North Shore bracing for blizzard

With the fourth snowstorm in three weeks forecast to hit Eastern Massachusetts late tonight, city Public Works directors and restaurant owners are making preparations and hoping a lot of white doesn’t get dumped on an evening devoted to pink and red.Rossetti’s Restaurant general manager Chris Rossetti made contingency plans for the downtown restaurant Friday even as he monitored forecasts indicating the storm will not roll in until late tonight.Valentine’s Day is not the busiest dining out night – Rossetti said Mother’s Day holds the first-place rank – but it is one of the busiest. And Rossetti and his staff are taking steps to accommodate guests while ensuring employees are not stuck in a blizzard.”It’s preparation and management,” he said.Lynn Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall used similar words Friday morning to describe efforts city officials are making to prepare for a storm that is predicted to stretch tonight into Sunday.Snow hauling operations aimed at reducing the mounds and mountains left behind by three previous storms will be suspended so that heavy equipment and contractors’ trucks focus on clearing local streets.Contractors using heavy loaders and big trucks dug up and hauled away snow starting Wednesday night – two days after state officials gave the city approval to dump snow in the ocean. Dumping is taking place at Blossom Street extension off the Lynnway and Hall said the hauling operation expanded from 12 pieces of equipment to 17 on Thursday with hauling taking place at night.As he geared up to coordinate plowing operations for another storm, Hall – who is enduring his first winter as DPW commissioner – urged drivers to make plans today to move cars off the street into school yards and the Market Street commuter garage.Hall said another storm adds new challenges for city workers, contractors and residents trying to clear snow from the city’s smaller side streets, terraces and courts.”I’m very concerned about the dead ends,” he said.City Council members with DPW’s help have shoveled and plowed snow out of many of these small streets, but Ward 3 Councilor Darren Cyr earlier this week said city officials are relying heavily on residents to look in on neighbors, especially older ones, and ensure they are safe.”Clearing these streets consumes a lot of resources and I’m sure if you ask residents they will say, ?What resources?'” Hall said.The Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce reminded businesses Friday to remove snow from parking lots and sidewalks so that pedestrians can avoid walking in the street.