City of New Bedford Not to Blame, Early Parking Ban Was Best Bet

I'm just going to start by saying welcome to New England, where the weather is wacky and unpredictable, but there's always something.

New Bedford Issued 550 Tickets During Parking Ban

Chances are that you, the reader, are from the area and are accustomed to the seasons here on the SouthCoast. Since we are so close to the water, we don't normally get hit as hard with "weather" as some of the more inland communities do, but I'm sure this is nothing new to you.

At approximately 7 p.m. on Sunday night, a text was sent out to the residents of New Bedford, myself being one of them. It was a message from the City of New Bedford that read as follows:

"A snow emergency parking ban begins at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 1. Cars may be ticketed or towed after 8:00 a.m. on Monday. Trash and recycling pickup will be delayed by one day with no pickup on Monday. For residents with trash collected Monday, it will be collected Tuesday, and so on. Visit NewBedford-MA-Gov for more information."

Strange enough, there are so many people that are mad about the fact that the ban was put into place at an earlier time than normal. This shouldn't even be something to be mad about; if anything, the easier and quicker the plows can hit the roads without having to call a tow truck or the police, the better off for everyone. It's a win-win situation and it's nothing that we're not used to at this point.

Early Monday morning, I received an email from ABC6 StormTracker meteorologist Chelsea Priest, whose weather team was still trying to map out the storm, which was a pain from the beginning. The snow/rain line was so widespread that it made it difficult to forecast a smaller region of Massachusetts such as the SouthCoast. It was a weather system that had to be monitored by the hour as it was rapidly changing.

Regardless if the snow started falling hours after the parking ban was put into place or not, there was still a plan at play rather than nothing at all. To me, that's called being proactive and responsible. I know one thing for sure, being the person who has to make the call to put a parking ban into place to begin with is a job I do not envy. It truly doesn't get the full amount of respect and understanding that it deserves.

There are far more other important issues at hand in the world. I'm sure moving your vehicle eight feet to the other side of the road isn't going to ruin your day, but then again, my Facebook feed is telling me otherwise.

Remember, parking bans are not only temporary, but the one everyone is upset about was pretty quickly lifted. Everything's going to be quite alright.