This winter the city has been fortunate; not until late January did we have even a modest snowfall. When it finally arrived on Saturday night, the mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain put pedestrians and drivers in some peril. In my view, neither the city nor some residents quite fulfilled their obligations in response.
As for the city, many side roads remained treacherous for the better part of three days, and some remain so today. The brine treatment placed on surfaces beforehand helped but little in clearing the ice away. Frigid temperatures undoubtedly retarded the melting process. But the plows stopped clearing surfaces prematurely, leaving a few inches of ice on the roads in my neighborhood. Because of the dangers of skidding, most everyone stuck to the main roads whenever possible. In my view, more treatment was needed, from plowing to sanding or both.
As for private citizens, some seemed to be unaware of Newton’s policy on snow removal as stated on the city website:
If you own a residential building or lot adjacent to a public sidewalk, you are required by City Ordinance to clear snow and ice from the walk and access ramps within 30 hours after a snow storm has ceased. If you own a business that is adjacent to a public sidewalk, you are required to clear the sidewalk within 24 hours.
Now most residents in my neighborhood cleared their sidewalks, either shoveling themselves or hiring someone to do so. Some folks never do, apparently with no consequence. The biggest problem lies with those who hire a service to plow their driveways. Inevitably, the pick-up trucks who do the work leave a bank of snow on each side, making passage along the sidewalk impassible to pedestrians.
Who suffers as a consequence? I have observed school children on their way to Zervas who are forced to veer into the street, sometimes near a dangerous corner. Dog walkers and seniors (my generation enjoys taking that constitutional even without a pet) also have little choice but to take their chances and risk being hit by cars taking tight turns.
The city plows are also at fault here. When clearing intersections, sometimes they pile the snow high on street corners, thereby blocking foot traffic at crossings.
My point: both pedestrians and drivers deserve protection and safe passage on Newton’s public ways. Not only city government but also private citizens play an essential role in clearing snow and keeping roads and sidewalks safe and accessible.
We were prepared for New England’s latest winter snowstorm. We went shopping on Thursday, before the anxious crowds arrived, and filled up on three nights’ worth of healthy dinners, snacks, morning coffee pods, ice melt and gas.
We had contracted with our landscaping/ snow plow company to remove all the snow on our driveway, shovel our front walk and sidewalk, our side steps and second sidewalk to the street, and around the generator that stood us in good stead when the power went out on Tuesday.
Alas!
1. All that was plowed was our driveway. Badly. With ruts and grooves left that would clearly catch our hooves if we tried to navigate a path to a snow covered car.
2. Our front walk was shoveled. Badly. Ice covered it and our front steps, ensuring a bad slip and fall and fracture if we would venture out.
We put out a call on nextdoorwaban. No takers. We called City Hall who referred us to Newton’s Senior Center. They had a list of plowing companies. No shovelers.
We have been prisoners in our own home since Saturday afternoon. Today, Wednesday, our landscaper/plower sent his worker to dig us out. He was here with his truck, shovel, and snow melt for about two hours.
We are now freed from this fettered fate that we did not deserve. We were willing to compensate people to get the job done. They didn’t do it.
Should we be fined for negligence? At 75 and 76 years of age, we are no longer allowed to do this work ourselves. Instead of having the City fine homeowners, I believe it should offer them the service they need at a reasonable charge. I would sign up for “back-up” City sidewalk plowing and shoveling, being willing to pay for services I need if my regularly scheduled help didn’t arrive on time.
Hmmm…good points by Sallee. She tried many possible avenues to get help, and nothing worked out. But residents that contract a plowing service to clear their driveways must insist that there be no snow banks by the sidewalk to impede pedestrians.
I spent many wintry mornings in my youth making lots of money digging out my neighbors’ properties. Teams of youngsters would stream through the neighborhood looking for opportunities. I haven’t seen any kids with shovels knocking on my door since the early 80s. Where have they gone?
By the way, many of my friends have arranged for professional contractors to clear their properties. Most Newtonites can probably afford such services, which available in the commercial sector. Those that cannot need public assistance from city government and high school volunteers. The youth ought to pitch in!
Times have changed, Bob. I’m not sure today’s youth value hard work (in the form of manual labor) the same way previous generations did. And there will be fewer of them in the future, both literally and due to economics. There will most definitely be more older folks. Plus, they have to dig themselves out before they can help others. And in any event, they’re not going to like being told what to do, because what young person wants to be told what to do?
That said, it would be worthwhile to network with the schools to link able-bodied youth and adults to help those who need it. It’s also worth noting that, comparing what some professionals charge to quality of their work, hiring someone isn’t always an economical option.
We must be the exception to the rule . . . . we are 40 something and we shovel ourselves out (and make our kids help us). We shovel the sidewalk. We live on a corner. And thanks to the City Plow who dumped a mountain of snow on our corner (ADA compliant corner), we shoveled a path to the street around the mountain of snow. We dug out our storm drains because the city plow did not go curb to curb, and left a nice gap of snow the length of our street, which happens about 50% of the time. The MWRA is a neighbor of mine, and they never shovel the sidewalk in front of that property, even though there is a school bus stop there (two). The city plows a spot for the kids to stand, however to get to that spot, they have to walk in the street.
The house next to mine is vacant and the owner doesn’t shovel, so my shoveled path leads to nowhere.
Another winter, another round of whining about sidewalks. It’s pretty clear after all these years that city policy is a failure. I would hope that this appropriate state of affairs is because most folks know that if the city owns the property then the city should be responsible for maintaining the property. Those of us who clear sidewalks (as I do for those fronting my own house and the sidewalks of many of my neighbors) should be neither expected nor required to do so. Rather, we should be thanked for our contribution, and an in ideal world, incentivized to continue by a city government whose focus is less on banning allegedly “bad” actions and more on motivating “good” ones. Not holding my breath here.
Mr. Jampol’s tiresome essay would be less so if it highlighted the contributions of those members of our community who have in fact been good citizens rather than obedient residents.
The City doesn’t always even clear their own sidewalks which is shameful. There’s a stretch of Washington Street in West Newton that commuters use to access the western commuter rail entrance and there’s usually a 50-50 chance that it hasn’t been cleared.
If you bought property in Newton the expectation when you bought is that YOU are responsible for clearing snow from the sidewalks, no excuses. If the snow is not cleared you should get fined. If your contractor doesn’t clear the snow you should get fined. I don’t understand what’s so difficult about that.
The town should just step up and issues fines and stop pretending they will. Also if your neighbor doesn’t clear their sidewalk confront them about it.
Uhhh… Not true. This is a fairly new ordinance. Anyone who bought their house more than five-ish years ago did not have to clear their sidewalks. They could also use leaf blowers to maintain their yard and get plastic bags at the store. To be fair they also didn’t have the option to legally buy marijuana from their local village center dispensary either. So our little slice of utopia is ever changing one ordinance at a time.
Bottom line, snow isn’t new in New England. Navigating poorly cleared sidewalks after a storm isn’t new either. Children and adults have been doing it for centuries here in Newton. We can blame home owners, we can blame the Alderm…City Council, we can blame the DPW… But until we can figure out how to ban snow in Newton it still isn’t going to get the sidewalks looking like they do in July.
The only thing nobody has said is the simplest solution. Lace up your boots and deal with it. It was an ice storm in January… And odds are good, we will have another snow storm again soon. Instead of whining and making it everyone else’s responsibility. Do the best you can with your own side walk and deal with the rest.
@Responsibility…
I don’t own the sidewalk, the CITY does.
I’m happy to shovel it because it’s the right thing to do.
But if I can’t shovel it for some reason, there is no way I am paying the CITY any kind of fine.
@Newton Guy – you are lucky to be someone who can “lace up your shoes and deal with it.” Many people who are elderly or have disabilities can’t do that.
“Bottom line, snow isn’t new in New England. Navigating poorly cleared sidewalks after a storm isn’t new either. Children and adults have been doing it for centuries here in Newton.”
And the elderly and those with disabilities have been homebound for centuries in these conditions. Just because it was the case for centuries doesn’t mean it’s OK (or does that logic also apply to smallpox?)
@ Meredeth… What about smalloox?
My question back to you is: The same person who may be home bound for a day or two after a storm due to poor sidewalk conditions is, per the city ordinance, required to clear their sidewalks. Yes, they can do it themselves which is unlikely if they cant walk on ice and snow or, for a small fee, hire someone. How about some sensitivity towards our fixed income residents? A smaller fee? At some point, someone is going to be inconvenienced either financially, physically or with regards to mobility.
Why do I have the feeling that these rules are less about benefiting the physically limited and more for the self serving needs of our “Transit oriented residents/commuters”?
Maybe next year we will have to shovel the bike lanes in front of our houses? In case my Grandmother wants to go for a ride after a blizzard?
@Newton Guy – there is an exemption already for low-income homeowners who are seniors or have a disability. You’ll find it here, under Sidewalk Snow Shoveling Exemption Request: http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/dpw/highway/winter.asp#991
@Lucia – That is for people who officially, in the eyes of the government, are deemed low income. What about people who don’t meet the standards on the form, but do have to weigh any purchase they make? They still get by on their own & are proud to do so, but cannot afford to hire someone to maintain their sidewalks… Not without having to give something else up.
Sometimes we get tunnel vision when we have an end goal in mind. I see it a lot on V14. We simply explain why our vision of how it should be is right, and everyone else can fall in line or suffer the consequences. Ex: I enjoy raking, everyone should spend Sundays raking. I bring my own bags to the grocery store, everyone else should also. I walk my kids to school, everyone else should walk them to school. I don’t use plastic straws, no one else should use plastic straws.
Then we carve out exemptions for extreme outliers. People who don’t have arms are exempt from raking. Those without legs can drive their kids to school… (I’m trying to be cute, please don’t actually respond to these two examples). But we forget about all those in the middle. They’re the ones who these rules impact the most. The ones who don’t know about this stuff until it actually passes. It isn’t because they don’t care about the City…. Its because they keep their heads down, work hard, help their neighbors and aren’t calling their Counselors on a weekly basis with new and exciting ways to burden the other 84,999 people in the city.
Newton Guy – what would your solution be? How do you suggest people who can’t drive or can’t afford a car get to the MBTA, local shops, etc., safely? Are you advocating for door-to-door pick-up after snow storms for all the students who get to Newton School by bus?
As I said before… Lets try self sufficiency. My grandparents told me stories about walking to school uphill both ways, no shoes, etc.
My grand kids will be regaled with stories of being house bound for a week because the city didn’t offer door-to-door shuttles after 3 inches of snow…
I was sick for the few days following the storm and today was the first day that I went out aside from school drop-off/pickup. Even with the melting that occurred, I counted EIGHT curb cuts blocked by snow in less than a mile. That’s inexcusable. As a community, we talk about the importance of reducing our reliance on cars (and I totally agree) but when the City doesn’t clear city-owned sidewalks and block curb cuts, they set a horrible example.
@Newton Guy – how are people who can’t be self-sufficient supposed to practice self-sufficiency? There are more of us here than you seem to realize.
And putting aside the issue of reducing our reliance on cars, there are people in this community who need clean sidewalks and curb cuts because they are in wheelchairs.
This was a particularly tough storm to both forecast and to know exactly when to go outside and shovel. It started as snow then changed to rain, freezing rain, sleet, then a flash freeze which froze everything into the consistency of concrete. Most storms you can either keep up with the storm or wait until it ends, this time around if you waited until the storm was over it was too late.
I can’t blame the city or the homeowners. – this time
I grew up outside of Syracuse NY. I can’t speak to sidewalks, as where I lived there weren’t any. And we took the bus to school. That said, in the “good ole days”, the CITY plowed the roads, not contractors. And boy did we get a lot of snow. And the roads were open, and we hardly ever, except in blizzard of 3-4 feet overnight – had a snow day. There were lots of orange colored and yellow colored CITY trucks out all the time keep the roads clear. Right now, I can’t find a reliable snow plower because everyone is busy plowing commercial lots. And the city is competing for these same commercial plowers because it’s now fashionable to privatize what used to be public services – because, well socialism- or something. But we need tax cuts.
Oh, and just try going out there and asking your power to do a better job. Next time he’ll it come at all.
I remember back in the 80s when the city actually did have sidewalk plows, and they plowed through residential neighborhoods (not just the main streets). Not sure what happened to them, although I imagine the budget was a reason.
If the city is increasing its reliance on contractors to fill a gap in snow removal efforts, it would fit a pattern. Everyone is under pressure to do more with less these days. But whenever we hear an agency or company boast about their ability do more with less, this is how it happens. Cut back on their own people, offload the work to lesser paid (and perhaps overworked) contractors, and otherwise let the people fend for themselves. We were comparatively lucky this time. Let’s hope our luck doesn’t run out.