Swampscott Eyes Another Heavy Snow

DPW is still hauling away snow from the Blizzard of 2013, a storm that dug deep into the town's winter budget.

  Two weeks after the historic blizzard that buried Swampscott under two feet of snow Department of Public Works crews are still hauling snow from piles at intersections and dead ends. Meanwhile, DPW Director Gino Cresta has his eyes on a possible late-weekend snowstorm that forecasters say could drop anywhere from six inches to a foot in the Boston area. The brewing storm was too distant to gauge likely impact, forecasters said Wednesday night, but if deep wet snow arrives it would have a heavy impact on Swampscott's snow removal budget. Already this season the town has spent $140,000 of its $170,000 snow removal funds, the director said. Most of the $140,000 went to battling the Feb. 9 and 10 storm, the dollars covering expenses …

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Sand, Salt and Plows Ready for Oddball Storm

Coastal communities could get smacked hard by the offshore storm.

  It remains to be seen how much snow will fall on Swampscott Monday night and into Tuesday but the Department of Public Works has its trucks and contractor call list ready. DPW Director Gino Cresta said 14 DPW trucks are ready to go. Crews start salting and sanding roads once the snow flies. When a couple inches accumulate they start plowing their routes, he said. The rule of thumb is four inches brings in outside help.  After four inches of snow the town calls in contractors to help plow, the director said.  The timing of this storm could make driving difficult since the snow is forecasted to fall before and during the early commute. There is also school to consider. The DPW director typcially gets an early call — about 4 a.m. — from the…

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Slick Conditions Lead to Minor Accidents and Traffic Back-Ups

Cars have got stuck on hilly roads including Burpee Road and Greenwood Avenue.

  Roads are slippery, traffic was backed up around schools earlier and there have been cars getting stuck and some minor accidents this morning. The roads are slippery under a coating of about an inch and a half of snow, said DPW Director Gino Cresta. Cars have got stuck on hilly terrain including Greenwood Avenue and Burpee Road. Fire and police have responded to several minor accidents, according to scanner traffic.  The fire department went out on calls to Paradise Road, Puritain Road and Buena Vista Street, according to the department. DPW trucks were out at 7 salting and scraping the roads, the DPW director said. The director advises drivers to use caution. The roads remain slippery. Traffic around the schools were backed up earlier …

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David Arsenault

4:07 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Too bad you didn't get the number on the truck. You could had reported it to Gino. Better yet if the victims saw what he looked like they could had gone to the yard at 3:15 and confronted the a-hole.   more ›

Water Main Bursts on Atlantic

Crews finished the repair, wrapping a cracked pipe, early Monday morning.

  A water main that broke on Atlantic Avenue near Preston Court on Sunday night about 8 was repaired by 3 a.m. Monday. Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said the crack in the line was likely due to it being an old water main — aged infrastructure. Water seeped through the road and ran to a stormwater drain. The director called in a contractor to do the work. The crew had to cut through nine inches of asphalt before they could dig down to the broken pipe, he said. They wrapped the line before filling the hole and patching the asphalt.

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Sea Notes: Stories on the Swampscott Waterfront

VIDEO: Fisherman's Beach Gets a Test Cleaning

Town officials watched a surf rake do its thing last week in a 20-minute demonstration, cleaning about 10 percent of the beach.

  The way DPW crews clean Fisherman's Beach now is they drag it with a York rake and dump the collected sea vegetation at the waterline for the tide to carry it off. Sometimes it does; sometimes it doesn't, says DPW Director Gino Cresta. Last week town officials watched a surf rake sweep back and forth over the Fisherman's Beach sand. Its conveyor pulled algae, eel grass and rocks from the shore, and bottle caps, cigarette butts and glass from the top of the beach near the wall. The stuff went into a hopper, which lifted and tilted and dumped the collection in piles. Pulled by a tractor, the surf rake cleaned about 10 percent of the beach in 20 minutes. And that included stops to demonstrate dumping, turning and other features. It will …

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Rash of Tree Fallings Continue Wednesday

A third tree has fallen in town since Saturday, this one was blocking traffic on Salem Street as of 9:30 am.

  The third tree to fall since Saturday dropped across Humphrey and Salem Streets shortly before 9:30 Wednesday morning. Police and Public Works crews responded to the scene to direct traffic and clear the roadway, said Public Works Director Gino Cresta. Humphrey was opened to traffic but Salem Street remained closed as of 9:40 am. Unlike yesterday's and Saturday's falling trees, this one did not hit a vehicle. The director said the Humphrey/Salem tree was 18-inches around and hollow in the middle, rotted out. It still had leaves and the weight from heavy rain may have toppled it, the director said. On Tuesday, a 61-year-old driver from Marblehead was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital about 2:30 pm after a tree fell on his SUV …

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SHS Girls Basketball Car Wash Saturday Sept. 1

The girls will be developing their teamwork early — a fast break of sorts — when they wash cars Saturday at the DPW garage on Paradise Road from 9 am to 1 pm.

  This article was submitted by supporters of Swampscott High basketball. The first student-run car wash of the school year is here, and none too soon for those of you who have been procrastinating getting your car washed. The SHS Girls Basketball team — arguably the hardest working team in town — is washing cars on Saturday, Sept. 1, from 9-1 at the DPW garage, 200 Paradise Road. The rain date is Sunday. The team asks for a $5 donation. Proceeds will be used to help pay for buses to away scrimmages (the school only pays for buses to regularly scheduled games) and participation in a fall league with most of the other NEC teams.  Most of the girls are not playing a fall sport, but rather spending the fall getting ready for the winter …

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Presentation on Contracting Sewer and Water Services Tonight

Selectmen are scheduled to hear a presentation tonight from a company that maintains municipal sewer and water systems.

  A representative for a private company that maintains municipal sewer and water systems will make a presentation to the Board of Selectmen tonight. The board meets at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. Board Chairman Rich Malagrifa said Selectman Barry Greenfield invited the company to present.  As it stands, Swampscott Department of Public Works employees maintain the town's water and sewer system. Under any agreement with a private company, those services would be contracted to the private company, the chairman said. The chairman does not expect the board to take any action tonight. "(Ultimately), we will look at this and see if this is something we want to do," he said.  The services are supported by ratepayers through an enterprise fund. Also …

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Humphrey Street Paving Starts Mid-Month

The town selected a Melrose paving company for the work.

  Swampscott's Department of Public Works director said on Friday that Humphrey Street paving is scheduled to start in one week, on Aug. 13. This should be welcome news to many residents who have been eager for new asphalt on Humphrey. The street will be milled — the old asphalt removed and ground up — and paved from the Puritan Road and Atlantic Avenue split to the Marblehead town line. Salem Street will also be milled and paved, he said. This work is part of the town's regular road paving schedule and unrelated to the recent re-work of temporary trench paving by National Grid on the other end of Humphrey. As far as the upcoming project goes, it is unclear yet at which end the Melrose paving contractor will start . The town selected the …

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Wet, Dry and Things That Fly

One Suitor So Far For The Swampscott Tarantula

The Swampscott animal control officer received a phone message from an ASPCA person who inquired about having the tarantula shipped to a far-off destination.

  Swampscott Animal Control Officer Diane Treadwell is not fond of arachnids but she has been getting use to caring for the tarantula found Monday at the Swampscott Cemetery. So far she has received one inquiry from a person interested in adopting the tarantula, which she has nicknamed Harry Houdini. That call was a phone message left from an ASPCA representative who is interested in having Harry shipped to their location. Harry is eating well and got a bath of sorts on Monday night — a misting, mist sprayed from a bottle of water, said the animal control officer. A few more details have emerged about how Harry came into the town's possession. On Monday morning a former Department of Public Works employee, Steve Caproni, had parked over by…

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