Newly inaugurated Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards announced a district-wide initiative – the “Snow Angels” program – aimed to serve our most vulnerable neighbors during the winter months and connect residents through community service.
The “Snow Angels” program will connect elderly and disabled residents unable to shovel in front of their homes to on-call, neighborhood volunteers ready to alleviate the burden shoveling can impose.
“If Thursday’s snowstorm is any indication, there are many people in our neighborhoods who need assistance beyond what the City can provide for them. The beautiful thing about our district is that there are good-hearted individuals ready and willing to step up to the plate and help,” said Councilor Edwards. “The Snow Angels program will aim to coordinate and connect both communities.”
Councilor Edwards outlined that depending on the amount of the volunteers, the program hopes to match neighbors in need to a Snow Angel within 500 feet of their home during each snowstorm. Edwards noted that she’s receive support of district one’s delegation such as Rep. Adrian Madaro of East Boston, Rep. Aaron Michlewitz of the North End, and Rep. Daniel Ryan of Charlestown and actively looking for community sponsors to cover costs of shovels, snow melt, etc.
Snow Angels must be 18-years-old and up, reside in the district, and are volunteering at their own risk. In order to be eligible for the service, you or someone you know must be an elderly or disabled resident of Charlestown, East Boston, or the North End. Snow Angel services are for residential properties only. To sign-up for the service or to become a Snow Angel, please call (617) 635-3200 or e-mail gabriela.coletta@boston.gov with your name, age, address, and telephone number.
What else does Councilor Edwards hope to achieve besides clear sidewalks?
“Community connection,” Edwards said. “I hope that this will provide a vehicle for residents to engage and invest in their neighborhood but also cultivate long-lasting relationships between neighbors for generations to come.”
WONDERFUL plan!
Great idea.
Well done!
This is a Wonderful Idea. Now let us deal with the facts, we need the Trucks that pick up the snow, melt it &
release the melted snow in our sewers. These trucks are in & around $300 thousand & the City can more than
afford them. Think about this, Real Estate Taxes, Restaurant Revenue & the elimination of 1 Trash Day.
The City is on an All Time High. The trucks are a Necessity not a Luxury. Imagine being BLIND & you
& your dog can’t walk down the streets of downtown Boston because the pathway isn’t large enough.
This is a Disgrace for any part of the City. No resident wherever they live in Boston should be held hostage
because of improper snow removal. There are a few of these trucks in the City owned & operated by
Colleges or Hotels. If anyone tells you we can’t afford these trucks, they are not telling the TRUTH. A friend
of mine was in N.Y.C. & said you would never even know it snowed in Manhattan. This is not Miami Beach,
it’s New England & these Trucks are Long Overdue.
Snow removal trucks and responsible street sweepers and trash removal workers….. Right now the neighborhoods are filthy-people like to collect paycheck a but their work is a disgrace- stop wasting our money and make sure the things you have in place are working properly
Within the Comments on this website, I keep seeing the phrase “The City is on an All Time.”
I probably am not speaking for myself in kindly requesting some facts, statistics, links to websites, etc., to back up this oft-repeated statement.
Many Thanks in advance!
Facts Matter I hope you are joking. There are over 100 restaurants in less than 1 Mile Square Radius. They
pay taxes to the City. Property Taxes are High, Trash Day has been cut back from 3 to 2. There are more
buildings going up than ever before, fast & furious. Seeing is believing, is it not? The Construction going on
in this City is Endless. I can’t provide you with exact figures each restaurant pays, I can’t tell you exactly how much
the city gained by cutting back on 1 less day of Trash Removal, and I can’t tell you how much each Landlord pays in Taxes. You don’t think for 1 minute Wynn is locating
in Everett & the city of Boston won’t be affected & they paid for that, did I see a check, no. Was there talk
about 20 Million be given to Boston, yes there was. Are the prices of Condos, Apts. & Rentals reasonable?
Absolutely not. There are very few reasonal priced properties. I hope I answered your questions & if
I didn’t check it out with the City, if you can get a straight answer.
Great answer !!!!
I think it’s a good idea to help out the people who cant shovel their sidewalks. whether they are elderly or disabled.
i agree w/ Marie as far as the snow melters. Somerville took the snow to assemly row and melted it with the machines. If Boston does not want to buy one, maybe they can rent the one from Somerville. This Neighborhood, and I use the term loosely, is a disgrace. It is one of the biggest tourist destinations. Visitors can’t get around. If you wont clean up the snow, and trash, for the people that live here, do it for the tourists. oh and my real estate taxes are over 15k a year after my exemption. over 18k if i didn’t live here.
M.C. Thank you so much for your input. The City should be cleaned up first for those of us that live here, never mind
the Tourist first. Boston First. Charity starts at home. I heard Somerville did a very good job cleaning up
& removing the snow; and if they can do it, certainly Boston can more than afford to do it. There are no
excuses whatsoever. We have mothers pushing baby carriages, elderly that have to go out to shop & have
doctor appts., and let us never, ever forget the Handicap. Our Handicap Ramps are pitiful. They went the
cheap way out & got the tar from the street & brought it up to the sidewalks. The poor Handicap people have
to do a balancing act, not to fall. Where is the money going?
Anonymous, Kudos to you. No truer words were ever spoken. Our streets look like that of a Third World
Country. Do you think the streets look like this outside of Marty Walsh’s house? I don’t think so.
First of all, there used to be a very strong “community connection” when the majority of the residents in the North End grew up here, lived here and had great pride in their section of Boston. Yes, change does happen and there is still great affection by those who remember the “old days” but change has brought many problems with it. No need to go into that but the bottom line is that the North End has issues from trash collection, recycling and snow removal that South Boston and Charlestown don’t come close to having and that is the big problem, period!
I can’t figure out how a simple request that neighbors be nice to each other turns into an attack on every aspect of the city. I like that the new Councilor has asked the neighborhood to be more accoutable to itself.
Also, snow is recyclable. Thanks to global warming, its gone in a few days.
JayGee Thanks for your input. Charlestown & South Boston stick together & they get things done. God Bless
them, and God Bless You for your very honest statement.