City councilor offers ice cream to kids who shovel out hydrants

By adamg on Fri, 01/28/2022 - 11:27pm

New District 4 (Dorchester, Mattapan, bits of Roslindale and JP) Councilor Brian Worrell is offering $10 gift certificates to Fields Corner's Chill on Park to anybody in his district under 18 who sends in a photo of a hydrant they've shoveled out. Worrell credits former District 6 (JP, West Roxbury, Mission Hill) Councilor Matt O'Malley for the idea.

Neighborhoods:

Topics:

Free tagging:

Ad:

Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Cool, but I have questions councilor

By anon on Fri, 01/28/2022 - 11:58pm.

How many kids under 18 have any idea what district they live in ?

How many kids in Mattapan want to trek to Fields Corner to go to Chill on Park?

And what about those of us over 18 who shovel out hydrants? I regularly shovel a hydrant on my street a stones throw from Chill on Park. But I don't count?

Just offer $10 to anyone in the city who does it, forget the silly boundary lines of districts and the focus on one specific restaurant that's on the line between districts 3 and 4.

And what about kids …

By Lee on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 10:10am.

… with medical or moral issues with eating dairy and sugar? I know a few.

and whaddabout

By Tim Mc. on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 10:30am.

kids who are politically opposed to receiving money for community-minded services, HUH? What about THEM?

Or what if their favorite flavor is out?

Won't somebody please think of the children?

What about the children

By brianjdamico on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 10:35am.

Who want to watch their neighbor’s house burn to the ground? Why should their dreams be crushed by a well shoveled hydrant?

Obviously

By BostonDog on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 10:37am.

Those children should protest outside the councilor's house at 6am in hopes he rescinds the program or provides a better perk for doing something they should be doing anyway.

Um?

By Kaz on Sun, 01/30/2022 - 1:51pm.

They can sell a $10 gift certificate to someone for $10?

You’re over 18! Awesome,

By Anon on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 1:37pm.

You’re over 18! Awesome, there are many places hiring. Go complete a few job applications.

Are you seriously asking why

By Matt Frank on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 2:49pm.

Are you seriously asking why you aren't being offered the same deal as a child? Do you get an allowance for doing the dishes? Do you get a gold star for feeding the dog?

As for the locations. Yes districts can be confusing but the Councillor is trying and if you've ever been to Chill on Park you'd know why they were chosen. That shop tries very hard to be a good neighbor and has a very welcome environment. They also try to accommodate those with allergies and preferences , in the past they have had some offerings from Fomu in the freezer for the vegans.

My biggest pet peeve in the public sector is when people in non profits or government functions do things to try to be helpful with non government funds and get met with "but how about" comments. You think adults should get ice cream to? Awesome go raise some money for that and set it up.

inspirational ice cream?

By bostnkid on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 12:01am.

hey kids if you go out in 60 mph winds at 15 degrees and shovel three feet of snow you get a free ice cream!

literally 1884

By huskyhusky on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 1:13am.

what if we actually funded a functional public works department instead of literally trying to use child labor (at less than minimum wage???) to preserve critical city infrastructure during the worst blizzard in almost 50 years??

Yeah

By BostonDog on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 8:46am.

Who does he think he is trying to teach kids to take some civic responsibility and then doing something nice for them and a local business.

It’s a hydrant that needs to

By anon on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 5:11am.

It’s a hydrant that needs to be shoveled, not a driveway. I say kudos to the kids who volunteer to help out in their neighborhood!

This is Boston!

By ljd on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 6:48am.

hey kids if you go out in 60 mph winds at 15 degrees and shovel three feet of snow you get a free ice cream!

This is Boston! We eat ice cream in all sorts of weather. You should know that. :-)

Kids

By BostonDog on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 8:34am.

This would have been the Best Storm Evar if I was 12 and I'd be outside all day.

When heavily taxpayer funded utility companies fail...

By J.R. Dobbs on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 6:02am.

never underestimate the bootstraps of children.

World Class City.

How about the heavily funded BFD

By Parkwayne on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 9:11am.

They need to stay in shape - why not have fire fighters shovel out hydrants?

I am kidding but I don't get this dig at, I guess, the BWS as a taxpayer funded company. It's literally a city department?

They do

By brianjdamico on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 9:48am.

why not have fire fighters shovel out hydrants?

They do shovel out hydrants. But as Adam points out below, there are nearly 14,000 fire hydrants in the city. But there's 33 fire houses (34 if you count Long Island's inactive fire brigade) and 57 staffed front-line fire companies on a normal day. Nearly 250 hydrants per company, hydrants should be cleared 3 feet around in all directions, that's a lot of snow to move. I'd hate to have my house catch on fire before they got to my hydrant, but I'd also hate to have my house catch on fire and have the firemen who respond be the ones that just spent the entire shift shoveling out hydrants.

To be clear

By Parkwayne on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 2:11pm.

I'm all for anyone and everyone helping to dig them out. I am just mystified by the allegation that some tax payer funded company should be doing this though.

Fire hydrants are generally handled by I am hoping our new mayor can figure out how make entities like the MBTA, etc... clear snow from their obligations.

Tough crowd

By adamg on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 8:50am.

It's funny: Matt O'Malley did this for years, and I wrote about it for years, and nobody ever complained about doing something nice for kids that teaches them the importance of community.

The city DOES shovel out fire hydrants, but there are 13,879 of them, so it can take awhile for crews to get to them all (and admit it: If the city actually hired enough people to shovel out all the hydrants at once, you'd complain about the cost).

Another city councilor, Kendra Lara, who took over from O'Malley, is organizing a volunteer snow shoveling program to help people in her district who need help shoveling their sidewalks and stoops. If that makes you feel bitter, too, though, just go read your copy of "Atlas Shrugged" again.

I'd be pretty disappointed

By brianjdamico on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 9:34am.

if the city gave me the promise of a good job shoveling out hydrants, and then it didn't snow much all winter.

If you live somewhere, it is in your best interest to have the nearest hydrants shoveled out as soon as possible. The fire department will still show up and put your house fire out, but how quickly they can do that largely depends on how much water they have access to.

Growing up we always cleaned

By Matt Frank on Sun, 01/30/2022 - 7:35pm.

Growing up we always cleaned the hydrants, cleared the water catch basins, cleaned out the tree pits on the sidewalk... It wasn't a perfect street but people stepped up and did what we could. As time went on I moved down the street from my parents but stayed on the same street when I got involved in local politics. Some people started rumours we got better treatment because of me and that's why the street was cleaner than most etc and I kept explaining that we literally had been doing this ourselves for forty and quite frankly anytime the city showed up to do work they seemed to make things worse lol. It was just what was always done.

Hmm. I wonder what the

By Miss M on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 9:53am.

Hmm. I wonder what the difference might be between Brian Worrell and Matt O'Malley.

I know, actually: O'Malley's gift certificates were for $5. Your readership must be angry that D4 kids are getting a better deal.

What are you, new here?

By Waquiot on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 3:32pm.

People gripe about anything in Boston, and people gripe about anything on the internet. You have provided the crossroads of them both.

I’m not going to lie, though. I was hoping for more praise than was given. Sounds like a great idea.

People are grouchy today.

By npyritz on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 10:09am.

People are grouchy today. Relax, go get yourself some ice cream, and enjoy the snow day.

Nice gesture

By StillFromDorchester on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 11:32am.

But Ice cream?
A hot steak and Cheese sounds better.

Problem

By lbb on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 2:12pm.

Where in Boston can you get a decent cheesesteak these days? Used to be every block downtown had a lunchateria that could turn out an acceptably good cheesesteak, but they seem to be a lot less popular these days.

Philly has Cheesesteaks

By StillFromDorchester on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 4:20pm.

We have Steak and Cheese , and any halfway decent sub shop has acceptable steak and cheese subs

Really?

By lbb on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 9:06pm.

Seems to me I recall a place on Lincoln Street in the basement that if I had a name I never knew it, but they had an amazing thing that was called "cheesesteak" on the menu and called "cheesesteak" by the guy behind the counter who yelled, "You, what you want?" and went on to the next customer if you hesitated a nanosecond. If you want to get sniffy about "steak and cheese" vs. "cheesesteak", knock yourself out. Then, when you wake up, provide the name of "any halfway decent sub shop" where you yourself have, within the last two years, had a good steakandcheesesteak.

I'm not getting "sniffy"

By StillFromDorchester on Sun, 01/30/2022 - 10:04am.

That's just the way you took it, you always seem to be looking for an argument.
I just stated that we don't call them cheese steak.
I have a bunch of takeout menus on my fridge and they all have steak and cheese as the description and couple have steak bombs(everything on it).

Charlie's on Dot ave
Dimitrios on Dot Ave
Subway on Dot ave
Etc.

You hit the nail on the head

By Waquiot on Sun, 01/30/2022 - 12:08pm.

Arguing that there is no place in Boston to get cheesesteaks coming from someone living basically in Springfield is a classic example of llb arguing for the sake of arguing.

Tough crowd today

By Anon on Sat, 01/29/2022 - 2:11pm.

How many icicles slipped through the neck of everyone’s puffer coat today? You’re reacting like you trekked all the way to a Brigham’s during a blizzard just to learn the only flavor left was peppermint stick. It’s a nice gesture, some kids may get excited, cute little side story, not the end of the world.