Whoever Shoveled The Alleyway, THANK YOU!

Whoever did the shoveling in our alleyway this morning was great!
Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like they were trying to do it without disturbing the residents up above.
If I could afford it I would have 'tipped' them for being so conscientious! And if I wasn't half-asleep (and trying to remain that way) I would at least have thanked them [quietly].
It's much easier putting up with the seasonal noises like clearing snow if you know someone's at least trying to minimize their part.

Readers should keep in mind that those of us living on the south side of the Endicott building have endured over a year of construction noise, dust, and at times extreme vibrations while the Concord Commons building was being built.

As I've written before, I've gone through two air conditioners that have prematurely died from all the fine dirt that settled on our building during the construction, and what used to be (when I moved in) a nice bright apartment, is now dark, with a view of a brick wall and the unfinished floors of the Concord Commons building.


On another note, I thought I'd share my latest experience with the new parking garage.
I've been parking my car inside the new parking garage every time it's snowed to stay out of the way of Brochu's snow plows in the Market Basket parking lot where most of us park. After having Lenny(?) (he said he was Red's son) plow snow into all four sides of my little hatchback one time, and then curse me out* when I asked him about it, I've decided to pay the cost of parking instead of going through that again.

That experience aside, during the last big storm several days ago I parked in the new parking garage over the weekend. When I went to leave (Tuesday I believe) I had a envelope on my windshield containing a letter from the parking department and a parking stub to use.
You see the parking gate had to be left up during the storm, so there were cars inside that didn't get a stub/ticket when they entered. I thought it was great that the parking division went to the trouble of providing a parking stub and letter** explaining the situation. What they might not have accounted for though, were the folks like me who didn't leave on Monday morning.

When I took their supplied ticket stub and tried leaving, the system wouldn't let me. So, I went up to the 3rd floor pay station and stuck the ticket in to see if I had to pay something. The ticket popped back out with a message telling me to "See the cashier". Huh? I thought what 'cashier'?
I then tried calling the Concord police/parking department, twice, no answer, the phone system just sent me back to the beginning of the automated message....

By this time I was really frustrated. I had a doctor's appointment at 1 PM and it was 12: 55! My car and I were being held hostage inside the garage! Finally, thanks to another resident of the Endicott who was there paying he suggested that I try the 'call-box' down at the exit gate. I'd forgotten all about that in my panic so I thanked him and rushed down to the exit and pushed the button. After a short delay a helpful woman listened to my plight but had never heard of the "See cashier" message I'd received when trying to pay (I wish I had my camera so that I could have taken a picture),
and finally lifted the gate manually (by remote from PD). She was great and wished me good luck as I sped off to my appointment.

When I returned later that day to park inside again (because of ANOTHER expected snow) there was a serviceman already there to check the system! I must say even though there are obviously some bugs to work out with the new garage (and hopefully some additional pay stations) the parking department is staying on top of the situation. Now they need to work on their phone system! It's not good when you can't get someone on the line and you're caught in a unending phone system circle.

I'm sure Dave Florence (of the parking dept.) will adjust his procedures accordingly for the next big snow storm that will surely come. Every time I've dealt with him (and everyone else in the parking division for that matter) he's been pleasant to deal with and quick to respond.



* The younger Brochu said that if I continued to complain that he'd "make sure nobody from the Endicott could park there"... and since it was about a week before Christmas he added "Merry F****** Christmas!". Nice, huh?
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**Copy of parking letter:

Monday, December 17, 2007

Due to the fact that the entry gate was left in an open position it is likely that you do not have an exit ticket for the parking garage. Please use the ticket enclosed with this note as you exit ticket from the garage. This ticket DOES NOT need to be processed at the Automatic Pay Station - simply insert into the exit gate verifier and the gate will open.

Thank you for your use of the Capital Commons Garage. Please contact the Parking Control Unit with any questions about the facility.

Sincerely,

Dave Florence
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What Has Happened To Concord's Police Department?

This is hard for me to understand. Especially with all the negative press they've had lately. But unfortunately this morning at around 1:50 AM another representative of the Concord Police department has given them a black eye when dealing with the public. About fifteen minutes before that someone woke up everyone in the building who lives on the side facing the new Concord Commons building when someone from the city crew that was clearing snow used a snow blower to clear the alleyway between the buildings! If that wasn't bad enough, after they were done they continued with shoveling (that's what they should have done with the small amount of snow in the alley in the first place), but the person doing it kept banging his shovel on the wall of the building to knock the snow off. I finally opened my window and yelled at him that there were people trying to sleep up here, to which he yelled something belligerent! At that point I decided to call the police to make a noise complaint.

I called their non-emergency line, a woman answered the call and I proceeded to explain what the problem was. She immediately stated "there's nothing we're going to do about that"....
I started to say "but I thought there were noise laws...". The next thing I knew she had hung up on me. I just sat there, still holding the phone to my ear for close to a minute, trying to contemplate what had just happened. Just a few minutes before I was sleeping soundly, and now I was literally shaking with disbelief. I sat there for another minute or so and called the police back. I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I couldn't, and wouldn't stand for that kind of rude behavior from people who work for the public!

When the phone was answered it was by someone who identified himself as the shift supervisor. I explained what had just happened, along with my original complaint. This time I got a courteous person who took the time to listen to my complaint, and even though he also said there was nothing they could do, he explained that it was because because the snow removal crews weren't subject to the same noise laws that everyone else is.
He apologized for the behavior of the previous person and listened patiently as I continued to go on that I was able to understand the need to clear the streets at night, but that the job could have been done by shoveling alone instead of a snowblower, and also that the person doing it should have been more thoughtful towards the residents and definitely not belligerent like he was when told he was waking people up.


In all my dealings with the Concord Police over the years 99% of them have been professional and courteous. Every one of them was polite and helpful (except for that one rookie who treated me like a criminal after my late father's car had been towed away and I was distraught). That 99% seem like genuinely nice people. I have the utmost respect for them and the dangerous job they do, and the last thing they need is another example of one of them being rude to the people who pay their salary. What this woman who answered my call did was take a bad situation and compounded it by being curt and rude.

I'll be speaking to our local and state representatives about this latest episode and we'll find out what they have to say about it.

And one last thought.... The episode I just read about in the police log regarding a man who had just been released from prison after 30 years and was homeless was troubling. Sure he had been told to leave the building and was technically "trespassing" , but instead of arresting him, the human thing to do would have been to find him shelter for the night and steer him towards a public assistance program. Instead they sent him back into the system. How cold and heartless can you get? That's not the kind of society I want to belong to, and it's not the kind of society I believe we should strive for. Shame on the officer who made the decision to arrest him instead of giving him the help he so obviously needed.