Patriots victory parade is delayed until Wednesday
"T, traffic problems leave commuters cold, steaming" by Peter Schworm, Globe Staff February 04, 2015
Legions of storm-weary commuters Tuesday were left fuming in gridlocked traffic or shivering on train platforms amid an unprecedented level of breakdowns as the MBTA’s top official warned that the hobbled transit system may not return to normal for a week.
Related: Hot Air
Also see: The Rotten Reverends of Boston
About 40 percent of all Red and Orange Line cars were disabled for mechanical problems, the highest percentage in memory. “We haven’t had anything like this,” said Beverly Scott, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The fines against Keolis are going to be a$tronomical.
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The disruption — caused by a combination of extreme weather and aging infrastructure — means that the system will run well below capacity for Wednesday’s Super Bowl parade, said Scott. “It’s not a question of being unprepared,’’ she said. “There is no magic dust that you can put on it.”
Governor Charlie Baker blasted the MBTA’s performance and said he would soon meet with Scott and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack to discuss ways to improve service.
“It’s unacceptable for commuters to experience these delays, but we ask everyone to be patient and plan ahead,’’ Baker said.
Boston has experienced its snowiest week in over a century, according to National Weather Service records, with more snow expected later this week.
Service on public transit remained sluggish during the evening commute, and traffic in many places was at a standstill. Around Massachusetts General Hospital, the backup was so bad that officials asked employees who could not walk or take public transportation to stay at the hospital to ease congestion and “ensure proper staffing levels.”
Officials said commuters could face delays for days. With throngs expected to take trains to Boston for Wednesday’s parade, the city’s parking ban lifted, and school buses returning to narrowed roads, getting around was expected to be a challenge.
Scott said she hoped to boost the number of trains for the New England Patriots victory parade, which is expected to bring tens of thousands of fans into Boston, but that the system would not be close to full strength.
“I will not put out equipment that, in many instances, I do not think I can run safely,” she said.
Baker noted that some subway trains date back to the infamous Blizzard of 1978. At the same time, the more recent one-two punch of a historic blizzard and major storm was highly unusual. The two storms dumped more than 40 inches of snow on the area, more than any seven-day stretch in more than a century.
And yet we still get global warming fart mist from them.
“This is not just a harsh winter,” he said. “It’s the largest and most significant snowstorm ever, over the course of the past 10 days in Greater Boston, combined with a significant amount of Arctic-like temperatures.”
The bitter cold is expected to linger for the next few days, forecasters said, and more snow could arrive Thursday. On Wednesday, temperatures should warm to the mid-20s for the Patriots parade, but the wind chill should be in the teens. “It’s still going to be a cold parade,” said Glenn Field, a National Weather Service meteorologist, “but significantly better than Tuesday.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston said the victory parade, initially scheduled for Tuesday, couldn’t be postponed until the weekend, so it would proceed despite the weather and the transit woes. The duck boat parade is slated to start around 11 a.m. at the Prudential Center and end at City Hall Plaza.
The amphibious vehicles might well move faster than traffic did Tuesday morning, when it took some drivers almost 35 minutes on the Massachusetts Turnpike to get from the Boston University Bridge to South Boston, a drive that usually takes less than five minutes.
The afternoon was no better.
Around 4:30 p.m., State Police warned commuters to avoid Storrow and Memorial drives altogether, and closed an exit off Interstate 93 to Government Center, to divert the flow of cars.
The delays fell heavy on commuters already weary from a week of shoveling and numbing cold.
In Charlestown, the line for the Orange line was four deep, and the signs that typically display arrival times were blank. The voice on the loudspeaker repeatedly announced delays.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. K.C. Erickson, 25, decided to take an outbound train for two stops in hopes of catching a less-crowded ride into the city. He said he wasn’t surprised by the delays, given the circumstances.
“It’s a pretty crazy amount of snow, so I guess you can’t blame [the MBTA] too much.”
I don't.
Others were less charitable. Chris Myers, 50, of Malden, was at his wits’ end....
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Related:
After 40 inches of snow, Boston side streets clogged
Get it right for pedestrians after big snowfalls
Somerville targets nonshovelers with brightly colored hangers
Snow compounds problems for transit system
Funding for T upkeep must not be crowded out by growth plans
T woes raise worries about Olympic travel
As well as where they will stay:
"Organizers of Boston’s Olympic bid are scrapping plans to house thousands of international spectators in the city’s notoriously shoddy off-campus student apartments after the proposal provoked an outcry from landlord and tenant groups. While officials from Boston 2024, the local Olympic organizing group, have said all aspects of their plan are open to change, their reversal marks the first time they have publicly axed a portion of the proposal. Boston 2024 initially told the United States Olympic Committee that off-campus student apartments in Allston, Brighton, and the Fenway would make for ideal accommodations for spectators coming from around the world to watch the 2024 Summer Games. After Boston 2024 publicized its plans on its website late last month, tenant and landlord advocates were alarmed. Asked to respond to those concerns, Boston 2024 officials said they would abandon the plan and said they now believe they will not need additional housing. Boston 2024’s reversal underscores that the bid that they used to win the USOC’s blessing in December was, in some areas, loosely sketched."
Can you believe the elite of Bo$ton wanted Olympic guests to stay in those rotten apartments?
And some people can't see snowpiles for the snowflakes.
On with the parade:
"As complaints mount, Walsh firm on Patriots parade; Urges patience with snow removal" by Meghan E. Irons and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff February 03, 2015
Mayor Martin J. Walsh remained determined to mark the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl triumph with a rolling celebration Wednesday despite the growing frustration of residents bedeviled by snow-clogged intersections, epic traffic snarls, and sluggish mass transit.
Walsh’s decision — coming after two monstrous storms in one week dumped 40.5 inches of snow on the city — provoked ire in some quarters, lighting up Twitter with a fusillade of dismay and incredulity, but the mayor, a longtime Patriots season ticket holder, stood firm and promised the city would not divert snow-removal resources from other neighborhoods in the service of a sports spectacular.
Related: The King of Bo$ton
He's turned into an elite a$$hole in less than a year.
“We can have a parade in the city of Boston,’’ Walsh said at a press conference at City Hall Tuesday. “I think a lot of people are excited about a parade, and they want a parade. It’s been what we’ve always done after a championship team wins a championship.”
During his briefing with reporters, Walsh at times appeared defensive, swatting down suggestions about the wisdom of staging the parade given the snow and cold. He said the celebration could not be delayed because many of the Patriots will be heading out of town for vacations.
Yeah, you citizens of the city, you don't matter. Gotta get the great Greek Gods on their way to vacation.
“I don’t want to debate this,’’ Walsh shot back, during one exchange with a reporter. “This has been a tradition in the city of Boston.”
On Twitter and across the neighborhoods, exasperated Bostonians delivered a resounding message to their mayor about his choice.
In East Boston, Lamson Court remained blanketed in snow Tuesday morning. To make a point about the slow pace of snow removal, Jennifer McCarthy said her husband spray-painted the word “plow” and underlined it with an arrow on a snow bank.
McCarthy said the city should focus on streets like hers “instead of making it a priority to celebrate the Patriots.”
Look, it's a rich person's world now.
When asked how spectators should make their way to the parade — which begins in Copley Square and ends at City Hall Plaza — the mayor did not acknowledge the serial delays besetting the T, whose chief said the transit agency would be unable to add service.
“I suggest everyone take the MBTA. Don’t drive into town,’’ the mayor said. “There’s really no parking now.”
Of course, he has a chauffeur and parking space reserved for himself.
But frustrations were rising like mounting snowbanks.
“Pls postpone parade so commute can be safe for all,’’ wrote a Twitter user whose handle is RMiskel.
****************
Walsh seemed committed to having the parade as soon as Malcolm Butler made his game-sealing interception Sunday. Even as forecasters predicted another 10 to 14 inches of snow — or more — atop the mounds from last week’s blizzard, Walsh sent an e-mail congratulating the football team and declaring, “Cue the duck boats!”
As snow pelted the city Monday and dangerous cold settled in, the mayor held a news conference and handed out drafts of the parade route, with a flotilla of 25 duck boats and five flat-bed trucks to ferry the Super Bowl champs on Tuesday.
Despite the focus on clearing the parade route, Walsh vowed Monday the city would not drain resources from other neighborhoods and said he had 600 plows working that day — from Hyde Park to East Boston.
“We have an entire city to get up and running,’’ Walsh said Monday. “There are people who are at work and aren’t worrying about whether the Patriots won the Super Bowl or not. They’re worried about making sure they get to work and get to their families.”
But by Monday evening, Walsh delayed the parade, citing the worsening weather.
The mayor returned to the microphones Tuesday morning to say the parade was on for 11 a.m. Wednesday, beginning at the Prudential Tower, proceeding down Boylston Street, turning onto Tremont Street and then Cambridge Street, and ending at City Hall Plaza.
The mayor’s office said no additional plows were devoted for snow removal along the parade route. Since Thursday, the city borrowed snow melters from Northeastern University and the Massachusetts Port Authority to clear Tremont Street — as well as Mattapan, East Boston, the North End, and Franklin Park, said the mayor’s press secretary Bonnie McGilpin.
Numerous pieces of equipment were out late Tuesday night working to clear the parade route of snow, along with hitting other spots in the city.
The mayor had this warning for paradegoers: No standing on snowbanks. And police will be there to enforce that.
They don't have better things to do, like solving crimes?
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Where do you go if you can't see over the snowbank?
"Thousands cheer Patriots at parade in Boston" by Peter Schworm, Meghan E. Irons and Nicole Dungca, Globe Staff February 04, 2015
Tens of thousands of jubilant New England Patriots fans, enduring the winter chill and overcoming transportation woes, lined streets in Boston on Wednesday to toast the triumphant Super Bowl champions with a confetti-filled celebration.
Clad in the jerseys of their favorite players and wearing pompom Patriots winter hats, a sea of bundled fans filled the sidewalks along Boylston Street. They roared their approval as the team rolled by aboard a fleet of duck boats, a euphoric Boston sports tradition that never dims.
Looks like great fun, huh?
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Despite concerns that a large rally soon after two major snowstorms would create gridlock at the expense of ordinary citizens, the parade did not cause widespread disruptions — although many fans experienced significant delays getting to Boston....
Not looking too good now, and how large was the rally?
The rally drew old and young, fans who had rooted for the team since the AFL days in the 1960s to children who had not been born when the Patriots won their last championship a decade ago. Parents decided school could wait a day....
Nearby, fans climbed onto snowbanks for a better view, and parents hoisted children upon their shoulders....
And were promptly arrested, right?
The crowd reserved its loudest roars for quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski, but also thundered approval for cornerback Malcolm Butler, a little-known rookie who saved the victory with a brilliant goal-line interception....
See: Adoring throngs pay tribute to hero Malcolm Butler
Did you buy a Brady hat for souvenir?
In Copley Square, a group of college students celebrated atop a high snowbank when Butler waved to the crowd, bowing to him in a show of gratitude.
“Butler!” they screamed as they pumped their fists. “Malcolm Butler!”
Please, the police had to have noticed that. Where were they? Why weren't these people arrested?
Dance music blared, the End Zone Militia fired their muskets, and red, white, and blue confetti fluttered in the air. Players, team officials, and their families took pictures of the teeming crowd, and the crowd responded in kind....
The MBTA had far more trains operating than on Tuesday, when the cold and snow conspired to take a vast number of cars out of service....
OMG! The natural elements "conspired" to make the T look bad! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
No wonder no one takes this stuff seriously anymore. If it's not outright ridiculous, it's ludicrously absurd and insulting.
Oh, those conspiring weather patterns blowing to shit the whole fart-mi$ting global warming scheme!
Related:
"For a second straight day, Boston commuters contended with congested roads and sluggish trains in the snowbound city on Wednesday — conditions compounded by the return of school buses and the presence of thousands of fans celebrating the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl victory."
That's odd because Globe seems to be inferring all was well.
City officials did not provide a crowd estimate, but numbers appeared much lighter than past championship parades. Some fans were surprised they could secure a front-row spot, even after the parade had begun.
That's the large rally with the teeming crowd that roared, Globe?
Boston police said the crowds were “respectful, responsible, and celebratory.” On Twitter, Police Commissioner William Evans said fans were “behaving like champions.” Only one arrest was reported, for a man charged with public drinking.
Unlike the night the Celtics won the championship.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh — who watched the celebration from a balcony overlooking City Hall Plaza — had faced some public criticism for going forward with the parade despite the conditions. On Wednesday, he stood by his decision.
Woa! How Hitlerian!
“The only people questioning me are the press . . . and a few people that probably don’t live in Boston,” Walsh said. “This is what we do. If we’re going to not have a parade because people complain to me, it’s not going to work.’’
Yeah, they suck.
After the parade, team owner Robert Kraft thanked the fans for their support despite difficult conditions, and said he was amazed by the size of the crowd.
Oh, c'mon!!! It was lame!
“I wouldn’t have believed it, and it really picked up our whole team,” he said. “They’re part of our family and they gave us great strength.”
Realizing the trip would likely be difficult, many fans set out early....
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Related: Aboard the duck boats, stillness, then euphoria
With Patriots’ parade, ‘Minister of Fun’ does his job
How do Boston’s nine 21st century championships rank?
Time to get back on the train for the ride home:
Commuter train hits truck in Braintree; 1 injured
Luckier than in New York:
"On Wednesday, witnesses, survivors, and investigators strained to make sense of the fatal Metro-North Railroad crash in a New York suburb. Moments before the crash, there was little sign of trouble. Riders had settled into the relative calm of their Tuesday evening commutes — texting, reading, listening to music, clustered at the crossing gate for the tracks. At the front of the line was Ellen Brody, 49, a Greenburgh resident and mother of three children, authorities said. She had left the jewelry store where she worked around 6 p.m. and was en route to Scarsdale to meet a friend, according to co-workers. It was dark, fellow drivers recalled, and perhaps she did not know at first that she had passed the gate. The gate struck the back passenger side edge of Brody’s vehicle, according to Rick Hope, the driver behind her, then slid down further and came to rest pressing in on the top of a window. The vehicle, a Mercedes, appeared to be short of the tracks but inside the gate, Hope said, before the crossing alarm began to blare. “As soon as I see the gate go down, I back up,” Hope said outside his Yorktown Heights home. “I say, ‘She’s going to back up as soon as she sees what’s going on.’” But instead, Brody calmly got out of her car, Hope said. She walked around the back, pushed up against the gate, and found it wedged firmly in place. Hope said he began to panic, knowing a train would come through in seconds. He said he motioned with his hands at Brody to come toward him. He backed his car up more, thinking she might follow his lead. For a split second, he said, she looked at him. He thought she might walk away from the car. Instead she walked back to the driver’s seat and climbed in. There was a pause, he said, as if she were buckling her seat belt. “The thing’s dinging, red lights are flashing, it’s going off,” Hope said. “I just remember going, ‘Hurry up.’ I just knew she was going to back up — never in my wildest dreams did I think she’d go forward.”
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The article about cabin fever was buried.
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