Mayor Michelle Wu has touted her administration’s achievements in making Boston more accessible by bike, public transit, or on foot.
None of that matters if you can’t navigate snow-clogged crosswalks, unshoveled pavement, or bus stop islands filled with snow. And we’ve had to since Winter Storm Fern paid us a visit last month.
Dealing with snow should be Mayoral Management 101 in a city like Boston. It used to be.
Marty Walsh had a plan for dealing with snow emergencies and parking bans when he was mayor. “When we previously had a difficult storm in 2018, the city notified the community that additional snow removal needed to occur along some of these routes, and used snow removal equipment to allow for additional travel and parking space on L Street,” Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn said in a letter he sent last Friday to Wu and Interim Chief of Streets Nick Gove.
Flynn said he’s received more calls and messages from residents and businesses than he has in previous snowstorms. The main thread: it’s bad out there, help.
That’s not hard to believe: Encountering snow-choked pathways and streets has been a hot topic among residents since the storm. It’s also been top of mind with state Sen. Nick Collins, who requested that the state step in to help the City of Boston clear snow due to the citywide “public safety issue” that’s persisted since the storm.
Collins made his end run around Wu Tuesday in a letter to Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Phillip Eng and Massachusetts Port Authority CEO Richard Davey, saying that their help “would be delivering an enormous service to taxpayers.”
Collins wants “MassDOT, the MBTA, and the Massachusetts Port Authority’s crews and contractors to help the city clear snow from public streets and ways.”
That raspberry blown to Wu shouldn’t be necessary, although the thought of Phil Eng taking charge of the snow mess is a heady one. For one thing, it’s not the state’s job to handle the Hub’s snowfall. Wu has a budget of $4.8 billion, surely there’s a set-aside for snow clearance. She’s spent millions on shiny new bike lanes and championed fare-free bus routes. Laudable, unless the walk to the bus stop is impassable.
That $4.8 billion comes from taxpayers, who deserve to get at the very least basic services for the buck. Property taxes in Boston have spiked 13%, homeowners are paying to have the streets and sidewalks clear, and then some.
Wu’s office responded to a Herald inquiry about Collins’ letter by providing a statement from Gove.
“I want to thank our dedicated staff and contractors for their tireless commitment,” Gove said. “Our teams have maintained 24/7 operations to restore neighborhood access and ensure the city remains mobile. This is a massive undertaking that requires total coordination.
“Recovering from a storm of this magnitude requires a collective citywide effort.”
A “citywide effort” that’s heavy on an effort by the city. Anything less is a snow job.
