The Observation Deck

we are almost cleared from Riverside to McKinley..

Looks like Eisel earned his lunch money for next week!

LOL Liquid is now coming out of my nostrils

From an Ohio Supreme Court Ruling;

"A homeowner has no common-law duty to remove or make less
hazardous a natural accumulation of ice and snow on
private sidewalks or walkways on the homeowner's
premises, or to warn those who enter upon the
premises of the inherent dangers presented by natural
accumulations of ice and snow."

http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/ ... hio-72.pdf

Leaving snow/ice accumulations as natural, means you can't be sued.
Altering the natural accumulation into unnatural hazards opens us up to lawsuits.

At a recent Block Club meeting, Councilman Kevin Butler was adamant that under
Lakewood ordinances, we do have a legal duty to remove natural accumulations.

While wholeheartedly agreeing with the sentiment, and actions, of clearing sidewalks,
are there real possibilities that I can now be sued?

That ruling specifically states on "private sidewalks and walkways on the owner's premises."

The sidewalks out front of your home are public walkways.

Updated: a quick Google search does seem to indicate that no Ohio law mandates that you shovel your walks. However, local municipalities may have an ordinance regarding walkways and can cite you for not removing snow.

Go figure.

\

Should the City of Lakewood make an effort to clear the sidewalks on Madison and Detroit after a snow fall of 2" or more? Should a walkable city be unwalkable after a snow fall? just asking....

Again, If the city would like to buy me an ATV with a snow plow on the front. I would be happy to take care of it for them.

That would be a blast...

I ran outside for the first time in a month, thinking with the thaw happening and the fact that we haven't had any snow fall in at least a week, that the sidewalks would be reasonably clear. I could not have been more wrong. There WERE quite a few houses and businesses with the sidewalks completely clear and passable.

But I came across so many areas where it was still either never shoveled at all, or only clear for a path wide enough for possibly two very small elementary school sized feet. Even worse, I came across a few places where a snow plow had cleared a person's driveway only to have the snow piled up four feet in front of and on the path of the sidewalk. Maybe that was done by kids for fun, I dont know. And we cannot blame apt landlord here... many unshoveled were single family homes or areas on well traveled streets.

Regardless, for a walking city like Lakewood as well as a population of people who are elderly and have issues here, I was completely appalled. It was bad enough for an ambulatory person like myself to get around, let alone someone in a wheel chair or unsteady on their feet. Shameful, IMO.

Okay, let me try this again with intelligible sentences:

Valerie,

I agree with you about lack of shoveling. When I run, I stick to the street for safety reasons. However, I did notice while running on TUesday that not shoveling wasn't specific to any one neighborhood in Lakewood vs. another. And nor home/lot size and presumed value seemed to make no difference. It was surprising, being out in the day on my run vs. early a.m., to see what was routinely not shoveled, based on the amounts of accumulated snow. Maybe it points to just how much people rely on their cars, regardless of this being a "walking" school community. Or how much they care that people do walk.

Jim,

I intended to post & tell you after my run Tuesday that I ran on your stretch of sidewalk due to a lot of traffic on Riverside. Again, I'm usually on the road but much earlier in the a.m. So it was quite pleasant to be on that long stretch of cleared pavement. Thanks for the effort. I think it when walks are regularly cleared it encourages/shames others into doing the same.

Christina

Christina, I'm with you on this one. I usually run in the AM and run in the street facing traffic for this reason and others. Yesterday, I couldnt get in my run until after 4 and it was pretty busy out there, so I tried to stick to the sidewalks. It was pointed out to me that it is 'unlawful' for pedestrians to use the road when sidewalks are available and passable. These werent passable.

The lack of regard for pedestrians in Lakewood is obvious to me when I've been in crosswalks with cars consistenly rolling through red lights or stop signs as I am trying to pass in the crosswalk on the walk signal... or those people who swerve at me or cut really close to me in their cars to assert their dominance when I run on the side of the road. But THAT is another thread altogether!