As Jason Danowski watched the Blizzard of 2015 blow through Stoughton, he was considering hiring someone off Craigslist to clean up his property when he turned to a modern-day solution: a smartphone app.
The app Plowz & Mowz links snowbound people with nearby plow operators, like Mike Cedrone, who was one of the first to sign up for the app's Boston operation. It’s not that he needs the business. Since the storm started, Cedrone said his phone has been ringing nonstop. Another two dozen requests had come through the app by Wednesday afternoon.
"It’s kind of like an overflow to me," he said. "Once I get caught up with my stuff, I'll go into the app to check out what’s available for driveways, and if there's something in close proximity, then I’ll do it."
On a much larger scale, technology is also playing a key role in Boston’s massive cleanup. A newly revamped software program called SnowCOP tracks the location of both snow-removal trucks and calls for cleanup. Boston Department of Public Works Comissioner Mike Dennehy said the storm put it to the test.
"I don't know how many calls ended up on the SnowCOP board, but there was a lot of data," said Dennehy. "It never stopped working. It was a huge success."
And with more snow in the forecast, technology is likely to continue to drive the cleanup, especially, said Danowski, if it’s as easy as hitting a smartphone app.
