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Kids, parents forced into street by unplowed sidewalk in front of East Boston elementary school
By adamg on Fri, 01/28/2011 - 10:13am
The scene this morning outside the Kennedy Elementary School on Saratoga Street. Snapped by a concerned citizen.
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Comments
The school community should
The school community should get in touch with the Safe Routes to School program. It's a service of MassDOT to encourage safe walking and bicycling to school: http://commute.com/schools
Even shoveled sidewalks are problematic
The sidewalks in front of my kids' schools are shoveled. But there is no way to get to them without walking in the street. It is a huge safety issue and something that the city needs to address.
Another view of the Kennedy School sidewalk
Here.
Custodian's View
I'm a custodian for BPS and I don't know if the school in question was shoveled out or not, but from my experience 9 times out of 10 it's the plows that cause the biggest problems.
I've shoveled out many schools to come in the next day (or even a couple hours later) and see that the plows have pushed it back on the sidewalk.
It's very frustrating especially on very narrow streets, there's no where to put it and we do the best we can.
Yeah, it's definitely not a
Yeah, it's definitely not a lack of effort by the custodian where I've observed this. We have excellent, committed custodial crews at my school, men well respected by teachers, children, and parents alike. The problem is definitely caused by the plows pushing the snow up against the curb. I have the choice of having my five year old climb over a five foot wall of snow, or having him walk along a busy street. Not very appealing options.
I don't doubt the situation
I don't doubt the situation at your school. But the photo in this post clearly shows untouched fallen snow, not plowed snow.
I was driving out on Rt. 2
I was driving out on Rt. 2 today, past Alewife, and I noticed that the footbridge over the highway (at the bowling alley) hadn't been shoveled, and neither had any kind of walkway on the north side of the road, but there was at least one set of footprints on the stairs up to the footbridge. Probably some poor sap who works at the bowling alley and has no car and no other way to cross the highway without walking up to the T station.
This was in Cambridge, fer Chrissakes! It's really pathetic how there's basically an assumption in huge parts of the Boston area that nobody will be walking there after snow.
Route 2 is owned by MassDOT,
Route 2 is owned by MassDOT, and I believe they don't do any clearing of sidewalks, statewide. I don't think there is a walkway on the north side of the road, though there is a dirt path from the footbridge to the Arlington soccer field, which extends to the Minuteman path.
On the plus side, sliding down the steps of the footbridge could be fun.
Well, then, who is
Well, then, who is responsible for cleaning snow along MassDOT roads?
And why is there a footbridge if there is no foot path? Someone obviously wanted to walk through there really, really badly sometime in the last day.
The state is facing massive
The state is facing massive budget cuts - where do you think the money to pay for snow removal will come from - France?
How would facing funding cuts
How would facing funding cuts in the future affect snow removal right now?
Here's an idea
They could save a lot of money by not plowing the street you live on for the benefit of a few people. The city could just require people to shovel the street in front of their house and that would solve the problem, right? Then they could spend that money to clear sidewalks and remove snow in much busier areas where far more people depend on walking.
We all pay taxes after all - even people who don't drive.