The late Mayor Tom Menino would have by no means let this occur.
Three days after a serious snowstorm hit Boston with practically two ft of snow, many sidewalks and aspect streets stay snow-clogged – forcing individuals and kids to take their probabilities strolling within the slushy streets.
Hyde Park Avenue was just like the Wild Wild West, with motorists dodging enormous snow banks, pedestrians, faculty youngsters and MBTA bus riders who have been compelled off the sidewalks. Some pissed off householders merely tossed the snow into the center of the streets.
It’s wintertime in Wutopia.
Your complete metropolis is a Slip and Fall case for Morgan & Morgan.
And the place is Mayor Michelle Wu?
Off to Washington D.C. to hobnob with the elite, burnish her nationwide credentials and brag concerning the metropolis’s alleged low crime price.
Wu apparently thinks it’s high quality to depart town in such a harmful situation, which is squarely the fault of her administration.
Wu deserves an F for storm cleanup in Boston, which remains to be stricken by unsafe situations for pedestrians and motorists.
And no excuses about how property house owners must be shoveling their very own sidewalks and fireplace hydrants so that they’re clear three hours after the tip of a storm. That’s a cop out.
After getting hit with a 13% property tax hike, it’s an insult to damage to pressure individuals out into the frigid air to shovel heavy moist snow. Inform that to the emergency docs treating a surge in coronary heart assaults this week.
Menino prided himself as an “city mechanic” who bought the streets plowed on time and on finances.
“If we work collectively as a metropolis, we’ll preserve issues operating easily throughout the winter months,” Menino wrote in a newspaper column in 2009.
And when that didn’t occur, he owned as much as it.
After a 20-inch snowstorm in Feb. 2013, Menino publicly apologized for the gradual tempo of cleanup, which left many aspect streets and sidewalks impassable. Faculties have been closed for 3 days, which additional irked Menino.
The mayor blamed the gradual cleanup on the plow contractors but additionally took duty, and launched a full investigation of the Public Works Division’s poor efficiency.
“We’ll get there as rapidly as doable,” he promised. “Typically you need to be affected person in a storm of this magnitude.”
Even Gov. Deval Patrick was good sufficient to not flee town in the course of the storm’s aftermath, and toured the flooded houses and streets in Scituate.
When he was mayor, Raymond L. Flynn rode with the snowplow drivers to supervise storm cleanup. It created an indelible picture in residents’ minds and was a giant purpose Flynn bought re-elected handily.
Within the Sunday storm this week, Wu phoned it in – actually. She known as in to native TV stations to offer updates on the cleanup and posted on social media about how a lot snow was faraway from roadways and crosswalks.
“Thanks to our Public Works groups working 24/7 to clear the snow,” she wrote on Fb. “One of the best ways to report snow points and different issues that want town’s consideration to 311 is with the BOS:311 app.”
Are you able to think about Tom Menino lecturing residents to make use of town app?
This week, Boston faculties have been closed for 2 days as a result of sidewalks have been impassable and a few streets clogged with snow.
That’s not adequate.
In an replace for the media, Boston Public Works claimed to be working “24/7 to clear snow, widen roadways, enhance visibility round intersections and to make sure secure entry to crosswalks and curb ramps.” And Public Works warned residents they’ll problem citations to those that don’t preserve a 42-inch huge path of journey.
“As of this morning, Code Enforcement issued 332 violations and has continued to reply to complaints all through the day and will probably be working an in a single day shift,” based on Anne Roach, communications director for the Workplace of Streets.
BPW provided the media a photograph op of town’s snow farms. That’s it. A lot for transparency.
“Public Works just isn’t scheduling interviews right now,” Roach stated.
Subsequent time a giant storm hits, which could possibly be this weekend, Wu must be extra seen and never go away town’s residents and guests within the lurch.
Possibly she must be much less centered on making TikTok movies about President Trump, and extra centered on protecting town secure.
