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The snow shoveling pilot program aims to help ensure safe passage through key areas in the city.
By Fernando Cervantes Jr.
Last weekend, Winter Storm Kenan pummeled the northeast. From New York to Maine, snowstorms and whiteout conditions were common. Locally in Somerville, about two feet of snow were reported, with streets and sidewalks unpassable in some areas.
Back in November, the City of Somerville sent a memo to the City Council detailing its intention on implementing a Snow Shoveling Pilot program across the city. In the memo, the pilot was scheduled to begin during snow emergencies in 2022.
The first of these snow emergencies in 2022 was from Winter Storm Kenan. The areas where the pilot was implemented were on School Street and Broadway in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville.
Meghann Ackerman, Deputy Director of Communications for the City of Somerville, said through email that this pilot was implemented to increase accessibility across the city. “The main goal is to explore new ways to increase the accessibility of our sidewalks following a winter storm,” Ackerman said.
The winter storm set a new record for daily snowfall in Boston, with an estimated 23.6 inches of snow falling in one day. According to Ackerman, the pilot was implemented to ensure that sidewalks are clear and safe after a snowstorm.
“The pilot is helping to ensure that sidewalks are cleared in a timely manner on some of main pedestrian thoroughfares,” Ackerman said, “It is also providing us with helpful data about the operational needs and financial impacts of the city taking on more snow clearing.”
The way that the city is enforcing the pilot is through fines. According to the City of Somerville’s website, people must clear snow from sidewalks on their property within six daylight hours of the end of snowfall.
Moreover, these paths need to be at least three feet wide and down to the pavement. Residents were also instructed to avoid shoveling snow into bike lanes.
Fines for people not clearing the show were divided into two tiers. The first for single, two, or three family homes ranged from $100 to $300 dollars. For units with four or more families and commercial establishments fines ranged from $150 to $300 dollars.
According to Ackerman, during the first weekend of the program there were some fines issued in the pilot area. “Between January 30 and February 3, 23 tickets were issued on Broadway and two were issued on School Street,” Ackerman said.
Ackerman also gave an analysis on the pilots first snowstorm and future plans for the pilot moving forward. “We learned a lot during this first storm and will continue to analyze the data and review operations as the winter moves forward,” Ackerman said, “To get a full picture of how the pilot is working we need to see how things go with different types of storms and if storms happen on a different day of the week or during a different time of day.”
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The money line: “The way that the city is enforcing the pilot is through fines. ”
We already have fines for not shoveling the sidewalks that we don’t even own. Are these *enhanced” fines? Besides generating *more* revenue how is this a pilot program?
Also, maybe the city ought to consider buying sidewalk plows and cleaning the sidewalks in front of city buildings (always the worst offenders) before they start fining homeowners. Then use those plows to clean the sidewalks in “busy” areas.
This city targets homeowners / businesses like no other city I’ve ever lived in. I get it – unlike the national average of 65% homeowners this city is closer to 20% as we have a lot more 2/3/4 family units, so a lot more renters. Pander to the renters and the homeowners are an easy low-cost political target. But at some point the city has to realize homeowners are residents and voters too.
Where is the pilot program? Does the city know the definition of a pilot program?
A more realistic pilot program would be to leverage the city’s financial and political resources along with the equipment to implement a team that would actually perform the snow removal.
The fines are sent to the property owner, NOT the renters. I am glad that the city has increased the fines, as so many of the homeowners here in Somerville live elsewhere, and because of the rent costs, they absolutely should clear the sidewalks after a significant snowfall. I have been a resident here since 1975, and most homeowners that I know in my neighborhood always clear their sidewalks, because they live in the property. The city does an amazing job at clearing the sidewalks on all city owned properties, including all the schools. The big change I noticed this year was the snow removal. It was completely random, and they contractor had a huge effect on the traffic, aspecially on the main roads. The city always removed snow while taking into account to minimize the inconvenience it causes to the residents. This year I believe there was an outside contractor remove the snow.
“…people must clear snow from sidewalks on their property within six daylight hours of the end of snowfall.” In case those working for the city are unaware, the sidewalk is not on my property, it’s on the city’s property. And this formerly illustrious city is going to send homeowners, many of whom are elderly, out to shovel snow, whether it’s dark out or not, so they can stand and watch the city plows push all the snow from the street (now chunks of ice) onto their driveway opening, the sidewalk they have shoveled, and even their front steps. Who do the homeowners fine?? Maybe the city could forego one or two of their festivals which cater to many who don’t live in the city, and plow the sidewalks themselves. If not, perhaps a class action suit is in the future.
I thought the pilot was to have the city clear the snow on sidewalks the length of Broadway?
The current system is perfectly fine. Sidewalks mostly get shoveled in a reasonable amount of time, there is a reporting system when there are problems, and there is a program in place for teens to volunteer to shovel for elderly people.
The number of people who legitimately cannot go thru or around the relatively few number of un-shoveled sidewalks doesn’t remotely merit a city-wide sidewalk shoveling program. It would cost millions per year and there isn’t even the labor if we had the money. And what makes people think that a city-wide sidewalk shoveling program would instantly clear the sidewalks? It takes time even if the money and labor are there, certainly more time than the six hours the city gives residents.
Keep the current system. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel over a problem that doesn’t exist. And don’t expect the city to take care of the sidewalks when they can’t even plow the roads.
What the city should do is invest the same amount of money in sidewalk clearing equipment that they have in new bike lane clearing equipment. If a street has a bike lane then that it should have the sidewalks cleared by the city.