Matt O’Malley Mobilizes City’s Children to Shovel out Fire Hydrants

Behold, the power of free ice cream.

Photo via Mayor's Office/Isabel Leon

Photo via Mayor’s Office/Isabel Leon

Update: March 14, 2017

He’s at it again!

Previously:

There are 13,683 fire hydrants in the City of Boston. A decent portion of those hydrants reside in Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury, which comprise City Councillor Matt O’Malley’s District 6. And believe me, they aren’t going to shovel themselves.

O’Malley enlisted the help of the city’s spritely youth in a tweet Sunday, offering a $5 gift certificate to JP Licks in exchange for photographic proof of a shoveled-out hydrant following Saturday’s snowstorm.

And it worked.

https://twitter.com/billkopitke/status/818152206344093696

https://twitter.com/billkopitke/status/818150038354456576

O’Malley first had the idea two years ago, during the snowiest winter in Boston history. When last year’s winter proved too mild, he put the so-called “Fire Hydrant Challenge” on hold. O’Malley said he plans to send out 10 gift cards Monday morning.

“It promotes public safety, promote citizenship with our young people, and ends with ice cream,” O’Malley said. “What could be better than that?”

We need not remind you that O’Malley and his chocolate almond chip placed eighth out of 12 in our definitive ranking of the City Council’s favorite ice cream flavors. “I, of course, picked a flavor that I believe is exclusively found at JP Licks, and I was proud for that,” he said, “and I think Tim McCarthy took too much flak for rum raisin.”