On Friday, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was back on Boston Public Radio for his monthly "Ask the Mayor" segment. Walsh talked about space-savers, snow removal, Boston Public Schools' superintendent search, and Boston's 2024 Olympic bid.
Mayor Walsh's comments have been edited where noted [...]. Questions are paraphrased.
Do you have ice dams at your house?
We didn't have any around walkways, [...] but still, you get worried about gutters being pulled off the house.
You recently had a viral moment when you warned Bostonians not to be jumping out windows into snow piles. Where did the 'loon mountain' line come from?
It popped into my head. [...] There were some people on Twitter that were challenging people to jump out second and third-story windows.
How is the city doing with snow removal?
[We're] having a meeting some point in the near future to talk about how we performed. [...] We can't implement it in this year's snow, but we can look at it for next year. [...] One in 26,000-year occurrence happened [this year]. [...] It's costly, it takes a lot of equipment, it takes a lot of manpower.
How do you think the South End's no-space-saver policy has worked?
I think it's worked pretty well from what I'm hearing. We'll have a meeting with the Association of the South End to see how it worked out. [...]
Clearly there's no written law on the Massachusetts or the Boston books that says the Mayor can declare when the space-savers go out and when the space-savers come in. [...] There is literally still no place to park on streets. [...] I've made it clear to everyone, what I do have the power to do is pick up trash and things that are left on the street. [...] We're going to be picking up anything on the street that is not barrels. [...] We haven't had any warming days at all. We've had one warming day in the past month.
There have been complaints about trash pickup. How has that been going?
We're back out there picking up trash, and trying to do the best we can. [...] I've insisted that we go out there and we pick this trash up. [...] If you see trash pick it up and throw it in a barrel. [...] Don't just walk by it.
Do you think you unfairly prioritized the Patriots' victory parade over neighborhood snow removal?
There was no priority made as far as removing snow from the downtown area. [...] Ninety percent of the snow that was removed that night was removed in the city of Boston, not on Boylston Street. [...] I think at that point we needed a little bit of happiness in the City of Boston. [...] I don't know if the streets were fully-plowed but certainly there was so much snow on the side of the roads and the curbs. [...] We got a lot of happiness with having a parade.
Will the St. Patrick's Day parade proceed as planned, with all the snow we have?
That parade goes through neighborhoods. [...] We're having conversations now as to how we deal with it. It's hard to say now. We're sitting down with the organizers of the parade. [...] Today, I don't see how it goes through the neighborhoods.
Veterans for Peace are not allowed to march in the parade. Where do you stand on that?
There's a United States Supreme Court ruling that allows organizers to pick who they want in the parade. [...] We're heading towards a fully-inclusive parade.
Are you close to making a decision on the Boston Schools superintendent?
No, it won't be today. It'll probably be over the course of the weekend. [...] They all have their different strengths, they all bring something to the City of Boston. [...] I'm going to be meeting with the members of the search committee. [...] We had set up a different type of system, never happened in Boston. [...] We've gotten again a lot of good feedback, and over the course of the next few days we're going to [see who's best].
The Boston Globe reported on a superintendent candidate, Guadalupe Guerrero, who was terminated from Harvard University without finishing his PhD. What do you make of that?
The article was unclear because within the article it looked like he was terminated [...] because he didn't finish his dissertation in time. That's a question I have to get an answer for. [...] I wasn't aware of the Harvard [situation] until yesterday.
Is the transparency of the superintendent search a bit of an impediment to candidates who don't want their names in the paper?
I spoke to people who didn't want to put their name in because of the public process. [...] The feedback has been the most open, transparent process in the history of Boston. [...] I am satisfied with what we have. [...] We have an opportunity here in Boston to create the next great urban superintendent of schools. [...] I want the best candidate for this job, and these four are the ones that rose to the top.
What public support do you need to see for the 2024 Olympics to consider it satisfactory?
I think it would have to be about 70 [percent]. [...] I don't think that 51 percent support is adequate enough. [...] The Olympics won't be chosen until 2017 so there's still a long way to go. [...] There's a lot of people in the middle that don't know what the Olympics brings and what the costs are going to be, and what the benefits are going to be.
What's next in the process?
The City of Boston is going to run nine community-wide meetings. [...] The 2024 committee has created their own public process in the sense that they're going around the Commonwealth. [...] We don't need legislation to make sure the process is transparent. [...] There's a lot of conversations that have to happen around the money piece. [...] We have an opportunity of using the Olympic bid as a way to [fix] the MBTA.
You met Leonard Nimoy — who passed away today — when he was here in our studio.
I was here, I came in and I met Mr. Spock. I was shocked!
How did the homeless census go on Wednesday night?
We walked. Our area was mostly downtown Boston. [...] We were out there for a couple hours, and the longer we were out there the colder it got. [...] One couple on Devonshire street they were wrapped up in a blanket, [...] didn't want to go into shelter that night. [...] There are a good amount of people on the street that are just down on their luck, lost their jobs. [...] It opens your eyes. We created the homeless task force about two months ago, and we're waiting for a [report] to come back.
Have the services on Long Island been replaced yet?
We have sober housing in Boston that I wouldn't deem 'sober.' They're just taking advantage. [...] The one problem that we have had since Long Island's closed is trying to place three programs out there. [...] We're still working.
Montreal seems to be the gold standard for snow removal. What can we learn from them?
Montreal gets cars off the street, they get it down to the bone. [...] Montreal's budget is $150 million dollars, their equipment is a little different. [...] You do have to change with the times. Years ago plows would drive around the neighborhoods with a map on the seat next to them. Now we use GPS. [...] It hurt us bad, it hurt businesses bad. [...] They've been crippled. [...]
How much have we spent on snow removal so far?
High-forties-million, and we're still removing snow every night.
Do voters you've spoken to support the Olympic bid?
On a daily basis I don't hear the anti-Olympic thing. [...] Just hear out the arguments in the conversations. [...] Obviously, as Mayor of Boston I have to make a decision as well. [...] My signature will be on the document as well. [...] There's still some questions that people have, and they should have questions. [...] Boston people will love the Olympics, but there's a lot of [questions] that have to be answered.
>> To hear the entire interview, click the audio at the top of the page.
