Too many sidewalks unshoveled, so no school in Boston on Thursday

It's Southie. Or South Boston. Don't say "Sobo". Ever.

You do know South Boston is Boston, yes? So you're accusing someone of commuting from Boston to Boston?

Brilliant.

... is dense enough or has sane neighbors.

I don't live in Dot, but I do remember the communal shoveling in Somerville (which I did for 15 years). Watertown isn't as dense, and the plow put up a 3'+ wall along my corner -- I used my 7-year-old to measure it. We waited for the plows to finish, and then cleared the driveway cap, the front walk (for the postman who didn't actually make it down to my house), and then after dinner tonight the side and the corner. Across the street, they got done with their corner sidewalk about 15 minutes before we did -- theirs was closer to 4'.

One neighbor will help out gladly, the other is willing, but has no bandwidth to deal with anything but their own walk and (insanely steep) stairs.

I think Marty had himself driven around and saw the plowed-in corners.

by calling CO2 "pollution" as one example. There has to be some practical limit to how much to regulate everything and the EPA is losing sight of that. There is a vast difference between little regulation in China where highly polluting vehicles like their scooters are simply banned from the worst cities, rather than making these vehicles cleaner, more expensive, and less fuel efficient as done here, and here where the EPA is calling the exhaust products of humans and other mammals pollution. Its as silly as when Regan used the example of trees polluting to make the same point.

The sidewalk is owned by you; the public (in the name of the city) has an easement for its use.

Seriously, shut up and get out there and shovel. Quit begging to the nanny state. You're not "poor". Just a lazy whiner.

Why is it that the street gets plowed with our tax dollars for the benefit of wealthy car owners but the rest of us poor people that walk are expected to shovel the sidewalks we use to walk to work?

There are really only two ways to get the sidewalk in front of your property cleared.

1. You take care of it directly, either by doing it yourself or hiring someone to do it
2. You pay property taxes to the city, who then hires someone to do it

In either case, you are paying to get it done. Which way is a more efficient use of your money?

Pedestrians may not be driving a car on the street, but they do indeed use them, by way of the school bus that takes your children to school, the truck that delivers your mail, the police that come to your house when your macbook pro is stolen, the firetrucks...you get the picture?

did you miss my whole point about money? :) I didn't say it couldn't be done, its whether its the fiscally responsible thing to do.

What other cities? How many miles of sidewalk are they clearing?

I can see a small town or a suburb doing this, because they just don't have that much sidewalk. I just can't imagine Boston owning a fleet of bobcats big enough to clear all the sidewalks before spring thaw takes care of the problem.