ParkingBan has spoken to almost 400 people and almost 70% of its buddies are signed up for active notifications of the Winter Parking Ban. Here’s some other fun facts:

Number of IMs sent/received: 21,587
Learned responses: 527
Popular words: yes, no, help, hi, hello, skip, hey, Kate, WPI, bye, Adam
Users since 01/01/2007: 76
Records of street information: 2,853

4 out of 5 of our top users are girls, so yes, girls talk way more than boys!

Last winter I received many Worcester parking tickets some of which I did not think were valid. I appealed them to the parking administrator; not all of them were dismissed, but some of them were indeed reduced. That is a story for another day.

I recently learned of someone I know who received a parking ticket this winter, appealed it, and had it completely dismissed. His story, and some documentation, follows.

Patrick parked his car on Institute Road near the WPI football field but farther up the road from Park Avenue than the light post marking the end of the legal parking zone. After receiving a ticket, Patrick took photos (below) of the approximate location of where he parked and the sign indicating the area of no parking. He included the photos with a letter to the parking administrator and had a friend sign the letter as well to verify his statements. Shortly after, Patrick received a letter (below) dismissing his ticket, and he also noticed that the faded sign had been replaced.

Photos of the location of Patrick’s car was parked and the “sign” indicating no parking (click for larger view):

Copy of the letter Patrick received dismissing his ticket (click for larger view):

If you have stories of parking or tickets, please send them to blog@parkingban.org.

Last week was wild! First of all, I had a few internal issues which did not allow for updates to this site, but everything should be back to normal now. Sorry for the hiatus!

Anyway, there were three declared parking bans in Worcester last week! Each had me a little bit confused:

• Tuesday, January 30: The ban was declared late in the afternoon to go into effect at 10 p.m. The weather forecast called for less than one inch of snow, so the only reason I could imagine there was a declared ban is that the folks at DPW&P were getting antsy and wanted to declare a ban before January was over. Sure enough, there was hardly a trace of snow and no real reason for a ban. My notifications did work though! Did you notice the change in the Web site banner?
• Thursday, February 1: A mysterious declared parking ban. The city did not let me know of this ban, and I am still skeptical whether there actually was one. I did not find out until the next morning when I received notification that the ban was lifted! No notification went out, but there was no snow anyway. Certainly there was a miscommunication somewhere!
• Friday, February 2: Despite the prediction of an early spring, there was snow in the forecast once again. Still this time the forecast called for less than one inch. The trend of the week led to a declared parking ban in effect as of 8 p.m. I didn’t think it was necessary due to the timid forecast, but my notifications went out anyway. The Worcester officials must have had different information than me, though, because several inches fell!

One other enhancement: if you ask me “Is there a parking ban?” I will now respond definitively with an answer of whether or not a parking ban is declared.

Happy Parking!

OCMs (that’s on camera meteorologists) love to throw the term “wintry mix” around when there is going to a messy winter weather situation where the temperature will be at or around the 32 degrees Fahrenheit mark. Wintry mix is not an official weather term, but it is used to describe a situation in which a combination of sleet, snow, freezing rain, or rain will fall. So, the question becomes: what are sleet, snow, freezing rain, and rain? Well, here are some un-scientific explanations:

• Rain is typical precipitation; it consists of separate drops of water fall from clouds to the surface of the earth. I think most of us are familiar with rain.
• Snow consists of water droplets that are in a frozen, crystalline form. Many of us are familiar with snow. Snow falls from cloud to surface in at- or below-freezing temperatures for its entire journey (usually).
• Freezing rain consists of non-frozen water droplets at the time of impact at the surface. These water droplets are rain, but when they reach the surface, which is at or around the freezing temperature, they freeze into ice. This ice has the tendency to leave a significant coating (up to inches) on surfaces: roads, trees, cars, power lines, et cetera. Freezing rain may begin as frozen precipitation at higher levels of the atmosphere.
• Sleet is precipitation that reaches the surface frozen but has melted and fallen as rain through part of the atmosphere. Sleet can be described as being ice pellets (similar to, but not the same as, hail). Sleet usually begins as frozen precipitation, melts on the way down, and then refreezes.

As I said, rather non-scientific explanations. I didn’t use these as references—not that it matters—but they have much more detail:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintry_mix
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing_rain
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleet

Now that most college students in Worcester have returned for the spring semester and more wintry weather has finally made an appearance, ParkingBan is hoping for some more action. If you haven’t already, you may see the ad below on Facebook the next few days. Give ParkingBan a shot; as soon as is necessary, ParkingBan will not fail to alert you of the situation.

Finally Worcester may experience some winter weather. The National Weather Service predicts freezing rain, a wintry mix, some snow, and some rain for the 36 hours leading through Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (keep in mind this holiday delays Worcester trash collection by one day this week). I do not expect this system will result in a parking ban, but the so-called “weather rainbow” does indicate that Worcester County is in a winter weather advisory.

I’ll work on a feature explaining the differences among rain, freezing rain, sleet, and snow and what a “wintry mix” really means for next time.

This weather is not how I would expect 2007 to start.  I certainly hope that it snows enough for a declared winter parking ban sometime in 2007.  Happy New Year and Happy Parking!

A public service announcement from the Worcester Department of Public Works and Parks:

CHRISTMAS TREE DISPOSAL

Worcester residents may dispose of their Christmas trees at one of the three drop-off sites December 26th through January 13th. The sites will be open daily, weather permitting from 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Christmas trees will not be collected at the curb. No yard waste will be accepted at the sites during this time—only Christmas trees.

3 Drop-Off Sites:

• Millbury Street (formerly Ballard Street, next to the VFW Post)
• Chandler Street (in the parking lot across from Foley Stadium)
• Clark Street (near East Mountain Street intersection)

As indicated in the comments, ParkingBan received mention on the Elm Park Neighborhood Association Web site. If and when you see ParkingBan in the news, post in the comments or send a note to media@parkingban.org.

ParkingBan received coverage in today’s issue of Worcester Magazine.  An excerpt:

Which leads us to the worst part of winter parking in Worcester: figuring out exactly when the declared parking ban is on or off or what-have-you on your street. To that end, there’s a new solution: Two WPI grads have created ParkingBan.org, a site that promises to alert users to parking ban info., weather updates, and news by way of instant message, text message, or e-mail.

Read the full article on worcestermagazine.com.