Water Main Break on Gay St. Handled by DPW

The minor break happened early Tuesday morning.

The Norwood Department of Public Works handled a water main break on Gay St. this morning, and had the system back up and running by noon according to Director Mark Ryan. The Norwood police received the report of the break early Tuesday morning and closed off a portion of the street for repair work. "Eight inch watermain had a crack in it," Ryan said. "Work began around 7:00 a.m. and pipe was fixed and water turned back on right before noontime." This is the latest break after several during the winter months, some minor but some causing significant damage - such as the break that occurred at Route 1 and Morse St. in November of last year. At the time there was some concern expressed in the town about the age of the water system as a whole…

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Keeping Us Safe, One Shovel at a Time

Clearing out the fire hydrants may seem like extra work, but it is a huge help to both the water and fire departments.

The Norwood Public Works Department is tasked with maintaining the water system in Norwood, including shoveling snow around fire hydrants to make them accessible during an emergency. There are 972 fire hydrants in Norwood, according to Department of Public Works Director Mark Ryan. The DPW, Board of Selectmen and Fire Department are asking residents help to clear the snow around fire hydrants in their neighborhoods. Fire Department Spokesman George Morrice issued a statement today, saying it is of "vital importance" that the hydrants be cleared for use in emergencies. It is also important, the statement reads, that driveways and walkways be cleared in case an ambulance needed to approach.

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How, And Why, To Properly Dispose of Your Christmas Tree

The Norwood DPW and MassDEP remind residents to be safe and environmentally conscious post-holidays.

As Norwood residents clean up those last remnants of the holidays, the Norwood Department of Public Works and Mass. Department of Environmental Protection want to remind folks to dispose of and recycle Christmas trees properly. The Department of Public Works will be picking up Christmas trees this week and next on the normal trash pick up days, according to the town website. Trees can also be brought to the Winter St. Composting Facility on Saturdays between 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. The DPW reminds residents to please make sure all ornaments, tinsel and tree bags are removed before leaving trees out for pick up. Why worry about disposal and recycling in the first place? The MassDEP says that each year Mass. residents buy one million cut …

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UPDATE: Blizzard Conditions in Store for Eastern Mass.

Norwood may not have gotten a white Christmas, but Sunday's weather report says snow.

UPDATE: A blizzard warning has been issued for most of eastern Massachusetts today, with snow starting mainly after 1:00 p.m. Total daytime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible today and another 7 to 11 inches.  After minimal accumulation from the last snowfall, Norwood saw a fairly green Christmas day, but the day after could bring belated winter weather according to the National Weather Service. Sunday's weather report calls for an 80 percent chance of snow throughout the day and night, with a high temperature of 34 degrees. For those headed out for post-holiday shopping deals today, the roads will be under the care of the Public Works department. Director Mark Ryan said during the last fall that anything under 2 inches of …

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Small Snow No Problem for Norwood Drivers

The public works department handled the slippery conditions with salt and sanding operations.

After this weekend's false snow alarm, yesterday's weather caused only minimal troubles for Norwood drivers. "The snow was not a problem," Director of Public Works Mark Ryan said in an email Tuesday morning. "We started salting at around 2:00 p.m. on Monday." Ryan said that the snow accumulation wasn't enough to merit a plowing operation. "Typically, anything under two inches requires only salting operation," he said. "We sanded until about 1:00 this morning. We had the sidewalk plows out at 3:30 a.m. to take care of Norwood Center, South Norwood and some school routes." According to the police logs from Monday, there were two motor vehicle accidents that resulted from icy conditions - both on state highways. In both cases there were no …

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DPW, Local Businesses Prepare for Winter Weather

The community is ready, whether the snow comes or not.

After a brief dusting on Wednesday, the community's focus turned to the supposedly incoming Noreaster for Sunday night into Monday. But as of last night the severity of the predictions had lessened greatly. The National Weather Service reported on its website that the storm's track is uncertain. However, at around 4 p.m. Friday, Channel 7 Chief Meteorologist Pete Bouchard Tweeted, "Hey Folks...it's off. Stand down on the major snow. Trading it in for flurries and wind. That is all." Despite the waffling reports, Norwood Public Works Director Mark Ryan said in an email to Norwood Patch Friday that his department is ready for whatever Mother Nature throws at them. "With the predicted storm, Public Work crews were actively preparing all of …

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Roadway Changes in Store for High School Project

The Board of Selectmen voted to allow for a change at Peabody Road and Nichols Street.

The Board of Selectmen gave general approval to Director of Public Works Mark Ryan and Town General Manager John Carroll to move forward in changing the intersection at Peabody Rd. and Nichols St. in conjunction with the high school construction project. Carroll and Ryan will meet with the Permanent Building Committee Tuesday night to discuss further details. "The idea here is to take a complicated and confusing intersection, simplify it, to pave the road going up to the high school and to put in granite curving on both sides of the street," Carroll told the board. The change would cost about $90,000, he said - a cost that both Carroll and Ryan said should be born by the high school project. Ryan said that even before the high school …

Week in Review, Dec. 5-10

A little holiday cheer and a lot of headlines.

On Monday the Norwood town meeting was postponed by request of the Board of Selectmen, who were concerned that the Patriots vs. Jets football game that night might prevent them from achieving the necessary quorum. When the town meeting members convened Thursday night the discussion centered around the article appropriating money for a new DPW yard and the Ellis Pond vegetation control program. The agenda was not completed and the remaining articles will be discussed this coming Monday. Patch got into the holiday spirit by shopping around for the best place to buy a tree in town and listening to the Norwood High Celtic Strings as they played holiday favorites for Barnes and Noble shoppers. The winter sports previews continued with a glimpse…

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New DPW Site Discussion Dominates Town Meeting

In part one of the special town meeting Thursday night, article 11 saw about 45 minutes of debate.

Article 11 of the town meeting agenda for Thursday night was a motion to appropriate $35,000 out of several accounts to get a preliminary design of a new Department of Public Works facility. The site in consideration is the current DPW site at Lyman Place. Selectmen William Plasko said that over the last ten years every possible location for a new DPW yard has been examined and subsequently shot down. The ideal placement, he said, was at Hennessey Field on Pleasant St., but the neighbors were resistant. Plasko said the search began, and continues, because the current facillities are completely unacceptable. "Every part of that facility is still totally inadequate," he said. Plasko and Town Manager John Carroll showed photos of the current …

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