DCR Snow Follies

above: Fenway crosswalk near fire alarm center, tonight.
below: Westland at Hemenway, tonight.
Photos: Rob DuBuske

posted by John B. Kelly

The heavy wet snow fall from earlier in the morning has long since turned to rain. The temperature is now comfortably above freezing (40° out my window at 3:52 p.m.), so the snow is shovelable (if wet), but time is running out. With a deep freeze coming in tonight that will last through the week, the grim probability is that very little shoveling of any kind will get done by tonight.

There never has been an effective penalty for not shoveling, so why should anyone bother?

What we can expect the next is that peculiarly Bostonian "act of nature" mentality, in which nothing can be done about the snow and ice blocking the sidewalks, and we all must resign ourselves to waiting for the warming rays of the December sun.

Meanwhile, government and media concentrate on road clearance, perhaps because as a group they all drive cars. The hundreds of thousands of people in the metropolitan region who don't use automobiles are thrown off the sidewalks, tethered to our houses, or admitted to emergency rooms.

Boston inspectional services, with its tiny core of inspectors, will write a few hundred tickets and call that a success.

If this approach works so well, why don't we switch to having abutters clear roadways and highways, too?

Getting back to reality, I decided I had to do everything in my power to get these sidewalks cleared before the ice cometh. I called up the main DCR number, got an emergency number, and was very politely referred to the Storm Center at 617-727-1680. This is the number I have often called regarding snow emergencies and HP parking thieves.

"Hello, my name is John Kelly from Neighborhood Access Group in the Fenway. And I'm calling to find out when the DCR plans to shovel off the walkways in the Fenway."

DCR: "We have crews going out at four or 5 p.m., but I can't give you a time. Where you talking about"

NAG: "The walkways in the Fenway, in my neighborhood. The service road near 60 the Fenway, a walkway towards the Westland Gates, all this is DCR property. The sidewalk along The Fens between 60 and 114 The Fenway hasn't been touched since the Thursday storm"

DCR: "Were adding people all the time.”

NAG: "But do you plan to follow the law regarding clearing the snow?"

DCR: "We've got 24 hours."

NAG: "In Boston, you've got three hours."

DCR: "Hold on."

We become disconnected.

"Hello, this is John Kelly from Neighborhood Access Group again."

DCR: "Yeah we got cut off. I'm trying to get that for you."

NAG: "What?"

DCR: "The law, do you have a number? I'll get back to you."

NAG: "It's three hours. What's your e-mail address? I can send you the law."

DCR: "Actually, I don't need the law. Were working on the roads right now. They are priority one. Everything else comes after"

NAG: "So you don't have a policy of following the law?"

DCR: "Apparently not. Do you want the complaint line? I can give that to you."

She persuades me to take the complaint line number, for all the good it's going to do me. It's for Christina , who will be in first thing tomorrow morning at 617-626-1413.

I always wonder in these circumstances how best to characterize someone. Was the person I spoke to ignorant, because she said that DCR had 24 hours to clear the walkways (when she really had three); or was she contemptuous, by, in consecutive order: cutting me off, pretending to look for a law, and then finally telling me flat out that "roads are the number one priority."