The Davis Square Community

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).

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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.

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androidqueen.livejournal.com

oh, sure. i'm not arguing that it doesn't suck, but it needs to be done. the lows have been around 31 lately. some salt will keep that water from icing up, no problem.

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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.

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indeed, and it's important, and we do it. just sayin' it isn't a one-time thing in this weather.

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Copious application of salt & sand helps a lot.

In fact, the town regulations don't require that the sidewalk be completely clear. They require that you even it out and sand it well if you don't clear it.

I'm lucky that we have a well travelled walkway, so the sooner I make any path the clearer it gets because the many pedestrians will stick to the same area and clear it for me.

The other thing that helps a lot is making a path for the water. Again I'm lucky because my neighbors have been quite good about keeping a path to the nearest storm drain (mostly) clear, so the melting water has somewhere to go. I also scraped a gutter along my sidewalk to give the water melting off my sidewalk somewhere to go.

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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.

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How much it refreezes depends a lot on whether it's on the sunny or shady side of the street, especially in weather like this.

Interestingly the Somerville ordinances do NOT require you to clear the sidewalk. They require you to make it passable. Specifically:

Sec. 12-8. Snow and ice on sidewalks.
(a) No owner, tenant, or occupant of land or a building abutting upon a sidewalk within the limits of any public way in this city, and no agent of such owner having the charge of such land or building shall place or suffer to remain on such sidewalk for more than six hours between sunrise and sunset on any day, any snow or any ice, unless such ice is made even and covered with sand or other suitable material to prevent slipping.

Ordinance 12-9 allows the placing of snow into the street -- if it's over 40F, daytime, and you don't pile it more than three inches deep.

Personally I've decided that I'm going to start giving ice scrapers as housewarming presents to my friends who buy houses in the area.

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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

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Ouch! Sorry to hear that.

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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.

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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).

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sand and salt work pretty well, except for dogs, who whine and lick pathetically at their paws when forced to walk over that stuff. since i prefer that my dog-walking not just be me carrying her around, i prefer the methods that actually result in clear sidewalk.

my neighbors (esp. the ones uphill) are not as civically-minded as yours :/

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Ha! That would be very kind. We were pretty lucky we had some ice melt on hand, because everywhere was sold out of that, and sold out of ice choppers, within hours, or so it seemed... at one point digging out my car from a frozen snow bank, we were using an old spade. Worked better than plastic snow shovels, anyway.

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The places that I saw tickets were places that had clearly done NO shoveling.

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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.

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i don't expect us to have a ticket, but i guess i'll find out when i get home.

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$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.

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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?

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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.

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

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heliograph.livejournal.com

Huh. I knew there was a maximum weight, but I didn't know there was a maximum size.

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