Real snow, real emergency, no storm

This time, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone waited until snow plopped down on City Hall and his Prospect Hill home before declaring a snow emergency and sending residents scurrying to move cars to avoid parking tickets and tow trucks. After all, his first snow emergency as mayor, last January, had outraged residents who saw the city issue 3,000 tickets and tow 200 cars with nary a flake in sight.

''The weather is unpredictable," Curtatone said Monday, as city plows finished moving a foot of precipitation. ''When you call a snow emergency, you hope it snows."

Last January, during the first of three snow emergencies of his new tenure, Curtatone was harshly criticized by the ticketed and towed, who said the city inconsistently enforced snow parking regulations. Eventually, the mayor granted a universal amnesty, forfeiting $179,000 in fines.

City policy calls for the mayor to declare a snow emergency when a storm is predicted to drop four or more inches of snow. The emergency is to be declared six hours before a major storm, and residents are to be allowed four hours to move cars to the odd-numbered side of the street. But last Sunday, Curtatone appeared extra cautious, waiting until 6 p.m. Light snow was already falling at 5 a.m. at Logan Airport, and heavy snow was descending at 5 p.m., said Mike Jackson, a meterologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton.

Right after declaring the snow emergency, Curtatone advertised parking regulations on the city website, local cable channels, and TV and radio stations. Police circled neighborhoods, calling out from loudspeakers. And news went out to 1,400 subscribers to a snow-emergency e-mail list and to 200 people who called the 24-hour Snow Line, both created after the January storm that wasn't.

As officials waited for Eileen Costa, the systems coordinator, to record an automated message for residents, the mayor's chief spokesman, Mark Horan, and his assistant, Anne Roach, manned the City Hall switchboard, fielding 50 calls in 45 minutes.

''I'm sure there were a few jokes about making sure it does snow," said Lucy A. Warsh, a city spokeswoman. It did snow, plenty. The city issued 2,507 tickets, earning $125,000, and tow trucks removed 150 cars to help a fleet of new dark green plows navigate the city's narrow streets.

As of last Thursday, officials had not yet calculated the cost of salt, sand, and overtime for public works employees called in for the storm. Curtatone said he received few complaints about the tickets and towing, the result of what he called effective communication and consistently tough enforcement.

Curtatone also denied any indecision or leniency in his more cautious actions last week, saying the extra two-hour grace period on Sunday reflected heavy holiday traveling and the burden of moving visitors' cars. The slow and uncertain accumulation caused the delay in declaring the snow emergency, officials said.

Normal parking rules resumed at noon Monday, but City Hall was already threatening another snow-related penalty: a $25 fine for homeowners failing to shovel their sidewalks. ''We're very decisive," said Curtatone, who cruised city streets in a snow plow until 10 p.m. Sunday. ''I don't think anyone would be happy to be tagged or towed, but the rules are clear and predictable."

Benjamin Gedan can be reached at gedan@globe.com.