New Toolcat Roars Through District

The Central Business Improvement District has a new pair of hands shoveling snow and cleaning curb cuts. The CBID is currently leasing a 5600 Toolcat vehicle to assist with district clean-up.

The lease is on a trial basis. “We want to try it out, see if we like it,and see if it can handle the work load,” said Anthony Capece, Executive Director for the BID. The vehicle is equivalent to a 1-ton truck, with hauling capacity, and offers 40 different attachments to work with, including a sweeper and mini-bulldozer.

Before getting the Toolcat, the 16 miles of sidewalk clean-up was done by hand, with brooms and shovels, and, during the winter months, it took days for the five-person staff to complete. “It was tough,” said Stephen McBride, Supervisor of the BID Maintenance Crew.

“We couldn’t keep up with the weather, and I was wearing out the crew,” Capece added. Especially in a heavy winter like the one we’re having now, when there’s been no real thaw, and snow banks have built up along the sidewalk. “Everything’s hard as a rock,” Capece said.

But the Toolcat, emblazoned with the CBID logo, makes short work of the mountainous cliffs of snow. In seconds, Maintenance Crew member P.J. Stone scoops up a load of snow and carts it away. The vehicle is also great for punching out "cuts" in the snow banks and for spreading salt on crosswalks, to ensure safer pedestrian crossing. The new machine makes snow removal a pleasure (almost). The CBID helps the City and the property owners in keeping the crosswalks open in bad weather. It's just another way we try to make the BID area safer and cleaner.

“With the Toolcat the guys don’t mind the snow so much anymore,” said Capece, with a smile.