These photos were taken a few days ago on Walnut St heading north towards Newtonville. It was quite a while before that since we had the last real snow.
In my neighborhood I was slipping and sliding this morning over ice on a long stretch of sidewalk on Chestnut St that was never shoveled.
Our new sidewalk shoveling ordinance was intended to prevent these sort of problems but it certainly hasn’t solved them.
A big part of the problem, particularly for wheelchairs, is that you need nearly 100% compliance to solve the problem. If even 80% or 90% of the sidewalks are shoveled, the unshoveled sidewalks still push people out in the street. Once on the street, people often just give up on the sidewalks altogether.
I have noticed in general that more of the sidewalks in my neighborhood have been shoveled this year but that last 10% of shoveling laggards still cause significant problems.
What to do? I don’t know
I think the big problem is that the last storm came during school vacation week. There are still neighbors who don’t shovel (sadly). Those who were away on vacation seemed to be waiting for the spring thaw rather than clearing their sidewalks.
As you point out, it only takes one unshoveled sidewalk to force people into the road.
Doug has identified two of the issues: the last storm coming during school vacation week and people hoping for warmer weather to melt the ice/snow. I think there are people who are snow-shovelled out. This year’s snow has come in many smaller storms rather than a few big storms. The repetitiveness of the shoveling requirement may have caused people to lose their committment to keeping their sidewalks cleared. The string of extra cold weather has kept the ice/snow from melting so the problem grows with each storm.
It does not help that the city creates a bad example by not fulfilling its responsibility of clearing its sidewalks properly.
Some people just don’t give a damn. All around my neighborhood in Waban / West Newton Hill there are scofflaws.
Right next door to me at 15 and 21 Coyne road there is a real estate developer with 2 complete single family homes ( snout houses ) standing unsold. Poor fellow ! All winter he has not shoveled once ! He drives up, shovels out one short driveway to park his car off the street then prances ( literally ) off with his cross country skiis over his shoulder to ski ( illegally ?) on Woodlawn Golf Course. Do I have an axe to grind? Don’t get me started !
So what if the storm falls during vacation? It is the homeowners responsibility to find someone to shovel! One weekend the sidewalk in front of the church in Newton Highlands was so dangerously icy that I felt it was safer for my kid and myself to walk in the street. I was sure one of us was going to fall and break a bone! There was NO sand and it was a sheet of ice.
Newton really does not give a crap about pedestrians except in certain high-profile areas.
You could have >90% of residences shoveled but pedestrians will still end up in the street for the reasons mentioned above.
Aside from “bad” residents, one problem is too much reliance on machines to “clear” the sidewalks. This is a big problem with areas the city “clears” – they come through with these small tractors that don’t remove the bottom two inches of snow. This is left behind and is packed down by pedestrians. Sometimes the sun will melt it the rest away, but too often, the packed snow turns to ice and is still there. For an example, go try to walk Beacon St near the old fire engine (actually I take that back – don’t try to walk it, I don’t want to be liable for making that suggestion).
It’s easy to find corners that are still covered, although the sidewalk is clear approaching the corner.
Then there are rentals and duplexes where no one takes responsibility. I think this is a reason why Boylston between Chestnut and the Elliot T is such a mess.
Go to the intersection of Arlo and Cragmore a few blocks from the Elliot T station. The aqueduct passes through here and the adjacent sidewalks have not been touched. Who is responsible? The water district? Isn’t the city taking some responsibilities for the aqueducts? At least Cragmore is a quiet street and relatively safe to walk on. Yes, I reported this to 311 3 weeks ago. Nada.
One thing that amazes me is how bad the sidewalk and curb areas have been in business areas, such as Waban and Highlands. There has been a high mound of ice right at the curb so parking has been a two-step process where you back part way in, let your passenger out, then finish parking. Otherwise you can’t get the passenger side door open, or, if you can, you can’t reach the clear part of the sidewalk without technical equipment. The driver has to walk a half-block in the street to find a spot to reach the sidewalk, unless they wish to climb over the mound. I would think the businesses would clear these out.
Speaking of wheelchairs, many sidewalks, including the one in front of my house, are impassible for wheelchairs in the best of weather because of utility poles and other obstructions. Not that that stopped the installation of a new wheelchair ramp at the corner at the end of the block a couple of years ago. I suspect the visually impaired don’t care for utility poles in the sidewalk either.
@Newton Mom,
Seriously, I don’t care that it was school vacation week. People are responsible for their property all the time. And @Patrick, I’m sorry if people are “shoveled out” as you say but this is New England. We get snow. We have to shovel. All the time. The only problem here is that the owners are too lazy or too uncaring to go out and do the right thing. And the City….well, thats a whole different story. The City of Newton should plow every sidewalk in this city for the amount of taxes the residents pay. If I were a homeowner, and if I chose not to shovel, good luck getting me to pay a fine when the City can’t take care of it’s own responsibilities. It’s not “do as I say, not as I do.” I am not an owner, I’m just a renter. That means my landlord is responsible for taking care of the sidewalks. In the 20 plus years I have lived here, he has never once lifted a shovel on our walks. But I sure have, every storm, many times, every time. I don’t need a law to tell me what is the right thing to do. Shame on the City and shame on these owners who just don’t care.
I knew we would be out of town during the most recent snowfall, so we hired the Newton North science team to shovel our property while we were away. Their fee goes entirely to support materials and transportation for science team competitions. The contact is [email protected].
In our area in Newtonville, the worst offender is whoever owns the parking lot off Washington Park shared by Brewer’s Coalition and other businesses. The parking lot itself gets plowed, but the sidewalk is never cleared–forcing kids out into the congested street near the corner of Walnut Street just when traffic is heaviest at school drop-off and pick-up times.
It’s amazing to me that people are willing to beat this dead horse, storm after storm. year after year. If you want passable sidewalks in Newton, it will NEVER be achieved by relying on homeowners to do the job. The ONLY way to assure consistently clear sidewalks, is for City government to step up and meet their responsibility to clear them.
We can complain about residents and the merits of a shovelling ordinance or the timing of school vacation, but let’s step back for a second and consider Jerry’s pictures. Aren’t those city-plowed sidewalks shown on the east side of Walnut in Newtonville?
http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/27426
In my neighborhood, the absolute worst sidewalks are the ones “plowed” by the city. For some reason, after years of incremental improvement, the sidewalk plows have just done an awful job this year, and I’m hoping someone can explain why. It’s not like we had ice storms or difficult timing. At least in my area, they’re using bobcats instead of those large snow blowers, and it just runs over that light, fluffy snow and leaves a few inches of compressed snow with tire tracks which turns into ice. Long after the rest of the neighborhood is shovelled or melted, that ice, some of it from a month or two ago, is still there. Further evidence that placing this responsibility on the city is a bad idea.
@Jerry– Could you clarify what we’re looking at in those photos? The middle photo looks like a well cleared sidewalk that I believe was plowed by the City. My assumption, based on your comments and photos, is that the wheelchair couldn’t use the sidewalk that the City cleared, because they were forced into the street to avoid other areas that are not shown in the photos. To me, it appears the City did a good job, and the problem that forced the wheelchair into the street may be attributable to someone else’s failure to clear snow, or a homeowner pushing snow back onto a clear sidewalk.
@Mike – No I didn’t say anything about the city in my post.
In the middle photo the near sidewalk is nicely cleared but the wheel chair is on the far side of the street which is presumably where there were problems. I asked the person who sent the photos for more details if they have them.
In general though the photos are just an illustration. Any one of us could walk out our doors and take photos somewhere nearby where the sidewalks and/or curb cuts are blocked today – all these days after the last storm. So the point of my post wasn’t that particular spot in the photos but the general problem for pedestrians all over the city, and particularly for those in wheel chairs.
Thanks, Jerry. I agree it’s a problem. But I think it’s important to reach the proper conclusion about its cause. Personally, I’ve been very impressed with the City’s snow clearing efforts this season. And I believe if we increased the budget for sidewalk snow clearing, we’d see more widespread positive results.
My experience with the city sidewalk plowing this year is mixed – better quantity, worse quality. In previous years there have been some spots that are the city’s responsibility that never got plowed – this year they’re being done reliably.
Some stretches of city plowed sidewalk though have been pretty shabbily done. I heard from a neighbor that one particular driver seemed to have his plow lifted pretty high and was roaring down the side walk at high speed. That would explain the shabby results.
@ TheWholeTruth, NewtonMom,
The sidewalk is not our property. Therein lies the problem with this ridiculous solution to getting our sidewalks cleared.
Boom!
What an opportunity for tax relief ! Start issuing tickets and collecting money. Unpaid tickets get attached to tax bills !
@Kim,
I don’t care who owns the property when it comes to safety. God forbid you go above and beyond to help your fellow human beings. And “Boom” to you too!
I can only speak for the city sidewalk plow in my area. It does a terrible job. The blade is at least an inch above the surface, leaving behind a slippery surface after one freeze-thaw cycle. Most of the houses on the plow route rely on it and don’t bother to otherwise clear it. Unfortunately, that is also the main walking route to the elementary school.
@Kim The homeowner generally owns the sidewalk.
I shovel the sidewalk because I use it, and my kids use it and my neighbors use it. I also mow the lawn on the berm (also technically the city’s but in reality I use my lawn mower on it). It takes a COMMUNITY to be a community and so if shoveling the city sidewalk isn’t technically my job since it is the city’s sidewalk. . . . but I have to say, I do a better job than the little bob cat that “clears” the sidewalk near Angier. After the bob cat goes through and a deep freeze, you better make sure you don’t break a bone to the ice build up.
Shoveling my sidewalk is my job, and when the city piles it up, this year I have used 311, and gotten a fast response!
Bruce,
We must live near each other, because I also live near Arlo where the MWRA never shovels and mows the lawn once a year! I would hate to be the next door neighbor to that weed patch during the summer.
This is what the walk to Bowen looks like after almost two months, including some warm spells with some heavy melting. The ice dates back to January. You can just start to see the sidewalk and all the dog poop underneath the ice! Seriously, the city gets an ‘F’ this year. We all suffer. More people than ever are driving to Bowen and there’s gridlock every morning and afternoon on surrounding streets.
http://imgur.com/HZdnXRp
Here’s my contribution, Beacon Street the other evening, where I happened to be shooting tree pictures. As Jerry said, not at all unusual, you can see this all over the city. But Beacon is a wide busy street, and not so easy to cross to the other side if one side is not good. http://www.tout.com/m/pcpisk