Tickets for not Shoveling

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

As I walked along the shady side of Highland Ave this afternoon I noticed that several houses had white envelopes taped to their doors. They were all houses that had made no apparent attempt to clear, salt, or sand their sidewalks.

Anyone know what the cost of such a tickets is? I wasn't nosy enough to go up to one of the doors and look.

Comments

[farwing.livejournal.com]

Here's the thing: shoveling makes it worse, in my opinion, becuase then it's all just ice...

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

then salt, sand, or snowblow! meh, i don't care how it's done, just make the damn sidewalk passable.

it just irritates me because with the weather being as warm as it has been for the past 2 days, it makes *no* sense that there's still ice and snow all over davis/porter sidewalks.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

it goes like this:

you shovel. your walk is clear. you are happy.

it gets warm. snow melts. water drips onto your sidewalk while you are at work.

by the time you get home, it's all iced up again.

being a responsible homeowner, you get out your hoe and crack it up and sweep it away (or your tenants do), but it really is a repetitious task, and the freeze/thaw cycle of warm days/freezing nights makes it hard.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

But isn't the requirement is to clear the sidewalk -- leaving a sheet of ice would merit a ticket too, wouldn't it? The point is to clear it enough to make it safe for pedestrians. Anyway, I think it ought not to become ice if you do it right... we cleared all the snow/slush from our steps and sidewalk on Wednesday night, which meant the sidewalk in front of our place was one of about 3 clear, safe places to walk on our street the next day. And it seemed like the most dangerous places were on the sidewalks where no attempt had been made to clear, so the tramped-through slush simply froze overnight into slick sheets of ice.

I know some people aren't physically up to clearing their walks, but then they need to hire someone to do it, not just for their own safety, but everyone else's. It's just a responsibility of being a homeowner (or tenant whose landlord has placed responsibility for snow clearing in your lease).

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

You'd rather walk in slush, which will freeze your feet give you pneumonia and then you die? If you survive that then it all turns to jagged ice which is basically going to KILL you via horrible lacerating puncture wounds when you inevitable fall on it. If by some miracle you survive or choose to stay inside for those first two treacherous weeks, the whole thing becomes a sheet of glare ice anyhow after a few day melts/night freezes. Only now, it's a foot thick of ice and lasts until July.

They no longer fine you, those envelopes are full of anthrax.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

I don't have a car and have 2 children who travel with me in a stroller. Shoveling would be nice. Ice is not so fun either, but at least it's a flat surface! Plus, ice melts during the day usually. We shoveled and our sidewalk has been perfectly clear since it snowed.

[cemeterygates.livejournal.com]

As someone who fell yesterday and fractured a bone on the damn sidewalk ice in Porter, I commend our city for actually enforcing this, even though the Somerville website says the fine is only $25.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

$50 for forgetting to move your car on street cleaning days, but $25 for not making your walkway pedestrian-safe??? Bah. $25 might well be cheaper than hiring somebody to clear your walk! That's just messed up.

[ron_newman]

Oh no! I'm sorry this happened to you. Were did you fall?

[everose.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear that you fell! I've been slipping all over the place and am really annoyed at the homeowners and business owners who haven't bothered to clear their sidewalks. Part of being a property owner is maintaining the sidewalk in front of the house. We've been out there every day clearing whatever has migrated/accumulated/frozen. It sucks, but it is better than a lawsuit.

[lissie930.livejournal.com]

Per the City Ordinances (and wow was this hard to find!):

Removal of Snow & Ice (Sec. 12-8)
1st offense: $25.00
2nd offense: $50.00
3rd & subsequent offense: $100.00
Enforcing Personnel: Police; commissioner of public works; inspectional services; health inspectors, traffic and parking

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

From the Somerville website:

-----
RESIDENTS’ RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SIDEWALKS
*Residents must shovel, salt or sand their sidewalks when it snows.
*Residents have six hours between sunrise and sunset after the snow stops to shovel sidewalks.
*Residents are not allowed to shovel snow into the street.
*Not complying with these provisions could result in a $25.00 fine
------

The city does distribute barrels of a sand/salt mixture around.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

And this is why I find the Somerville government so frustrating.

They repeatedly send out information that contradicts the city ordinances (the no shoveling into the street thing), or leave out important aspects of the city ordinances (the new trash barrel ordinance places a maximum size on barrels, but that information was left out of the mailings sent to residents).

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Where do you get the sand/salt mixture? That would be helpful.

[mizufae.livejournal.com]

i HATE ICE! every year, i go into conniption fits about the goddamn ice and tell everyone that i am going to move to texas and live with my grandma and never see ice and snow again. I live right next to the bus stop at cameron and holland and the whole corner right around my house NEVER gets shoveled or anything and it's extremely trampled so we have a huge slick of ice for a good twenty yards of sidewalk that i have to walk every day to get anywhere. I am paranoid and convinced i'm going to fall and break my knees or the laptop i have in my backpack or something, and cold wet shoes make me angry for the rest of the day. It is hell every winter for me. I would happily do my part and shovel/salt but the bus stop isnt really my house's sidewalk, it's next to it. and the landlord here barely scraped off our trecherous front stairs and never even attempted the driveway. Also there is one shovel and it's crappy plastic. I could specifically go and purchase something that has a chance versus ice and compressed slush, but it pisses me off that I would be the only one doing anything about it, when tons of bus passengers are the people who use the sidewalk much more often.

Sorry about the rant! It makes me very glad to think that maybe people will actually be held responsible for their negligence.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

but it pisses me off that I would be the only one doing anything about it, when tons of bus passengers are the people who use the sidewalk much more often.

True, it would be unfair if you cleared the sidewalk, but you would still benefit -- you wouldn't have to worry about falling any more.

Also it's quite good exercise.

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

I am spending this winter in the Virgin Islands.

It is strange reading about snow removal when the sun is going down and it is still 81 degrees outside.

[readsalot.livejournal.com]

Various friends of mine swear by YakTrax (http://yaktrax.com/productswalker.aspx), which you put over your shoes to provide traction on ice.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

An interesting point I recently heard on the radio: who owns the sidewalks?

After Boston pulled the crap last year about not leaving things to mark parking spaces, because the roads are public rights of way, some Boston homeowners have said, fine, we don't own the sidewalks either, as they are public rights of way, and we can't do anything controlling on them: Boston, YOU shovel them.

How does the 90 year old lady, who owns her house, shovel "her" walkway?

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

First of all, I know a lot of pretty tough 90 year old ladies.

It's perfectly reasonable to shovel snow fifteen minutes at a stretch on and off all day.

Secondly, if the homeowner isn't up to the task then he or she can hire someone. It's part of the cost of living in a city, just like paying for one's own trash removal is part of the cost of living in a rural area.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

At the moment, she hires someone, or pays a fine. But I think you make an excellent point. If nothing else, perhaps there should be some way for the elderly and/or disabled to file with the city as people for whom sidewalk clearing is an unreasonable requirement, and get public assistance in doing it. And the city certainly ought to be clearing those spaces that don't "belong" to anybody's house, like the bus stop sheet-of-ice area someone mentions above. And honestly, I kind of think they should have been ticketing sooner. I mean, ticketing right after the allotted six hours would be pretty draconian, but it's been more than a week since the slush storm!

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

i am far too lazy to do any research, but as i recall, the sidewalks are kind of public, kind of private. so, for example, a business can declare no loitering or no smoking, but i don't think they're allowed to remove the sidewalk entirely.

as ayelle put it, someone has to do it, and someone has to pay for it. personally, i think the city is porbably saving taxpayers money and avoiding corruption by having homeowners do it themselves rather than hiring a company to do the city

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

This discussion is becoming interesting. My feeling is that the city ordinance is illegal. The sidewalks are not personal property, they are city property and I don't think the city can legally require a homeowner keep them clear. Noone, however, has the nerve to take the city to court on this (repurcussions!). During any other time of the year, you are not allowed to do anything to the sidewalks, the only time you 'own' them is when they are covered in snow or ice. We of course clear in front of our house for our own safety, coming and going, but many towns take it upon themselves to clear sidewalks. Also, keep in mind that, especially in this last storm, if you live on the shady side of the street, all of the salt and chipping in the world wasn't breaking through until this past weekend when the temperature went above 32. And as far as 'not shovelling into the street'....I no longer follow that, since I live not only on the shady side of the street, but the side the city plows towards. This past storm left a few inches of slush and lots of rain, and I had at least a foot of large ice chunks left at the bottom of my driveway from the city plows. When I have to spend several hours clearing, essentially, the snow from the street, where exactly would they like me to put it??
Anyway, spring is coming, thanks for letting me vent on a hopeless situation!

[turil.livejournal.com]

When I was part of the team who interviewed Somerville's Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator a few years back, I specifically asked the interviewees what they would do to improve pedestrian access to public ways during snow season. It's really appaling that the city discriminates and discourages pedestrians, while prioritizing vehicular use. If we really paid attention to the needs of the public, the city would be clearing the sidewalks asap, while leaving the roadways uncleared or cleared, but restricted to emergency vehicle, and public transit use only, during the first day or so after a snowstorm.