Huh? Boston Public Schools closed tomorrow
By adamg - 12/20/09 - 7:56 pm
Really? Really. Says so right at the top of the city Web site.
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Really? Really. Says so right at the top of the city Web site.
Comments
Presumably they didn't bother to clear enough streets...
... to allow school buses to run safely. Our street was largely ignored (and has a lot of morning school bus traffic).
I'm betting it's more the sidewalks than the roads
Speaking of which, a plow just went down our street, then did it again. In any case, bad sidewalks are how they've explained some snow days in recent years.
icy sidewalks
isn't that what YakTrax are for?
I still dont understand why
I still dont understand why the city plows the streets but does not plow sidewalks?
Institutions like BU and Harvard have mini plows that clear up their sidewalks much faster than a person with a shovel could.
It does not make sense to leave the sidewalk up to each individual property owner
Can someone shed some light
Can someone shed some light on the history of this inefficient practice?? Why don't we just make homeowners maintain the sewer, water and other public infrastructure in front of their property?
Not a bad idea
The work would more likely actually get done if that were the case.
why is Menino anti pedestrian?
Its a terrible system that really speaks to how indifferent Mayor Menino is to pedestrians and users of public transit. Even if he enforced the shovel your own widewalk rule, which he doesn't, it isn't required until hours after the storm stops. So the morning after a storm, when people in Boston are trying to get to the T to get to work, we have to walk in the streets, which are plowed, since the sidewalks are intermittently shoveled, at best.
All he cares about is that the wealthy people with cars can drive to work. Does anyone know why he is so against making Boston pedestrian friendly?
NU
NU has the same thing. my street in JP is largely ignored as well, including the sidewalks. and my landlord tends to take his/her time in getting things cleared. snow sucks.
If you don't like waiting for
If you don't like waiting for your landlord to shovel then do it yourself. What makes you too good to do a bit of shoveling? Can you take your own garbage out?
Whit
It also doesn't make sense
It also doesn't make sense not to institute and even / odd parking ban over two days and plow to the curb.
In fact, some asshole city contracted plow decided it be a fine idea to plow a huge mound of snow up and onto the corner of a sidewalk in my neighborhood. I'll have to take a picture, but it appears no one will be using those two sidewalks, or the corner crosswalk until spring.
Welcome to Boston!
No place else to put it
Seriously, that's the problem, there's only so many places you can put the stuff. Hopefully (but not likely???), this is just for the short term, and the snow will be trucked away later.
well obviously you put it on
well obviously you put it on the sidewalk... this is "america's driving city", after all. God forbid we lose one or two parking spots on every street
Blocking the crosswalk is a
Blocking the crosswalk is a good place to put the snow???? Whats wrong with you?
What makes more sense, blocking a single parking spot, or making life hell for the dozens of people who need to cross the street (and making it simply impassable for wheelchairs)?
I wonder if anyone has ever sued using the ADA as justification?
Think about how plows work
I didn't say what they did was right and fair, but think about how a plow works. Also, think about a corner and how it is the confluence of two streets, and how all the snow in the middle of the intersection has to go somewhere, and again, how a plow works. A plow doesn't have a whole lot of control where the snow ends up - it just ends up there. Yes, it would be nice if you leave the snow 20 feet further down the intersection in a parking spot and leave the crosswalks open, but a plow can't do that.
Also, plowing in a congested area like the city is a two-step process:
1. the frenzy during the storm to keep the streets clear
2. removal after the storm using loaders, trucks, etc
And thats why the city should
And thats why the city should own and use sidewalk plows which can then plow the sidewalk, including the ramp into the intersection.
This isn't theory, colleges have sidewalk plows which do the job, the city should as well.
No argument there
Yes, that would help, but there still is no place to put the snow when dealing with a corner during a good sized storm like this one. It actually needs to be picked up and trucked out, and that would happen the day after the storm, at the earliest.
City and the sidewalks
The city doesn't even bother to shovel the walks for the property that they own, at least here in Roxbury. There are a number of parks and BRA lots in the Highland Park area that never see a shovel unless the neighbors actually do it themselves.
Just got the robocall from BPS
Mentioned something about the anticipated nature of tomorrow morning's commute.
City of Boston: "We give up."
There's going to be nothing different about tomorrow, it's going to be cold. Tuesday will have the same weather as the next five months. How much time do they need to make the city passable? Things are really going to be so different Tuesday morning? They did this last year too --- just gave up before Christmas.
Webmaster must be snowed in, too.
I like that PLACEHOLDER IMAGE across the top of the city's website.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/TridionImages/placeholder_tcm1-64.gif
Pathetic
Pathetic.
It's only going to get worse...
...for the next four years.
the text
The emailed text to BPS parents tonight:
So they think there will be some icy roads somewhere in the city. My street looks like wet asphalt, not snow or ice.
Are there still any streets with snow on them?
And, for the record, last year BPS just cancelled the last few days of school all at once. They have not done so this year.
One more consideration
How many kids are currently NOT stranded on the MBTA because school is closed?
School System Employees will NOT BE DENIED!
How dare Mother Nature have snow fall early on a Sunday! They'll get their snow day anyway....take THAT mother nature!
I'm only surprised that the state house isn't closed.
When a snow day falls on a
When a snow day falls on a Sunday, school workers celebrate it on Monday - it the law.
'snow holiday
In our system, we've already lost two days to the senate race because schools close for elections. Pretty much every snow day will be a make up day at the end. 180 days is 180 days.
Why should schools close for elections?
It is educational for kids to see the voting process in action. There is no reason to close a school for it.
Plenty of reasons
Need for parking, especially for residents with handicap placards. Mounting body count when impaired voting people mistake the brake and gas pedal. Use of the cafeteria means students can't use it - means students can't eat because food is banned in classrooms due to allergy incidents and integrated pest management practices. Need to keep randoms from wandering the halls.
Lots of reasons.
Interesting
Boston has the same issues (especially with all the tiny old schools it has), yet it keeps schools open for voting. Dear Medford: Ask Boston; it can be done, we've yet to have a senior in an '85 Eldorado plow down any students.
Where did schools close?
Certainly not in Boston!
In addition to the valuable civic lessons the kids can get from being forced to use different entrances or whatever, elections provide a chance for them to help support their schools by buying some of the brownies their parents make.
Medford
Reasons are stated above. The schools became polling places because they are accessible.
Doesn't stop brownie sales, though. We still got those.
BPS explanation: Both crappy roads and crappy sidewalks
From BPS spokesman Matthew Wilder:
Oh......streets and sidewalks have to be safe and passable!
Then put those books away for a while, Johnny. They've got lots of work to do, and only a portion of it is snow-related.
Ha ha ha!
This is laughable. There wasn't an unmanageable amount of snow on the ground, and it seems like the city has taken the easy way out by not getting the streets properly sanded and/or plowed so that school buses, etc.., could drive on them. Winter driving requires even more common sense and caution, except in extreme weather, which this wasn't, and can be done.
Laughable?
Read this and keep laughing.
Kids hit by trucks because they're walking in the street, because the sidewalks aren't cleared! So funny!
Plenty of us have to work
Plenty of us have to work even if kids dont have school, so what is Menino's plan for the rest of us? Walk in the streets that he has plowed, since the sidewalks aren't, and hope we don't get hit? If he's too impotent to get his workers to clear major sidewalks (like they do in Newton) then keep the parking ban in affect and have people walk in the parking lanes that are cleared. Oh, but that would upset his carticuency, which he seems to hold more dear than the people of boston.
Boots seem to work
I recommend a good pair of overboots, and then it won't matter much that some sections of sidewalk aren't shoveled. We live in New England, are we really so coddled that we can't handle a bit of snow during our walk to the train or office?
Why plow the streets?
I recommend a good pair of snow tires with chains, and then it won't matter much that some sections of streets aren't plowed. We live in New England, are we really so coddled that we can't handle a bit of snow during our drive to the train or office?
Sounds good. But really
Sounds good. But really those are not comparable statements. You must be able to recognize that.
I think a car has a better
I think a car has a better time getting through a pile of snow than an old lady, regardless of how large her boots may be.
The trouble with chains, however, is that
when you drive over a certain speed (i. e. 15 m. p. h.), they'll snap.
City of B fatalist attitude.
As I remember the sidewalks had actually been cleared in that incident.
Too many excuses from the schools and the city. Residents will never shovel, drivers will never slow down... boo hoo. Enforce some laws and stop the fatalism.
What can I say?
If you hate children so much, there's no help for you.
And FWIW, if you read the article, you will see that the sidewalk was not cleared.
SLAY DAY FOR SCHOOLKIDS ON MASS ROADS TODAY
Yeah I hate kids... what a jerk.
You're totally missing my point here, sock puppet, which is
that the city officials were too lazy to do what was necessary to get the streets and sidewalks cleared when and where it was necessary. While it's true that various property owners can and should do their part by shoveling off, sanding and salting down the portion of sidewalk near their residence or business, the city can and should do its part, too, by doing the necessary job of plowing, sanding and salting so that kids won't have to walk on the streets on their way to or from school and risk their limbs and lives.
Thanks, Miki
Nice to see you back.