More than two days after the last snowflakes fell, Mayor Thomas M. Menino expressed frustration Monday at the pace of snow removal and said he was sorry that some of Boston’s side streets remained clogged and impassable.
“I apologize for it,” Menino said in an interview, when asked what he would say to people whose streets are still snowed in. “We’ll get there as quickly as possible. Sometimes you have to be patient in a storm of this magnitude.”
Comments
Mr. Mayor, I appreciate that apology. But, how about finding the sub contractors who were charged with plowing certain streets and put them on a suspension list for future city work. The public gave you a travel ban and our trust, so please investigate this mess. The tolerant folks of Boston are walking in the streets while the public officials overseeing snow removal are driving around in city vehicles. The management of this storm was almost a success for Boston!
I think Commissioner Joanne Massaro should resign Or face some tougher questioning. This snow removal glitch is serious.
Maybe we could have a hearing and get to the bottom of the Benghazi thing at the same time. And you're right Cranky, how come those people are allowed to ride in cars when I gotta walk? They should walk across the city. Mayor ought to do someyhing about that.
"....a dizzying obstacle course of towers of snow and puddles of slush." Very nice, Andrew. But
"cowpath-like streets" is a bit hackneyed.
Given the size of the storm, nothing was going to be perfect. However, the poor response to this storm points to planning and management flaws. There have been storms roughly as large as this in the recent past where snow removal was better. Why doesn’t the city review snow removal approaches of cities such as Montreal to get new ideas? I’m not suggesting a wholesale adoption of how they do it for it is really expensive, however, there may be areas of the city where those approaches can be adopted.
Think of what major cities like Denver could do with the luxury of a travel ban to tackle snow logged streets. Instead, cities like Denver, Montreal and others deal with severe snowstorms while traffic is still attempting to move. We are going to see another day of school closures. Nothing against the dedicated workers who did clear roads, but some neighborhoods were totally ignored! I hope we learn something from this. I've been in Bostera the past three days and I was surprised by the lack of coordination in attacking this snow.
How about mentioning the lazy $st&rds digging out their cars throwing the snow back in the street!!!
This is a good point.
Would be nice if the city would adopt a policy of pushing the snow somewhere OTHER than the wheelchair curb cutouts. As a non-car-owner it's very frustrating to see, at literally every single intersection, that the street has been plowed at the expense of pedestrian access.
there are "snow farms" where they can deposit the snow to. But only the fancy pansies get that service.
The major arteries are clear I understand? The Governor and Mayor have done as good a job as could be done.
I remember in 1978 my brother and thousands of others were stranded on Rt 128 and the Masspike during that historic storm. We were not prepared then as we are now.
Yes there are clogged side streets and it will be a major inconvenience for a couple more days. All in all I think that the Mayor and Public Works Commissioner Massaro should be complimented for trying their collective best in dealing with this storm!
Remember that 24 inches of snow fell in a 24 hour period. As I recall in 1978 there were two back to back snow storms (with very high tides)
I must confess that I am in Florida and would like to be back in Massachusetts! How about that Global Warming? How is that working for ya?
The main trouble seems to be on the streets where people didn't remove their cars on Friday before the brunt of the storm. There was a parking ban from noon on Friday, but too many folks thought it was for the other guy - "Not me!". Unless the plows were going to be able to scoop up the cars parked on BOTH SIDES of the roads, how could they have plowed the streets?
Mayor Menino did a very poor job of planning for this storm. What about the empty garages in Boston? Why were no plans made for Boston residents to access empty garages to get their vehicles off the street? Honestly_Menino is thinking and acting too novice for someone who has occupied City Hall for much too long.
Not to worry, Tommy. It's George Bush's fault.