Boston Public Works eyes permanent double-time snow pay after successful pilot

BOSTON -- November 27, 2024, Boston City Council winter hearing surfaces push for double-time snow pay and AI-driven plowing. The City Council Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology, chaired by Councilor Enrique J. Pepén and co-sponsored by Councilor Brian Worrell, convened a virtual hearing November 27 on Docket No. 1559 to review the city's winter readiness. Daniel Gilbert of Public Works told the panel that a pilot offering double-time pay for all snow-event hours ran last winter and is now awaiting budget-office approval to continue, a step above the standard time-and-a-half rate for overtime. Gilbert also described the department's use of Tomorrow.io, an MIT-founded AI weather forecasting company whose satellite and vehicle sensor data helps the city distinguish conditions neighborhood by neighborhood, and Samsara GPS tracking that generates plow heat maps to reduce over-salting and redundant runs. On private-way plowing, Gilbert said the city will clear a private street if it uses it for trash pickup, but not otherwise without a prior arrangement made through 311 or the district yard.