That's leadership, blame others...Take a look at today's Boston Globe, Mayor Menino took full responsibility. Shame on you Mayor McCarthy.

I will say that in past years the contractor that did our street had a large backhoe with a big blade. This year it was a small truck with a short blade, he did not have the size to properly clear the street. I think Waltham will need another large storm to see how the mayor really handles this season.

The ineptitude of those responsible for school being closed today has cost many people $$ and days off because they need to stay home with their kids.
If you have a contract to plow for the city, shouldn't that contract call for you to have enough people working for you to keep your equipment manned and operational WHEN needed? I know people who worked around the clock, they were tired too. When they went home, someone else took over for them. I hope those who failed get whacked in the wallet.

I am just totally disappointed. They made it a point yesterday to say School was definitely on and then get that dreaded cal at 5am Not Cool

Well expand the public works department and get more vehicles! Better to pay people to do the job as not! You're not saving the city any money with this system.

Lexington Street plow crew should be ashamed of themselves, as always the road is 1 1/2 lanes wide and they were a mess until Monday. I never heard them on the street but 3 or 4 times. They should really be going back and forth all the time.

Typical. She balmes everyone else but her own inability to manage. The guy who runs the public works department is probably taking the month of February off like he has in the past. Time for some new town management.

I'm curious as to whether the city inspected the equipment and on call rosters of the private companies as part of the contracting process. If Schmo's Landscaping says they have two appropriate vehicles with 8' plows and 4 drivers, have them produce evidence before the contracts are final. The city should also investigate pooling resources with neighboring towns. Lexington was done by Sunday evening, so their folks might have been available to assist in North Waltham. Similar situation with Newton and Southside.

“There is no excuse. I’m going to rethink how I run the private system. I'm not going to run it the way it's always been run.”
Does the mayor make such decisions independently? Doesn't the Council, as a whole, with recommendations from the director of public works decide?

Weak! These are elected officials, that keep getting elected. Just remember when it comes time to vote again. You own this mayor!

Waltham never holds anyone accountable. The contractors had plenty of time to prepare for this storm as for once the forecasters got it right. Waltham only has 6-8 trucks and 2 sidewalk plows. Most cities like Waltham hire privates to help. However, Waltham lets the private contractors call the shots instead of the city. If I want to put a plow on I have to go through a contractor not the city like it used to be. Secondly, we have to many pickups. They are great for small storms but anything over 6″ and they can’t push back. The equipment needs to be better distributed to do a better job. Trucks should have tire chains to gain traction. Only a handful on the 160 pieces of equipment that was out there was chained. Plows are in deplorable condition. Usually they have no cutting edge. A good cutting edge will cut the snow and ice. Not the case on most plows. Most trucks also lack ballast in their bed that give them extra weight to be able to push. Waltham does not push back to the curb during the storm. Why was only Creonte out on Saturday afternoon plowing Main st when all the other contractors got knocked off????? Why has the mayor failed to fund the capital budget the last couple of years ? She claims tough economic times yet bind and interest rates are low why would you NOT found the capital budget to update equipment? Why did an Independent auditor find over 21 million dollars of hidden cash in an account? The mayor was hiding it to buy Fernald.

I think the private contractors do this on purpose so they can get paid more when they have to come in and clean up the mess.

Continued.... Police, Fireand other unions have been without a contract for over 3 years because the mayor fails to negotiate with them. People are now seeing the true mayor as she has failed to do her job responsibly and we need to vote her out. It will take years to fix the problems she has caused with lack of equipment upgrades and personnel. Please people, speak up and stand up… This mayor has to go! She always points the finger away from herself.... If she doesn't let people do their job because she micro Manages the city will keep failing like it is. She will never listen and she has taken over every department. You now have a fire chief that bows down to her! If she takes over plowing... no one will want to be part of the city.

Personally I think that you all are a little to hard on Mayor McCarthy. Take it up with the DPW department and their choices of contractors. Fire and re-hire any that did a crappy job. If you have ever managed people you know that there are always some difficult people but you don't through away the boss and keep the crappy workers. She is trying to get this right give her a chance geez, I'm glad you all have the answers.

Dear Mayor McCarthy,

The city of Waltham should be ashamed about how it handled it self during the recent Winter Storm. The streets of Waltham are deplorable. It has been four days since the Blizzard and still some of the streets are not wide enough to fit two cars down. We still have no school in this city because the city couldn't get its act together to plow the streets properly, even though we were all told last evening that the city schools would be open. While I applaud the decision in terms of safety, I have to believe that if the city did its job and plowed continuously during the storm, we could have had a safe opening today.

As the leader of this community, and champion of everything Waltham, you must take a.
stand and accept responsibility for this horrible situation. Granted the plow drivers may not have done the job properly, however, I must ask the question why the street department is so short staffed and with such ill equipment. After watching the city council meeting last evening, I must side with them and say that you have not funded the proper money to buy the equipment to do the job correctly. I am sorry to have to tell you this Mayor, but as the ultimate leader and city department head, you are responsible. It is time to accept that responsibility and stop passing the buck to everyone else. You are slowly ruining this great city we call Waltham. There is still time to make this city great again, but The leaders must take action.

This was a large storm, however, every forecast in the three days prior to the storm called for 24 plus inches of snow. We knew it was coming. The city was not prepared. It is a total kick in the gut and takes the wind out of you when every city that surrounds Waltham was down to pavement on Sunday following the storm, even the very unused side roads. I still have no had a plow come down my street since very early Saturday morning. I would hate to be the one to have to tell a citizen that someone died because emergency vehicles were unable to access their roads

If another now storm hits, and one that is even a few inches, we are going to have no where to push the snow to because the roads are as narrow as it is. God for bid we get another large storm, we will not be able to move. The city is in grid lock today, I can not imagine getting another large storm.

There is no excuse for a city as great and large as this one to be in such a bad situation four days after a large storm. We should have the equipment, manpower, and plan in place to handle this type of situation

Lifelong, your name suggests you've been here awhile. So you remember the snow we got 2 years ago? Do you remember the uproar that followed the miserable plowing then? This storm was the Mayor's chance to prove that things have changed. She failed, AGAIN. As did the CPW. So I'm sorry we're all down on the Mayor/CPW/contractors but when is enough enough?

Thanks MK.....and those who are saying: "She is trying to make it right"
What doesn't the mayor understand about
Snow, New England and Waltham Winter Weather???
It's been here for YEARS!

The Mayor blames the private contractors. I thought GPS were given so that you can monitor what they are doing. Who is taking that responsibility?? Who is watching over the private contractors??

Mayor should stop blaming other people, for the lack of her judgement!

to lifelong...

If you have been a resident all your life, you have seen our city service personnel diminish over the last couple of years..... However, the Fire Chief Left, the Old public works director left, building department Head left, Reason?? they got sick of being Micro Manage to death by the Mayor! She won't get it right because she doesn't listen to the people around her. She is a micro Manager and a dictator!

OMG! We had a BLIZZARD!!! You live in New England. I think the City and Subs did a fine job dealing with a BLIZZARD! If you do not Like it here and you don't like the winter months and possibilities of BLIZZARDS then move to a warmer climate where snow will not be an issue for you. Stop passing the buck. Stop your complaining! Cowards blame everyone else! There is no one to blame, again we had a BLIZZARD!!!

The City Council is more interested in finding out who owns which telephone poles and giving developers the run around over such nonsense as parking spaces meeting after meeting. How about you take care of the basics in Waltham like making sure the snow is cleared off the streets and sidewalks so the taxpayers can get to work and our children and go to school. Once again we will see them all talk and talk and then send it back to comittee and nothing will change!

it's odd - they started plowing our streets in Warrendale Friday - literally the interval was like, 5-10 minutes between passes. And yet our road STILL was not cleared off properly. Other roads in other towns - clear. I knew that there was not going to be school today - the sidewalks are NOT cleared in parts of our neighborhood - kids can NOT walk in the street to get to school...especially when those streets are slabs of ice. Every school should have its own snowblower...isn't that obvious ?

Hailey R. Let me take a quess here and say your street was one of the few that got plowed..People arent complaining about the "blizzard"...its the poor plowing jobs. Some streets didnt see a plow for 12hrs or so..and we had days warning about how much snow being called for. And we STILL dont have answers as to why or what went wrong really..Just a whole lot of "looking into the problem" after the fact is just salt to a wound..Esp when you can't get half a block down your street without getting stuck in packed down-slushy snow..just kindly read the peoples concerns about our city doing their job/s. Now kids are in school till June 21..Will be interesting to see tomorrow night into Thursday morning..theyre calling for 2-4 inches poss.

I am familiar with some of the contractors listed but can anyone tell me if all the contractors listed are from Waltham or have a relationship with Waltham? As posted above in the story: For a list of a which contractors plow which roads, click on the PDF in the photo box to the right.

"It is my responsibility ultimately," she added.
Typical for this mayor.

How does she keep getting elected?

She should quit

This Mayor has ruined this city and it is all coming to a head ! She keeps hiring people at big money with no experience to run departments and she has to fire them because they are incompetent ! Examples such as the city engineer and the Cpw director . Mayor please resign you are awful .

Ya know what I think is pretty funny, The same people are on her all the time and they have something to say about everything or should I say complaining! I say you all have to much free time on your hands! Take up a hobby that does not include whining! Maybe you should start a new career in snow removal! I think you all just love trying to cause havoc to peoples livelyhood. Stop trying to destroy people and their reputations. People like you must have pretty miserable lives that you feel the need to go on patch 24/7 and try to cause problems! Grow up people!!

The voters should hold the Mayor to her word.

First line of questions the counselors should ask the mayor: "Mayor, you said that "Some neighborhoods were perfectly good. Other neighborhoods were pitiful.” Which neighborhoods, in your view, were perfectly good? [I am really curious about that one] Which ones were pitiful?

Second line of questions: "What contractors were responsible for the neighborhoods you thought were pitiful?" You said that "If anybody didn’t perform properly, they are out." Will you be discontinuing the city's relationship with those contractors?

Robin~ To answer your question: Most, if not all, are businesses contracted to do the plowing for Waltham. I think Fred brings up some good points regarding the size of the trucks vs. the size of the snowstorm. Ultimately, there should be a Plan B that the DPW puts into action for snowstorms over 6". Also, Mayor McCarthy will hopefully in the future will make it mandatory to meet with the DPW, Police, Fire, and contractors before major snowstorms to alleviate any confusions and express the expectations. Listen, it's easy for us to sit here and condemn and criticize. I personally believe that Mayor McCarthy has done a wonderful job. Not everything she does is going to be perfect, and yes, there will be mistakes made. However, just the fact that she listens and reads the feedback on Patch and other waltham city websites, makes me feel that Waltham citizens are being heard and being taken into consideration. Next time you come across a citizen from Watertown, ask them if they feel like they're being heard by their town. I guarantee you their answer will be a fervent "No."

"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do." Dale Carnegie

Question: If we know which contractors plow which streets; why are city trucks not out there checking on the job they are doing and reporting back? We pay big $ for these contractors. My own neighborhood (also the Mayors) was plowed to the hilt.

Problem Solved:
http://waltham.patch.com/articles/waltham-mayor-says-she-wont-seek-another-term?ncid=newsltuspatc00000003

She is not running for re-election.

I was told by one contractors wife that DPW called off the snow crews at 6 am Saturday morning.

An interesting aside - cities that get hardcore snow on a regular basis (Utica, Syracuse) don't use private contractors, they use real hardcore snowplows, not some guy with a pickup and a plow. I would not classify anywhere in metro Boston as getting hardcore snow on annual basis. Take that for what it is worth. Are your expectations too high? Realize that as hardcore you think Boston area weather is it does not compare with some other places. So you are getting service commensurate with typical amounts of snow and the amount you are willing to pay, somewhere on the long continuum between Syracuse or Buffalo and Washington DC or Atlanta.

I live in Watertown but work in Waltham. I can honestly say that while I was out shoveling on Saturday, almost every plow that I saw on my street was from a business in Waltham. While I am grateful that Watertown was plowed, it made me wonder why the plows weren't in Waltham.

Just out of curiosity, isn't there a city ordinance about homeowners and tenants, (residential and commercial alike) being responsible for shoveling out the sidewalks and driveways in their immediate area? My neighbors(4 unit building, 6 people shoveling, no snow blowers, no plows) and I took care of our sidewalk, walkways, and driveways by Monday evening. What are the repercussions for the residents and businesses that do not adhere to city ordinances and how and when are they enforced? If info at all would be appreciated!

i just looked it up and answered my own questions. According to the City Of Waltham Public Works Website.

"Residential Walks: While there is currently no ordinance in the City of Waltham that requires residents to clear their walks, it is strongly encouraged to ensure safe pedestrian passage.

Commercial Walks: City ordinance 17-23 states that certain sidewalks (Moody & Main) are the responsibility of the owners of that property."

I don't understand how contractors are not held responsible for the work they do for the city. Isn't it someone's job to make sure the people they pay big bucks to are doing the job correctly. Plus too tired?? Are you kidding me? The snow ended around 1:00 pm on Saturday. They've had days to clean up this mess and get the roads and sidewalks ready to open the schools. This is just extremely poor management from the mayor down!

Check with the surrounding towns and you will find that they used more salt before, during and after the storm than Waltham. that lack of salt created the hardpacked buildup on the roads

I'm curious about school cancellation Tues. due to sidewalks not being cleared. What makes anyone think sidewalks will be cleared by Wed.?

Typical, blaming Mayor McCarthy for not cleaning up the sidewalks and roads after one of the biggest snowstorms Waltham has ever seen. I suppose the majority of you would only be satisfied if you actually saw the Mayor behind a snowplow or with a shovel in her hand- newsflash: there's a whole department that's in charge of the clearing of roads in instances like this, PUBLIC WORKS. Why doesn't anyone blame them? Oh, because the Mayor is an easy target due to the position that she's in. She trusted that her right hand man in DPW had it under control while she dealt with several other issues that the city is dealing with- apologies. Granted she is the Mayor and as she said, "It is my responsibility ultimately," give her a break. She can't control Mother Nature, she isn't licensed to drive a plow, and she's doing the best she can.

Forest Street and the surrounding roads were relatively clean and well-plowed. The reason, I think, is that many of the wealthy contractors live in that neighborhood. They take care of their own first when it comes to plowing!