Friday, February 15, 2013
Mayor Bettencourt says city plow crews will be out late Friday night clearing away snow from some major routes downtown to allow shoppers easier access to stores, restaurants and other places.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt says Main Street, Peabody Square, parts of Foster Street and other major routes downtown will be getting cleared out by plow crews tonight to help out businesses and make it easier for shoppers. "Tonight at 10 p.m. we're going to be doing a massive snow removal operation," said Bettencourt. "People are having difficulty parking and we want to make it easier for the businesses to operate and make it easier to get to the restaurants and shops." The City Council will also be sending a letter to downtown businesses as a reminder to shovel off their sidewalks to make foot traffic safer. In regard to further street plowing citywide, Bettencourt says, that's mostly completed now, except for pushing snow back at bus stops and…
42.5259
-70.927179
1 Peabody Sq, Peabody, MA
/articles/massive-snow-removal-planned-tonight-for-downtown
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
City plow crews continue to clear sidewalks and residential side streets days after blizzard first hit.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt got an up close and personal view of the job of city plow truck drivers this past weekend -- he spents several of the worst hours of the blizzard riding along in the cabs of city plows. "It was a long, hectic weekend," said Bettencourt Monday afternoon, adding he has even more respect now for the city's plow operators and the jobs they do. "It was great to see them in action." "Overall I am very happy with the job that we did on city streets," he said, giving great credit to the city workers and private contractors, who faced some extreme conditions throughout the worst of the storm -- Friday night into early Saturday morning. From near the start of the storm, the city called in the full complement of 100 or so …
Here's a quick look at how much got dumped on the North Shore over the weekend.
Monday, February 11, 2013
The city's elementary schools, middle school and high school will be open again Tuesday morning. The emergency parking ban, however, will remain in effect overnight and possibly longer if needed.
The Peabody Public Schools will be back in session Tuesday. Mayor Ted Bettencourt told Peabody Patch Monday afternoon around 5 p.m. that all the schools were cleared and some last touches were being performed to sidewalks. He said the high school was the last of the schools to be cleared this afternoon. "That was the last one and I think we're ready to go," he said. A notice to parents from Superintendent Joe Mastrocola was scheduled to be sent out via the ConnectEd system shortly, according to Bettencourt. He said over Sunday and Monday city plow crews focused on clearing bus stops, crosswalks and sidewalks along the "major walking routes" to and from the city's eight elementary schools and the middle school and high school. Additionally…
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William A. Welch Sr. Elementary School
50 Swampscott Ave, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-schools-back-open-tuesday
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42.529729
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J. Henry Higgins Middle School
1 King St, Peabody, MA
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1733441
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42.541929
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Peabody Veterans Memorial High School
485 Lowell St, Peabody, MA
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42.566061
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John E. Burke School
127 Birch St, Peabody, MA
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42.507733
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Captain Samuel Brown Elementary School
150 Lynn St, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-schools-back-open-tuesday
1755321
/locations/8790981
42.53173
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Thomas Carroll School
60 Northend St, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-schools-back-open-tuesday
1755330
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42.528556
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Center School
18 Irving St, Peabody, MA
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1755987
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42.539672
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John E. McCarthy Memorial School
76 Lake St, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-schools-back-open-tuesday
1756661
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42.514418
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South Memorial School
16 Maple Street Ext, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-schools-back-open-tuesday
1756680
/locations/8790985
42.549116
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West Memorial School
15 Bow St, Peabody, MA
/articles/peabody-schools-back-open-tuesday
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Here's a quick look at how much got dumped on the North Shore over the weekend.
This weekend's blizzard, so dubbed Nemo by the Weather Channel, dumped a lot of snow across Southern New England between Friday night and Saturday morning. Here's a look at how much was reported in cities and towns around the North Shore. The following chart is compiled from information released by the National Weather Service in Taunton based on unofficial observations taken during the storm. Reports come from highway departments, residents, news outlets, Skywarn spotters and others. You can see the rest of the numbers here for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Light, fluffy snow on rooftops can act as a sponge for rain, which is in the forecast for Monday. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency offers these tips.
There's no school in Peabody on Monday.
This resident was not happy with the situation once plows finished clearing her street.
- OPINION
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Monday, February 11
I live on Raymond Circle. If you come down Kingdom Terrace near the Center School and go to the end and take a right there is no way for two cars to get by! If you have ever been at drop-off or pickup at the school you would know that this is a heavily traveled area. This needs to be corrected or there will be accidents! Also continue down towards Raymond Circle and the road is one-car wide! I would appreciate this being corrected BEFORE there is an accident! All cars were off the road as requested so there was no reason for this to have been plowed like this. Dianne Hamilton, Peabody
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Center School
18 Irving St, Peabody, MA
/articles/letter-to-the-editor-woman-says-plowing-left-street-too-narrow-for-traffic
1755987
/locations/8784109
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Here are some of readers' favorite places to hit the hills in their sleds.
Breaking out the sleds and snow tubes today? There's definitely plenty of snow to play in. Here are some favorite sledding spots around Peabody, according to our readers: And we also understand there's good sledding to be had at Higgins Middle School on the Perkins Street side. A number of Facebook readers also gave shout out to other area favorites: And one reader shared a little nostalgia. Gordon Wasson writes: When the snow got covered over and turned to ice, the old Kennedy Jr. High was always great back in the day. It's all grown over now. It's a shame, kids don't know what they are missing.
Light, fluffy snow on rooftops can act as a sponge for rain, which is in the forecast for Monday. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency offers these tips.
With rain in Peabody's forecast for Monday, the Blizzard of '13 may not be finished wreaking havoc in Massachusetts. While temperatures dropped overnight on Friday resulting in light, fluffy snow, he Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) warns that fluffy snow piled high on roofs can act as a sponge, absorbing rain and adding additional stress to structures. Relatively flat roofs are particularly vulnerable, MEMA says. In other cases, roof ice dams have formed causing water build-up, leading to interior damage. These conditions can accelerate the snowmelt. To minimize the risk of over-stressing a building roof due to accumulated or drifting snow: Information from a release by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) …
John Castelluccio
8:33 am on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Karen and Elena D., just to provide some perspective in regard to finances of snow and ice removal, the city only budgets a certain amount each year (about $550,000) and generally speaking, on the rare occasion that there would actually be money left in that account at the end of the year, it would go either toward balancing the budget or into the city's reserves. That expense would then be reset… more ›