Interview by Karen Glover

As Clarendon Hill Towers Maintenance Supervisor and head of the maintenance team, our top priority is 100% safety of every detail of the physical layout of this sizable property. We work very hard to accomplish this goal, especially so with the extra challenges presented during inclement winter weather. Safety precautions are our paramount concerns.

We are proud of the property’s curb appeal. A lovely Rose Garden is beautifully maintained and visible from the street. The Rose Garden is part of the interior layout of the property and is situated behind an iron fence. The city sidewalks outside the iron fence are city-owned sidewalks. For many years, we find the City of Somerville to be grossly negligent of its responsibility to clear snow and ice from these city sidewalks. These City sidewalks stretch the long length of Clarendon Hill Towers (located across from Stop and Shop, Broadway) all the way down to Rt. 16. We have repeatedly been in contact with City Hall with no results.
This situation goes beyond “curb appeal” and is an issue of safety for citizens walking on these sidewalks. Assuming this responsibility, because the city does not, places a burden on our maintenance staff. This work takes a tremendous ongoing toll on our equipment. We have repeatedly requested the City to fulfill its responsibility to its taxpaying citizens and clear these sidewalks of snow and ice. The City should do this clean up several times a week, at the very least, during icy, bad, snowy inclement winter weather!
In addition, The City of Somerville needs to implement expert, professional, EXACTING repairs of the sidewalks. The irregular pavement, with much of the concrete lifting and large cracks just spreading are ever-present due to insufficient and inferior patch jobs. As the winter temperature drops to very cold, sometimes freezing cold, these hazardous sidewalk conditions become extremely dangerous.
Our equipment is not designed to tackle uneven, damaged, and cracked pavement. So often, this repeated cleanup ruins the blade on the snowblower, and frequent replacement of sheer pins is a necessity. Therefore, we have the costly repeated expense of continuously replacing snow blower parts, and also absorbing the costs of pounds and pounds of Ice-Melt to thoroughly melt the ice down to the surface of the sidewalk.
We have been put in this unfair position, due to the negligence of the City to fulfill this obligation. The maintenance team and I must take responsibility for snow and ice removal on city sidewalks to protect the safety of the citizens. We assume this task as a moral responsibility to eliminate potential danger to citizens, as well as the obvious safety responsibility. This major task certainly is a burden on our maintenance team. These workers have enough to do with extensive handling of daily maintenance of the property.

In addition to the city sidewalk situation, as this weren’t enough, a light post was removed subsequent to an accident wherein the pole was hit. The City never replaced the pole, and, therefore, the pole base remains. This base is a few inches high, but will be hidden by snow and ice. People can easily trip and fall badly, incurring serious bodily injury. We really do need the City to step up this year and fulfill it’s obligations to its citizens. It appears that the City has many, new projects underway, but it may be wise and prudent decision to address the basics. These heavily trafficked City sidewalks need ongoing attention to avoid accidents.

Hugo Escoto, Clarendon Hill Towers Maintenance Supervisor