Newton Aldermen will be discussing the snow shoveling ordinance in both Public Safety and Public Facilities committee meetings this week, with an eye on extending the two-year trial period, which is scheduled to expire on Nov. 1, 2013.
Melanie Graham from Patch has more here.
What do you think? Should the trial be extended? Should we move onto making the rules permanent? Should we scrap them altogether?
And for that matter, how did you and your neighbors do in terms of cleaning their sidewalks during last month’s storm?
Thanks for reminding me there was an audience. My wife and I were trying to remember if they actually did pass something, as I could only remember the endless debates.
We took a walk around Newton Corner, by the river nto Watertown, and back home via the Lake last night, probably about 4-5 miles. Generally, walks were clear. When they were not, it was clearly dangerous (a house on the corner of California and Chapel, as well as at least one on Chapel, and another 1-2 houses on Pearl St. The problem is it only takes one unclear walk to put you out in the street which of course is dangerous.
Outside of that walk, I note a couple of egregious unclear walks: the city-owned properties on Nonantum Place (in front of the playground, which I never had any real complaints about) and a stretch near the Jefferson Street end (which makes it pointless for the owners of the last house to clear their walk, though they do it anyway). Add to that the plows piling snow on the curb corners at each end of the street, making the walks impassible anyway.
The other notable shirker was the satellite lot for Honda Village on Richardson St near the fire station. Completely unclear, except for the entrance to the car lot. That put me on the street walking to the YMCA this morning.
I should note that the brisge over the Pike in Newton Corner had been cleared (for years it was not), so I was happy to see that.
I understand it is harder for some to clear their areas than others, and it takes patience to get around, but being forced to walk in the street in the evening or during a morning rush? A reminder that clearing the walks is a duty, not an option.
Whether notices or fines will work, and how they should be applied? Will probably be subject to further debate, and I’m not sure, in the end, where I fall in that argument.
Ordinance not audience. Oy. Monday.
Wether people are liable /responsible or not, its just the right thing to do. I cleaned mine and my neighbors (80 year old couple).
I think it should stay. It is the right thing to do for people to clear their sidewalks. . . and if a law needs to be on the books for people to do it, then do it.
The T on Route 9 does not clear the street (just the ramp from the station to the road), so if you are walking on Route 9 – GOOD LUCK. You will either be walking in an unshoveled sidewalk or on route 9.
Yeah, it seems the consistent worst offender is the city/state itself.
I concur with Doug. I find that sidewalks along municipal properties (parks and parking lots) often go unshoveled all winter long.
Sidewalks have not improved in my part of West Newton. Additionally, I find that the plows frequently push snow into the sidewalk ramps making it hard to even access shoveled sidewalks. It’s not so bad when it’s just me walking around the neighborhood but it’s definitely tricky when I have my 3 year old in tow…
While the original proposal for the ordinance used metermaids to patrol the city for violations, in a compromise with Aldermen to get the ordinance passed, a more passive system was approved. Basically, people must call in complaints now in order to trigger a violation letter (i.e. neighbor snitching on neighbor) Arguably not the best approach to building community, but the present system does rely on complaints. So, anyone who finds plowed in curb cuts or crosswalks or other plowing violations by the city or its subcontractors really ought to call it in to 311 to encourage them to get it right!
It’s ridiculous to ask people to clear snow from city property. It’s a policy that is discriminatory against the feeble and elderly. There are those of us who travel for our jobs from Monday-Friday. Pay for it your say? How about we all pay for it with our taxes so we can have the most efficient, inexpensive way to clear the sidewalks the way it used to be.
Absolutely outrageous.
Oh, and stop patting yourself on the back for clearing the snow from your elderly neighbors sidewalks. Under this policy it’s what you are supposed to do as a decent human being. Get over yourself.
Thank you Kim. I could not agree more.
Requiring residents to shovel sidewalks is such a wonderful idea. But why leave it at that? Let’s pass an ordinance that requires homeowners to plow the streets. While we’re at it, lets make residents mow the grass in the parks and paint City Hall too. Then the aldermen can pretend they’ve done a great job, and give themselves a raise with all the money they saved.
@Mike Striar – somehow I don’t think the alternative – i.e. a citywide fleet of sidewalk plows and drivers is something the taxpayers of Newton are willing to pay for. If not, then this seems like a reasonable alternative to me.
Leaving lots of sidewalks impassable in the winter, especially near school bus stops, just doesn’t seem like a reasonable third alternative.
Is there another choice I’m missing?
Jerry– The city used to plow the sidewalks. The fact that they stopped allocating the funding to do that, should not be construed as a lack of will on the part of taxpayers to pay for it. It’s simply a decision made by local government to shirk their responsibility. We manage to assemble the necessary equipment and manpower to plow the streets. Personally, I think plowing the sidewalks deserves the same emphasis as plowing the streets. There are certain basic services I expect from local government. Proper snow clearing is one of them.
Mike S – How long ago did they stop plowing sidewalks?
@Mike – I agree with you. I remember the days when I would walk to school and through my neigborhood on plowed sidewalks. These are municipal sidewalks. But, with budgets as they are, other priorities take precedent and I think it illustrates a strong community for the people to take on the responsibility, temporarily. I believe this responsibility should revert back to the government. The question will be, when.
I don’t know when Newton cleared sidewalks – though I do recall a man describing horse pulled plows clearing the walkways in Newton during his youth. I haven’t heard of any city or town that clears all public sidewalks, though it’s under discussion in Windsor Canada.
Windsor has about the same # of miles of sidewalk as Newton. Windsor estimates it would cost about 3 millions dollars to clear their sidewalks city-wide. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2013/01/03/wdr-windsor-sidewalk-snow-removal.html
A couple years ago Newton estimated $1.8 million for the city to clear our 531 miles of sidewalk. http://lwvnewton.org/action/committees/environmental-issues/snow/snow-removal-faq/
All the more reason to oppose the override. The fewer sidewalks there are, the less it will cost the city to maintain its property. Alternatively, they could rebate our taxes for our effort. I would be happy to send the BOA a bill for my time at my nominal consulting rate.
The city still plows the sidewalks on designated school routes and on some additional streets near village centers.
I’m with Alderman Kalis on this.
The city does plow sidewalks on school routes and does a LOUSY JOB!!! The “plows” don’t get down to the sidewalk, and leave 2″ of treadmarks behind them to freeze up. Also, as to what the “school routes” are, nobody seems to have a clue. The sidewalk plow does the west side of Waverley Ave. but the high school bus stop is on the east side of the street.
Sorry, I was supposed to “be nice” and not supposed to use CAPITALS.
@Alderman Kalis– That’s pretty much what has been happening for years already. People across the city have been chipping in to do their part. I’m just going to tweak the headline of this thread a little bit though, and ask you… How’s that working out? My opinion, not so good!
No matter what shoveling ordinance is passed, the results are going to look pretty much the same. “Not so good.” Because it’s unrealistic to expect citizen shovelers to clear hundreds of miles of sidewalks. It’s time the city lived up to its responsibility and gave sidewalks equal priority to roads. If money is the issue, this should have been included in the mayor’s proposed override.
Aside from just “what’s right” – keeping the walk in front of your property (or business- or municipal-owned lot) clear, and helping others who need it, one question some of us forget the answer to- who technically owns the sidewalk in fron tof your home, and who, by law, is responsible for keeping it clear?
That’s my way of asking for the answer on this. And a correct anser on this (both part s of the question) would go some ways toward forming my opinion on who should clear it
The city used to clear many more miles of sidewalk than it does today, but I don’t think it ever took responsibility for all sidewalks. Now that liability extends to natural accumulations of snow, all sidewalks must be cleared.
As painful as it is to rehash the same discussion from two years ago, blog comments from wickedlocal are mysteriously missing. The argument I’m hearing so far against the ordinance goes something like this: fiscal issues are forcing an override just so that we can maintain city services we cannot reasonably achieve ourselves (like quality public education, police patrols) the city is unable to do a quality job on the small set of sidewalks it currently clears, yet we should shoot for a bigger override and extend sidewalk plowing city-wide? No thanks. Pretty much the same discussion we had 2 years ago, without the looming override vote.
As important as clear sidewalks are, can we really equate this responsibility to street clearing? I cannot reasonably clear the street in front of my home, certainly not in a window suitable for emergency vehicles. I am able to shovel the sidewalks in time for morning foot traffic, myself or by hiring someone else to do it for me. The price of a hypothetical sidewalk clearing override may not be worth my while. I’ll pass. IIRC, state law would let me opt out — sorry, I don’t think city plowing was feasible to begin with, but that pretty much kills the plan.
@Adam: I don’t remember the exact reason but sometime in 2011 or early 2012, GateHouse made a technology decision for all wickedlocal blogs that resulted in the loss of past comments. We knew it would happen and pleaded with the powers-that-be not to do so, but because Newton was the only site with such a vast volume of comments, we were unsuccessful. It’s a shame because a lot of history was lost with those comments.