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City councilor braces for snow

Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain) wants a snow powwow before the first flakes hit to figure out which city or state agencies will plow - or take the blame for not plowing - sidewalks in areas such as bus stops and bridges.

O'Malley said his office got numerous complaints during the past winter's non-stop snow about unsafe, unplowed areas across his district. At one point, the MBTA sent out crews to plow out bus stops it said were not under its jurisdiction; other public walkways in the city might be the responsibility of various city or state agencies. In a statement, O'Malley said he wants to avoid a repeat this winter:

There was a fair amount of finger pointing last winter by different public agencies. As public agencies passed the buck Boston residents, including school children and senior citizens, were left trying to navigate unsafe walkways, climbing over massive snow banks, and walking along ice-slicked streets to get where they needed to go.

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Comments

This is the *perfect* time to do this!

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I'm on the Cambridge Pedestrian Committee. We had our first snow preparation meeting in August, and the DPW was thinking about it long before then.

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File under better late than never. God forbid you should talk about snow in June.

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That's awesome! I'm a Cambridge resident; where can I learn more? Also, would you happen to know off hand who is the owner (and, if different, who is responsible for maintenance to) of the bus "shelters" (I use the term loosely) in this town?

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In Cambridge, bus shelters are managed by the company Cemusa under contract with the city.

In Boston, and possibly some other towns, they're managed by Wall USA. (I have issues with all the backlit advertising panels not part of any bus shelter which also went up as part of the deal.)

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Huh. Does that mean that if Cambridge terminated the contract with Cemusa, they'd tear the bus shelters out? Also, who was responsible for the contract with Cemusa? i.e. Whose fault is this?

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Right, because Cambridge's way is the only way! It is amazing how arrogant some Cambridge folks are. Get OVER yourselves!

Heck, I don't even like Boston, but I like blowhards like you even less.

CCRRIIPPEESS!!!

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???? ??? ????!?

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And not city hall, either - there's a graveyard in JP south of Forest Hills, and the city let the snow pile up to several feet at one point.

Also: how about city council make fines for failure to shovel a little more expensive and enable liens?

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It should not be that difficult to determine who is responsible for what. Enforcement was and is the problem, and since as a general rule, municipalities are not able to regulate (and for that reason, ticket) state entities, the only way that this will have any benefit is by a public relations shaming campaign, or a lawsuit by the folks who fall.

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. . . Predicts a very cold winter, not necessarily a snowy one, but cold- like Nantucket Sound freezes over for a couple weeks type cold.

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Did I get surf? Yes. Were hurricanes barreling up the atlantic? Yep.

Those are pretty good indicators that the North Atlantic Oscillation is in a phase where we get snow dumped. 1995 was an epic surf summer, 1995-6 was a record snow winter.

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n/t

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You can look it up on God's monitor yourself.

The NAO is not only a well-known phenomenon, it is THE dominant determining factor in our winter weather patters.

Of course, the durn thing can flip about mid-season - like it did in late 2009 - and all bets are off.

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