mayor

Mike Ball reports Will Dorcena, who didn't win in the fall at-large city-council race, plans to announce tomorrow that he's running for mayor in 2013.

Mumbles sez:

"Another 18 inches on top of what we have is going to create a real strain on Public Works' ability to keep doing the job they’ve been doing. They've done a good job removing snow, but 18 more inches will narrow each street by a foot, foot and half."

"A good job removing snow"? Funny - when I surfed the Citizen's Connect recent reports a day after the storm, there were dozens of reports coming in of unplowed streets. Surf the reports now, and you'll see reports of all sorts of snow removal problems.

All the bike lanes around Boston (5 feet wide, roughly) disappeared for days- even the ones with snow emergency parking bans like Centre Street in JP. Until late last night, Hyde Park Avenue had several feet of snow coming out into the roadway. South Huntington Avenue has piles of snow 4-5 feet high sticking out 5-6 feet into the road. As I type this (days after the storm passed, a storm which fell most overnight), my street has more than three feet covered with several inches of snow on the side where there's no parking. Citizen's Connect is rife mostly with unshovelled sidewalk reports, but also cases like this.

Via The Boston Channel

Mayor Thomas M. Menino today took his record fifth oath of office at Faneuil Hall.

In his inauguration speech (complete text), Menino said his next four years would be devoted to four main goals: Transforming education in Boston, creating a high-tech research community on the waterfront, improving basic city services through new technologies and bringing the city's residents and neighborhoods closer together.

In its last week of existence, the current city council this morning is debating a proposal by outgoing at-large City Councilor Sam Yoon to limit Boston mayors to two terms. The council will vote on the measure - which would require approval by the mayor and the state legislature - on Wednesday.