How do they evacuate?
Boston is famous for traffic gridlock.
Long Wharf in downtown Boston was once the main commercial wharf of the city’s port, but is now used by ferries and cruise boats.
—Photo by Chris Wood
(New England Diary’s editor, Robert Whitcomb, is chairman of The Boston Guardian.)
Over the years, we have periodically looked at the city’s disaster planning with a focus on possible evacuations.
Although not subject to forest fires like in Los Angeles, mass relocations due to super storms, terrorism or other possible disasters are possibilities.
Long ago, the city’s planning to relocate many of its citizens ended at Boston’s boundaries with no coordination with our suburban neighbors. Other plans had designated some of our busiest streets as “evacuation routes” although they were already gridlocked during normal commute times.
Over three weeks ago, we assigned one of our best reporters, Brandon Hill, to review the city’s plans with particular emphasis on the recent increase in bike and bus lanes which have constricted vehicular traffic.
He was met with either silence or uncertainty about who to speak with by both the Wu administration’s Office of Emergency Management and her press office. It almost seemed like Hill was asking for the nuclear launch codes or Elon Musk’s attempt to access sensitive government files.
As government’s primary responsibility is the health and safety of its citizens, we are left more than a little concerned and perplexed. It almost seems like Mayor Wu’s attitude about our wellbeing begins and ends with prayer with nothing in-between.