TheCambridge Record
Agenda ItemsPolicy Orders

POR 2025-23

Asked the City Manager to commit to prioritizing snow removal from crosswalks and pedestrian islands for the rest of this and future snow seasons and direct appropriate City staff to generate a policy for prioritizing snow removal from crosswalks and pedestrian islands after snow storms

How it started
Mar 3, 2025 · Proposed by Councillors Toner, Wilson, and Simmons: a formal request from the Council to the administration.
What happened
Mar 3, 2025 · Amendment carried Moved by Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler; carried.
POR 2025 #23 by adding a third “Whereas” to read: “The City has committed to and has acquired specialized snow removal equipment to clear separated bicycle lanes throughout the city; and”
The clerk's words, from the minutes of Mar 3, 2025, p. 14.
Mar 3, 2025 · ✅ Order adopted as amended, 7–0. The Council's request went to the City Manager. (one voted present · one absent)
View the roll call

Voted yes (7)

  • Burhan Azeem
  • Marc McGovern
  • Patty Nolan
  • Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
  • Paul F. Toner
  • Ayesha M. Wilson
  • E. Denise Simmons

Voted present (1)

  • Cathie Zusy

Absent (1)

  • Sumbul Siddiqui
Roll call of Mar 3, 2025 · from the council’s minutes · photos: City of Cambridge
What’s next
No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number (AR 2025 #13 open, 521 days). Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.
The document Agenda item attachment · 1 page

O-7

The City has made safety improvements to intersections, such as the redesigned Inman Square, which result in new public spaces and pedestrian islands; and

The City has, and is continuing to, implement Safety Improvement Projects, as required by the Cycling Safety Ordinance, which result in pedestrian islands; and

The City has committed to and has acquired specialized snow removal equipment to clear separated bicycle lanes throughout the city; and

Current snow removal operations by the City can lead to blocking crosswalks and pedestrian islands, increasing difficulties for pedestrians; and

The Cambridge City Council unanimously adopted Vision Zero in 2015; now therefore

be it

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to commit to prioritizing snow removal from crosswalks and pedestrian islands for the rest of this and future snow seasons, and be it further

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to direct DPW and any appropriate staff to generate a policy for addressing these concerns in the future and to report back no later than April 28, 2025

🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: Mar 3, 2025