Peabody Mayor Asks For Patience As Storm Cleanup Continues

PEABODY, MA -- His city may have been one of the first on the North Shore to lift a parking ban after the most recent winter storm dumped 22 inches on Peabody, but Mayor Ted Bettencourt is asking for residents to be patient as storm cleanup efforts continue. Unlike its neighbors, Peabody had minimal flooding in the three storms that hit the region in a span of 11 days, but there were plenty of downed limbs and snow removal efforts are expected to continue.

"We have a tremendous amount of work ahead of us as we clean up from these brutal storms. However, I want to ask Peabody residents for their patience in the short term," Bettencourt said in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon. "Many of our employees have working double and triple shifts the past couple of weeks and are understandably exhausted. We do have crews out working diligently on tree removals, sidewalks, potholes and general cleanup and I assure you we will be getting to your neighborhood soon."

Bettencourt said the city is working with JRM, its waste contractor, to schedule a week in the spring for residents to dispose of downed limbs and debris that may have littered their properties over the past two weeks. Bettencourt said dates for that pickup will be announced when they are finalized.

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Photo of Monday's snowstorm in the Crystal Lake area of Peabody by Craig Caplan.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).