Commuters and disability advocates are criticizing Boston’s response to recent snowstorms. At a hearing at Boston City Hall on Tuesday, residents complained that snow piles obstructing public walkways are particularly dangerous for people who live with limited mobility and low vision and use public transportation.
“The lack of having things shoveled and the sidewalk access being completely absent, it just made me feel like my disabilities were not ever going to be seen as important or worth anything, which is why we’re here today to make sure that everyone has freedom to mobility,” said Cassandra Xavier, a local disability advocate.
Xavier, who was recently featured in a widely shared social media video from the outlet MassLive, described having to navigate in the aftermath of the storm off the sidewalks and in the street peripheries with only a cane to guide her.
“To have to shoreline on the side of the street like that — with the feeling the wind of the car is going past my body, or when the cars are at a standstill, feeling the heat come off of the cars onto my body — should not be a thing, but it is, and it was,” said Xavier.
Jonathan Alves, a South End resident who identified as a frequent user of the route 10 bus and Orange Line, said he noticed the city improved its snow response between the January storm and the February storm. Still, he argued most of the clearing was focused on street access for cars, not walkways.
“The city workers deserve some credit for that because I did see them out there at all hours in the night, but overall, it’s not acceptable,” he said via virtual testimony.
“I have a 2-year-old daughter; I have to push her in a stroller. And unfortunately, I’ve got a torn Achilles, so I’m in a boot. But even when I didn’t have the disability, it still was not accessible,” Alves explained. “Waiting in the road for the bus because you can’t access the stop from the sidewalk, calling the state because you’re under the assumption that the MBTA [clears] the bus stops, and then being told it’s the city, and then the city telling you it’s the state, it’s not acceptable.”
The hearing comes as Boston contends with fallout from a pair of major snow storms that together dropped more than 40 inches of snow on the city, brining confusion over which agencies oversee clearing of public transportation access, a scramble of 311 calls, and a seemingly sudden shift by the city toward stepped up enforcement against private property owners who fail to clear sidewalks and curb cuts alongside their properties.
Boston City Councilors called the hearing to look into beefing up the city’s snow removal strategies, including whether they should set up a snow corps — with either paid or volunteer shovelers — or purchase a snow melter to add to the quartet that Boston periodically rents.
The members largely agreed that the city could’ve done a better job lessening snow banks and cut outs where residents board public buses. Some disagreed about the wisdom of spending on a snow melter.
“This [a snow melter] is something the city has investigated on numerous occasions,” said Chief of Streets Nick Gove. “They’re not cheap.” He said that some machines cost well over half a million dollars, before figuring in maintenance costs.
According to Gove, for at least 11 years, Boston has rented a fleet of four melters several times to address snow from extreme storms to the price of between $2,500 and $4,800 an hour. To-date this year, he said, Boston has already removed 10,000 truck loads of snow, equaling about 170,000 cubic yards.
Gove also acknowledged that Boston and the MBTA could coordinate better when it comes to who clears which public transportation access way.
“We are continuing to work with the MBTA on the best way to clear bus stops,” said Gove, explaining that stops are split between the T and the city. “I think now, we need to figure out whose going to take responsibility for that balance in between,” he said. “Those conversations have begun and I hope that that’s something we can work on in advance of next season.”
One advocate suggested the city form a public-private partnership whereby young people learn financial literacy by getting paid to shovel with deposits into locked savings accounts. Others said the city revive use of a Walsh Administration real-time map of GPS tracked snow equipment.
Councilor Ed Flynn, chair of the Committee on City Services, vowed to hold another, solutions-focused hearing in the months ahead.
