Keller @ Large: Lessons From The Nightmare Winter Of 2015

BOSTON (CBS) - So we broke the record for snowiest winter in Boston history?

That's fine, if you care about trivia. But our "historic achievement" won't mean anything if we don't remember and learn from the lessons of the nightmare winter of 2015.

Some of these are of the nuts-and-bolts variety.

I'm sure local DPW officials who made the mistake of not throwing everything they had at snow removal during the parking bans won't make that mistake again. Either you clear the roads when all vehicles are off them or you're stuck with impassable side streets and commercial districts for the duration.

More broadly, the lessons we learned about the MBTA should stay with us for the long haul, if we learn the right ones.

Former State Inspector General Greg Sullivan, now an analyst with the conservative Pioneer Institute, has published research showing that while the T may be underfunded relative to its ability to get the job done, it is not underfunded compared with other big city transit systems. We lead the nation in capital funding per passenger mile.

But we also learned, or were reminded of, how much we rely on the T to function. Our roads can't handle the traffic when the T is running fine; they are a catastrophe when it isn't.

And I bet many of us learned this winter who our friends really were, who we could rely on for help in a snow emergency pinch, which of our neighbors care about others and which ones don't.

In the long run, that might be the most valuable lesson of all from our season of hell.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.