Please Deice Your Sidewalk

[derekp.livejournal.com]

We're a few days removed from the first winter storm of the year, and yet many stretches of sidewalk in and around Davis Square are still covered in ice. Simpson Ave seems particularly bad as you get towards the Broadway end of the street and Cutter was no Picnic last night either. I can only imagine the folks who live there are renters, as I would think owner residents would not want to risk the liability. One trip to Home Depot or Tags and a few seconds tossing a small amount of rock salt on the ground will fix this. Please everyone do their part to keep the sidewalks in our neighborhood safe all winter.

Is there recourse for pedestrians in Somerville when folks do not clear the sidewalk or does it simply become a legal issue if/when someone slips and falls? I'd like to see the city stepping up to clear bad areas, perhaps citing landlords and residents who repeatedly fail to keep the sidewalk safe.

Comments

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

The thing is that there is a city ordinance regarding the clearing of snow and ice, and fines can be levied, but it is totally unenforceable. The sidewalks are city property and homeowners (or tenants) cannot be required to clear them of snow and ice. Any other time of the year, if you tried to do something on the sidewalk, you would be told in no uncertain terms that it is city property. I love the story about the man who actually went the extra mile and dug up "HIS" sidewalk! Noone wants to be the one with the test case, because they're so afraid of retribution from the city.