Plows work in the pile at Columbia Road and Dorchester Avenue. City of Boston photo

For better or worse, Boston’s historic 78 inches of snow this year has touched nearly every aspect of residents’ lives. Boston Public Schools, already cancelled twice this week, were open on Wednesday. Though students’ February break next week will remain untouched, Mayor Martin Walsh announced Tuesday that classes will be held on March 17, June 17, and until June 30. The additional class days allot for one more canceled class day.

Walsh said the MBTA had assured him that they would be up and running to safely transport students on Wednesday after shutting down train, trolley, and commuter rail lines the day before to focus on snow removal efforts.

On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency, freeing up additional resources for the cash-strapped and snowbound commonwealth. Five hundred National Guard members were called up to help remove snow: 200 will be deployed in Humvee in teams of four to help cities and towns clear fire hydrants. The remaining 300 operated heavy machinery such as front-end loaders and backhoes to help remove snow.

The city of Boston is leaning hard on its snow farms and two snow melters, capable of melting more than 350 tons of snow per hour, to make room for snow cleared from city streets. Though Baker received a waiver from the state allowing cities and towns to dump snow into the Boston Harbor, Walsh has relied on the snow melters, which filter materials picked up during plowing before the melted snow is dumped into the storm drain and treated at Deer Island.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials will be in Massachusetts for a week starting next Tuesday to begin the formal process of collecting snowfall data and community damage assessments related to only to the blizzard of Jan. 26 through Jan. 28. Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency director Kurt Schwartz said that assessing that storm’s impact has been “hampered” by the string of storms that have followed.
Snow removal operations were underway early on Wednesday at Dorchester Ave. and Columbia Road. Photo courtesy City of Boston
“We have a good degree of confidence that we will be eligible for and ultimately receive federal disaster assistance for that winter storm,” Schwartz told the State House News Service.

The unreliable mass transit service, a necessity for many in the service industry, made local restaurants work creatively. For Chris Douglass, executive chef and owner of Ashmont Grill and Tavolo, getting employees in to work is the biggest issue.

“We staff on a voluntary basis asking those that want to come in to work to do so and understanding those for whom it’s just too tough. I also make a few rounds transporting staff in my truck,” Douglass said.
Kamrul Hasan, the manager at O’Brien’s Market and Deli on Dorchester Avenue, said the storm had been good for business and that sales of bread, milk, and cigarettes were up. He attributed the uptick to people being “scared” that the store would close and groceries would become more scarce and his theory that people like to stay home and enjoy more cigarettes when they are stuck inside.

It seems peoples’ fears of his store closing are unfounded - he says he has been open every day despite the multiple storms and increasing piles of snow. However, he also his shipments of products have been cancelled “four or five times” in the past week, and his supply of cigarettes is starting to run low.

For Douglass, whose restaurants have crafted menus around available ingredients and missed deliveries, “I feel it is an important to make every effort to be open for those locals who support us all year long.

“We are certainly doing less business than we would in good weather but these are really fun nights when people get a chance to unwind and share their snow battle stories,” Douglass said.
Eliza Dewey and material from the State House News Service contributed to this report.