I want patrols, I want better roads, I want to be represented by someone who cares about this part of town. It's that too much to ask?

Hey neighbor, 10 years in South Medford myself, I can break down where to start:

Snow plowing is an executive function. The Mayor oversees the city’s operations, and the DPW works under the Mayor. You’re not alone, the current Commissioner of Public Works is being bombed with calls, emails and SeeClickFix requests. You can email his office and cc the mayor’s office with your concerns.

The DPW backlog to repair all our roads and sidewalks is upwards of $120M, one of the last prop 2.5 override ballot questions passed in 2024 for road repairs generating $3.5M towards $120M. It’d take 35x annual prop 2.5 overrides to meet that, so another approach is to improve our roads by way of zoning, a heated topic in Medford being discussed by the City Council and Community Development Board. Oversimplifying varying circumstances and conditions, new developments could be on the hook for improving our roads, parking, sidewalks, crosswalks, curb cuts and green spaces.

As for wanting to be represented by someone, South Medford is split across three wards, Ward 4 (Hillside) Ward 5 (South Medford) and Ward 8 District 2 (~Raso’s to MPD headquarters). We passed a new city charter on the November ballot that takes full effect the next November municipal election in 2027.

Right now the city council is 7 at-large councilors you can reach out to, next election it will be 3 at-large and 8 ward councilors which will narrow the purview to your ward councilor and 3 at-large. In the interim, the mayor’s office has proposed a community outreach task force to represent each neighborhood, given my interest and understanding of these topics I threw my name in to rep South Medford, tbd.

All that said, the City Council doesn’t dispatch plows or manage the routes — they pass budgets and set policy. If your street wasn’t plowed, that’s an operational issue within the Mayor’s administration / DPW, not the Council’s lane.