16:10 on 2021-01-17 Permalink

  The point of that story is that the warning signs will be put up an hour earlier than usual so people will have time to move their vehicles before curfew.

  After the snow is cleared, though, are you supposed to go out again to retrieve your car and bring it back to your street? What happens if you wait till the next day?

• walkerp 17:35 on 2021-01-17 Permalink

  If you are unlucky enough to own a car (my condolences) and you left it parked in the street, you better get it today because that snow is dense as hell and going to turn to solid ice overnight. You’ll need a jackhamer to get it out tomorrow.

• Mark Côté 11:27 on 2021-01-18 Permalink

  “After the snow is cleared, though, are you supposed to go out again to retrieve your car and bring it back to your street? What happens if you wait till the next day?”

  Depends on where you park it. There are designated lots that presumably you aren’t supposed to leave your car in longer than necessary, but I just park on another street that has already been cleared (mine is one of the last to be done) and move it back whenever I get around to it, usually a day or two later (I didn’t use my car often before covid, and now I’m actually worried that the battery might die because I use it so infrequently).

  Also it’s not uncommon for the snow to be cleared in the middle of the night, so for sure no one is waiting around then to move their car back the moment their street is clear.

• Kate 15:07 on 2021-01-18 Permalink

  Thanks, Mark Côté. I realized on writing this post that I had no idea how that worked.

• jeather 18:03 on 2021-01-18 Permalink

  I’m curious what will happen. According to info-neige, they are cleaning the west side tonight, and the east side tomorrow first thing. Usually everyone rushes to move to the west side as soon as it’s cleared (usually the delay is more than 12 hours though), but obviously you can’t overnight unless they happen to come very early. I will see or not, depending on how I sleep.

• mare 00:57 on 2021-01-19 Permalink

  Someone in our street had a very bad day.
  I was walking the dogs late, after curfew, because it’s nice and quiet. I saw him from a distance while I was walking in his direction, but on the other side of the street. He was standing next to his car, that apparently had been hit by a huge tree branch that had snapped from too weight of too much heavy wet snow. It was more like half a tree actually and had been moved onto the sidewalk and garden, and a tow truck was getting ready to pull his car out of the pile of snow. One of the tow truck crew was writing a ticket despite the man arguing that the insurance assessor hadn’t seen the damage yet so he couldn’t have dug out his car and move it. He was told to just use the photos for the insurance and he could use them to contest the ticket as well, but we have to tow you, and we have to give you the ticket. “And if the police passes you might get a ticket for breaking the curfew too.” I thought that last line was unnecessarily mean and expected the man to explode, but he just turned around and went inside, fuming.

  When I passed on my way back home, the car was gone, the tree branch was still on the sidewalk and when I write this, four hours later, the first snow clearing vehicle has yet to show up.

• Joey 10:13 on 2021-01-19 Permalink

  Given that we’re all supposed to be staying home, it would be great if the snow removal crews didn’t have to start at exactly seven. Two days in a row of the car-warning horns at 6:30 a.m. is a lot, no?