It always amazes me that after a snowstorm the streets will be clear within 2 hours, while sidewalks don't clear for weeks. We just had a blizzard in the Northeast and I've resorted to walking in the street until it's possible to use the sidewalk without slogging through 8 inches of snow and ice. I'm not sure if this is legal and I'm not sure if I care.

In my community property owners are expected to clear the sidewalks in front of their homes while the roads are plowed by the city. This is just one more example of how automobiles are subsidized at the expense of all other forms of transportation.

Sorry to rant, but this has been bugging me for weeks.

Cheers,
Dex

You're not the only one... It just goes to show you that cars are truly more important than people at this time of year. I really think we need to holler to our city councils about this. It's the same here, spottily cleared sidewalks, while the asphalt is totally clear. If the council doesn't help, maybe you could plan an event where pedestrians took to the streets.

That would get their attention,

This relates to the rails to trails thing. Around here some of those a good for commuting and going places because the rail lines came right into the city. They aren't cleared when it snows but people use them until they become bumpy and very difficult to ride on. You have to go slowly and carefully. If the money spent on rails to trails conversion made the streets safer we could restore the rails and have bike transportation.

Here propert owners are responsible for clearing the sidewalk in front of their property within 24 hours. Yesterday wasn't too bad. On a 3 mile walk, there were only 4 or 5 properties with uncleared sidewalks. Today is a different story. With the strong winds, the snow drifts over the cleared area within a few minutes. It's pretty pointless to sho9vel right now.

My biggest gripe has to do with businesses. They pay thousands of dollars to clear their 10 acre parking lots, then they don't bother to clear the little sidewalk that fronts their business. In fact, they often push the snow from the parking lot right onto the sidewalk, leaving pedestrians with no choice but to walk in the traffic.

The reason the roads are cleared so quickly is for the sake of emergency vehicles.
Stop playing the victim.

+1

Besides, how is a plow truck going to run onto the sidewalk to clear it between light poles, parked cars, fences, trees, tree stumps, curbside gardens, curbs, stop signs, No Parking signs, your neighbor's kid's tricycle, dog crap, leaf bags, .... ?

OP, you're complaining about the wrong people. Those are your own neighbors, not the city, who aren't shoveling their sidewalks like the rest of us do.

*edit* ... you ARE shoveling your sidewalk, right? Or at least paying an energetic preteen to do it for you?

Bring your shovel and start shoveling it in front of their door?

Currently in Seattle, there's enough snow that you really can't even see the sidewalks, and even the side streets are kind of iffy for cars right now (we have maybe ten snow plows in the whole city). Walking around today, I got irritated for a moment, wondering why the hell no one was shoveling their stretch of sidewalk, until I suddenly realized that most people in Seattle probably don't even own a snow shovel. It's kind of silly, given the fact that there's only about 10-14 inches of snow on the ground, but I'm actually getting around right now in full snow shoe clothing, minus the snow shoes, simply because it's necessary. In Colorado, where I grew up, this much snow would be a minor inconvenience, not really worth mentioning...

This theory doesn't explain the facts here as well as the car-culture domination theory. Every time we've had a long term freeze with snow, the bike paths NEVER get cleared. I can ride past the parking area for the snow removal equipment and see it idle the streets are all cleared. They get icy and rutted and dangerous. In the city the wards that voted for the current mayor get preference over those that didn't. Another observable fact that supports the car-culture theory is when I shovel my walk and my neighbors walks, and then some guy from across the street comes to dig his car out and piles the snow on my cleared sidewalk. Its not the government around here, its the vast majority of people who don't care. The wheeled gurneys they use to pull people from accident sites to the waiting ambulances are also emergency vehicles and they can't be used safely on icy sidewalks. A few years ago I was so glad I had taken the time to shovel the walks when a neighbor had a stroke, the ambulance crew had no problem with our sidewalks. It would have been a real hassle for them if they had to go to the adjacent block where the residents didn't care.

I'm not actually complaining about the speed with which the roads get cleared. I was just pointing out that we have the technology to clear pavement after it's been snowing which, if we wanted to, we could apply to the sidewalks. Though it's currently my neighbors responsibility to clear their portion of the sidewalk, I don't think it should be. Why not hire a few people to drive plow tractors along the sidewalk? It would create a few jobs and get the sidewalks cleaned up. Win/win.

People don't slide off the side of the road and kill people if they slip in the snow, cars do. I walk/bike nearly everywhere as well, but you know what I did? I got a good pair of waterproof boots. It is amazing how well they work...

You're kidding, right? There are sidewalk ploughs designed to fit standard sidewalk widths.

Huh? Is that really the law somewhere? Wow... talk about cities dumping their responsibilities on taxpayers!

That depends on the city. Some cities require property owners to shovel the sidewalk. In other cities, it's a taxpayer financed service--just like street plowing.

Last year a little Lansing girl was hit by a car and died. She had to walk in the street to get to school because the city failed to plow the sidewalk along her route (in a stretch whee there was no private property fronting the sidewalk). The city attorney denied responsiility because they considered that stretch of sidewalk to be "closed" in the winter, even though there was no barrier or sign that indicated closure.

So this is not a petty or trivial issue. Besides injuries and fatalities, many elderly people and handicapped people are essentially prisoners in their homes during snowy periods. And of course, it's a hardship or deterrent for able-bodied people who want to be carfree or carlight.

You are Canadian, no doubt about it.

We're talking about the United States, where the free market rules, even when it would be cheaper and more convenient for government to provide for the common good. Reagan and the Bushes fought hard so that we decent Americans could have the freedom to shovel our own sidewalks.

They can take away my snow shovel when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!

Yeah, it's called a "shovel". Less than ten bucks, even available at Amazon.com. If you're too lazy or invalid to do it yourself, there's a kid down the block who'll gladly do it for you for ten bucks or less (and he will have his own shovel).

(or "she will have her own shovel"... Women's Lib and all that, ya know..)

FWIW, we shoveled every snowfall back home. We usually gained full use of the driveway that split our house and the neighbors' once they saw what a pain it was after the first time it snowed after they moved in. Now I'm in a building with about 45 units, and we still take responsibility, whether we shovel ourselves or make an arrangement with the kid next door.

But people do die from slipping and falling and hitting their head on an icy sidewalk. Snowy sidewalks that see a lot of use become compacted and turn to ice. Its really hard to find boots that give good traction on ice. And seniors and the disabled have even less ability to navigate those kinds of sidewalks. And so most of them (that rely on their feet for transportation the rest of the year!) become housebound and/or reliant on others for assistance.

Right, which is why they need to be shoveled right away. I'll bet that residents can do it faster than any city service can do it, too.

(btw -- please don't just shove it into the street. It gets compacted into ice there, too, and makes it worse for all road users.)

Question: why isn't it the responsibility of the homeowner to clear the street in front of their house? Why do they get to clear just the sidewalk?

I'll bet you can't drive one down the sidewalk on my block, let alone actually get the job done with it.

LOL. Actually, since posting that, a friend originally from St. John's NFL told me it was that way back home - you cleared sidewalks adjacent to your property. On general principal, though, I don't approve of making individuals responsible for maintaining public property - or letting government off the hook for such expenses. Somehow they always download responsibilities... without ever lowering taxes.

They can take mine anytime - its broke two years ago, and duct tape no longer holds it together. Have little use for it anyway.

Actually, in St John's, the city does it for a while. However, average snowfall is over 300cm. Due to pretty dense urban layout and smaller city streets, it soon becomes impossible to keep the sidewalks clear. When it gets totally out of hand, the city starts trucking snow away... usually dumping it in the harbour.

If you want a business to start clearing the sidewalks, just fall down on the unshoveled sidewalk and ask to use the phone to call a lawyer.