The Cambridge City Council voted unanimously Monday night to explore options for creating a “snow corps” program to clear sidewalks after major storms. Such a program would mean that the city, rather than residents, would be responsible for shoveling in front of homes and businesses.
The current system, in which the city is only responsible for clearing sidewalks next to parks, schools and municipal buildings as well as curb cuts between the sidewalk and the street, creates a “patchwork” that “creates a lot of problems for Cambridge residents, especially people who use wheelchairs or have other mobility challenges, or who have strollers,” said Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who co-sponsored the policy order.
To some residents, making sidewalk-clearing a city responsibility is just plain common sense.
“The city is responsible for all other sidewalk maintenance. If the bricks in the sidewalk were coming up, I would not be asked to repair them. Heck, I wouldn’t even be allowed to,” said Cambridge resident Paul Stark during the public comment period ahead of Monday’s meeting. “Why should the homeowner be responsible for shoveling public property?”
The policy order comes following two of the largest storms to hit the Boston area in years, making it the snowiest winter since the “Snowmageddon” of 2014-2015. It also mentions the success of such programs in cities like Chicago and New York, which enlisted 7,000 shovelers for $30 an hour to clear the streets after last week’s blizzard.
While all councillors voted in favor of this first step in exploring options for a snow corps, which mainly involves consolidating data on existing programs in other cities and Cambridge’s own snow metrics, some made no guarantees that they would vote in favor of the resulting detailed proposal. Uncertainty over how much such a program would cost was cited as a factor.
“This order is asking for data. I’m still not totally convinced about the city taking on all sidewalk shoveling, and the price tag that would come with that,” said Councillor Marc McGovern, but acknowledged that the city’s current snow strategy “isn’t working.”
“New York was actually able to get back to work a day before us because everything was shoveled and plowed faster than it was here,” mentioned Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem. “There’s also a tradeoff when we’re thinking about cost. There’s also a cost to keeping schools closed … people not being able to get to work.”
Councillors also discussed how a city-run snow corps made up of residents could impact an important element of Cambridge culture: getting outside and shoveling with your neighbors.
Councillor Tim Flaherty said the corps could be a good opportunity to help engage young people in their communities.
“Unlike a lot of people, I look forward to the snow,” he said. Shoveling together is a “relationship building experience.”
“If this policy order incentivizes and encourages young people to get back to walking around the neighborhood with a shovel on their shoulder, and shoveling out their neighbor’s sidewalks and crosswalks, I’m all for it.”
City X Accounts to be Nixed
City council also moved to take the City of Cambridge X (formerly known as Twitter) offline. The account had more than 21,000 followers. Since Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022, content moderation and community guidelines have been slashed, resulting in a surge of racist posts and spam accounts on the platform.
According to Councillor Ayah Al-Zubi, the policy order is a result of direct feedback from constituents.
“X, under its ownership right now, has become a platform that actively endangers the people we serve,” Al-Zubi said. “From immigrants, people of color, people of faith, and queer residents to name a few communities. It’s owner has used it to spread disinformation, attack the programs working families depend on, and amplify voices that want to see our most vulnerable neighbors harmed.”
During public comment, Cambridge resident Jesse Baer spoke on why his organization left X. Baer works in communications for the nonprofit If Not Now Boston, an advocacy group for Jewish Americans who oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestine. He said it was important to make a distinction between what X used to be versus what it is now.
“In our replies, we were getting the most heinous, antisemitic hate. We would report it and nothing would happen,” Baer said. “It is not Twitter, it is a toxic dump.”
Councillor Cathie Zusy, who ultimately voted in favor of the policy order, raised concerns over whether cancelling the city’s account would impact getting crucial information out to residents.
“We’ve got to figure out what are the best ways to get information out to the larger population,” Zusy said. “In cancelling the social media company because their owners are horrible people, I would hate not be able to communicate with our populace.”
The policy order passed unanimously with an amendment from Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler asking the city to develop criteria by which the city should evaluate its social media presence in case the city finds the need to take other accounts down in the future.
“I don’t want residents to think we’re giving a stamp of approval to Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat and all their oligarch owners,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said. “[While] there are no ethical social media companies under capitalism, we can try to use the ones that are the least bad and reach the most Cambridge residents.”
A stronger
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