Snow Remains Unplowed; Council May Tax Harvard

Mother Nature dumped 27.9 inches of snow on Cambridge this month, more snow than the city has seen in December since 1947, and Cambridge politicians are still trying to get it cleaned up. On Christmas Eve City Manager John Corcoran obtained a writ from Superior Court and ordered Public Works employees to work overtime on snow removal.

Two days later James Cassidy, president of the Public Works Department Union, said, "There has been no refusal to work overtime. The manager's order was unnecessary."

The City dropped the injunction Wednesday but the snow keeps coming down and not very much of it is getting removed. Corcoran and the City Council will take up the matter again in a special meeting today.

May Tax Harvard

The Council may also consider today a resolution to tax charitable institutions including churches, parochial schools, and private schools such as Harvard.

The resolution, introduced by Model Cities, requests that the City Council file in the State legislature for a special act to authorize real estate taxes on charitable institutions in Cambridge. The resolution has been on the Council's table for almost a month and will not be considered unless a Councillor moves to have it taken off the table and put on the agenda.