(NECN: Ally Donnelly, Boston) - Here we go again. The city of Boston is getting ready for another significant snow removal project, and there are many who say the city needs to improve things this time around.
As much as of an extra headache as this snow can be for folks in the suburb, in the city, it can be a whole other kind of nightmare altogether: narrow streets, fewer parking spots, parking bans. This is particularly when the city doesn’t do a stellar job cleaning up the first time.
After taking heat about the city’s cleanup response during and after the blizzard, the Mayor’s office invited media to watch DPW crews fill potholes in advance of this weekend’s storm.
DPW Commissioner Joanne Massaro says the guys are out there finding the potholes and filling them in.
Jackie O’Connor is less concerned about potholes and more concerned about snow removal. The South End realtor says the city did a good job on the major roads but echoes many residents’ complaints that side streets were barely touched even days after the blizzard.
City Councilor Charles Yancey called for a hearing in front of the council’s city, neighborhood and veteran services committee. He’s demanding answers from Menino’s administration on what went wrong and what they’re doing to prevent it from happening again.
The hearing was scheduled for March 4, but Yancey says committee chair Salvatore Lamattina abruptly delayed the hearing, saying he wanted DPW to conduct their own investigation and that March 4 didn’t give them enough time.
Local
Yancey says it’s more than enough time.
Mayor Tom Menino’s office says they had nothing to do with the delay, and we should talk to Councilor Lamattina. We went to his office but his chief of staff told us he was in a meeting for a while and that he’d call us later, but they have not.
Mayor Tom Menino was angry that so many side streets were not plowed in the blizzard and blames private contractors. He says, this storm, they’ll be more closely monitoring the GPS trackers contractors have in their trucks to make sure they’re doing the job their paid to do.
Menino says there’s a lot of warnings to them.
In terms of cold hard cash, the state has spent $60 million on snow removal and cleanup efforts this year, which is well over the budget of $45 million. The city has spent $15 million and they have a budget of $18 million.
