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preemptive "for shame Lakewood city officials..."
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:47 pm
by David A. Kurczi
For shame Lakewood city officials for not enforcing sidewalk shoveling laws. Perhaps by issuing tickets and doubling the fine for businesses, the moneys could go toward the purchase of the equipment needed to do the job. Rocky River and even Westpark clear their sidewalks. God forbid it takes an injury or worse to motivate. Children and Seniors should not have to walk in the street because of snow piles and ice.
I never did get around to forwarding what I had started last winter.
Nor did I get around to running for a seat or office with an offer to the voters, residents and others who use the sidewalks in our fair city. When and if elected I will use any stipend from said position to pay for equipment that would clear the sidewalks this winter and in subsequent years.
The problem needs to be addressed as well as the ramifications of any solution e.g. Senior inability to physically clear their walk orlacking the funds to get it done.
The city already is supposed to have a sidewalk inspector. Does this inspector have a pad to issue tickets?
Article XVI Section 25 of City Council Charter calls for ..."sidewalks... free from nuisance...".
Three months from now try navigating this city's sidewalks. Sure the block around the schools are cleared and many homeowners do clear their walks as do a few businesses. But not enough, and most not adequately.
A business may have its lot and drive plowed but the four foot pile obstructing the sidewalk is criminal - or so it should be. How often have you seen people shoveling or blowing snow into the road. Or pushing snow and ice and leaves into the gutter only to cause a dam that is sure to freeze when the sun goes down. But I digress.
As a resident for over a decade I can't take it any more. I will address each issue individually when the time comes but for now I am focusing on this matter.
I David Kurczi pledge to start by first making our sidewalks safe in the Winter by using any compensation that I would receive from representing the citizenry to obtain equipment to clear the walks.
Lakewood is my home now. I don't need to be paid to represent my neighbors. I would be proud to do it.
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:33 pm
by STOSH BURGESS
Last year I often thought about starting a "snow blower club". Kind of like a motorcycle club. People would meet up at various bars (or coffee shops)and of course snow blow on the way ( of course using walk behind snow blowers, not any driving types). Anyone interested! We could not really plan when we where going to meet, we would just have to watch the forecast and make a post a day or two in advance.
SnowBlowers
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:47 am
by Mark Crnolatas
Go Guys, I agree.
Your idea has merit.
Another one might be people who have vehicles with plows can donate a few runs, or offer a discount rate to those in need, and coordinate that with the office on aging.
When I was a kid (here we go again) no one would dare leave their sidewalks full of snow or ice. My dad neglected to shovel ONCE, and we received a warning, back in the late 50s. *Note - Now that our little one is sleeping more, I'm going to be putting my 2 cents worth all over the place again.
Yes the larger issues in our city need attention, but the small issues add up to larger ones and should be acted upon also.
Mark Allan (Crnolatas)
"A society or group of people exist soley in it's ability to maintain an atmosphere of peace and civility. It's failure is directly relative to the degree of the lack of these conditions".
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:49 am
by Tim Liston
David you are spot on, this was gonna be my next post. I find it almost intolerable that a so-called “walkable†city becomes virtually unwalkable for a third of the year. You can’t walk anywhere, not even to the nearest bus stop, when it snows. Lakewood should be plowing the sidewalks just eagerly as it plows the streets. As for me, I would gladly take my trash to the street once a week if that freed up the funds to clear the sidewalks. I’d sure rather schlep trash to the street 52 times than shovel my sidewalk a dozen times. I have to take the recyclables there anyway.
And it’s not just the seniors who find it difficult to clear their sidewalks. Busy working families do too. It snows all day, mom and dad are at work, get home well after dark, deal with dinner and the kids, and well, somehow the shoveling can wait.
On perhaps a related note, I have increasingly been riding my bicycle about town. There are some Lakewood streets that are so chewed up they are virtually unrideable. Cold patch may be OK for cars but it is miserable for bikes. Lakewood should be encouraging residents to walk *and* to ride their bikes.
But that’s a bit off topic. Yes, I’d really like to see the sidewalks plowed one way or another. I’d pay extra for it or give up some other service. This one is really a no-brainer for Lakewood.
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:13 am
by Jeff Endress
My biggest gripe is the the manner in which the city exacerbates the whole problem. So, okay, they can't clear our sidewalks, but when WE DO, why do the plows immediately throw huge mounds of slushy snow and ice back on the previously cleaned sidewalk. Or better yet, you finally dig your drive out, go to bed, and in the morning find that you have been "plowed in". Why in blazes is THAT acceptable.
I hire a guy to clear the sidewalk around my office, spread salt, etc. The last thing I need is an elderly client falling on my steps. Last year, plows threw in excess of two feet of very wet snow on the sidewalks. The weather turned frigid, and there were now two feet of ice which would have needed a jack hammer to clear....not from the snowfall which HAD been cleared, but from the city plows redepositing slush and snow. Why is that acceptable? (and wouldn't it be just dandy to be cited for failing to remove the snow from your front walk that the city placed there?)
Jeff
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:24 am
by john crino
Living in NYC for the last 10 years I saw the sanitation guys write tickets and they drop one in your mailbox if your walk is not shoveled, home or business.
Shoveling your walk is a responsibility as a human being living in society.
Otherwise move to the country.
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:02 am
by Jeff Endress
Here's an interesting twist.....In Ohio, a landowner has no civil liability for injuries suffered when someone slips and falls on "NATURAL ACCUMULATION OF ICE AND SNOW". If you shovel, you have now created an unnatural condition. You can be liable for injuries for someone who falls on an "UNNATURAL" accumulation. SO....If you don't shovel, you may get a city ticket, but you don't have liability when someone breaks their leg on your sidewalk. But, if you do shovel, you save the ticket, but now if someone falls, you have potential civil liability. I know it sounds convoluted, but that's the way it is. The Moral.....if you shovel, make sure you do a damn good job.
Jeff
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:35 am
by Jim O'Bryan
Jeff
Nailed it.
I used to snow blow my side of the street, then go to the other side and snow blow a couple friends, taking pleasure in skipping the idiots.
Then do a couple parents of old friends behind me.
I always thought that snow blowing was the nicest thing you could do for a neighbor. Let them drink coco while only one gets cold.
Then I heard about the liability issue and thought, "How many would come to my defense in a large lawsuit?" Today I do my house and our rental. Thinking about skipping the rental.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:01 pm
by Jason Stewart
Jeff Endress wrote:My biggest gripe is the the manner in which the city exacerbates the whole problem. So, okay, they can't clear our sidewalks, but when WE DO, why do the plows immediately throw huge mounds of slushy snow and ice back on the previously cleaned sidewalk. Or better yet, you finally dig your drive out, go to bed, and in the morning find that you have been "plowed in". Why in blazes is THAT acceptable.
Jeff
Just to play devil's advocate...what would you have the City do with the snow that accumulates on the streets, that is being thrown back on to your sidewalk?
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:29 pm
by Lynn Farris
Just to play the devils advocate, I thought delivering political brochures a few years back and found when there snow for traction it was much easier than when it was shoveled, but icy.
So I went to the expert, my mailman.
He said not to shovel. He liked the traction too.
We have a service at work that does it. And we keep it up during the day. But Tim is right. It is tough at home when you get home in the winter, it is already dark.
That added to the mail man's comments and the fact that we are the last house on a dead end street made me give it up at home for the most part.
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:43 pm
by Jeff Endress
Jason
Well, I suppose that, first of all, if the trucks weren't speeding along at 40 mph, the wouldn't be able to throw a ton of snow 15 feet. Or, of course the city could clean up after itself (imagine the hew and cry as you shovel your snow onto your neighbor's drive, or blow your leaves onto his lawn). But the only practicable solution is to purchase large truck mounted snow melting laser guns.
Jeff
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:11 pm
by Stephen Calhoun
Ohh Jeff truck mounted laser driven melting devices would have other useful civic purposes too, eh?
If they could be dialed to merely a punishing level, housing department could use 'em, good for crowd control too, and then, how about use for all those community
cook outs?
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:42 pm
by Todd Shaw
There is no good answer to this problem. For starters when it gets cold and snows 2-3 inches, kids still have school and still walk to school. The people who do take the time to shovel their sidewalks create a problem in that the ice below the snow becomes exposed, and then kids are slipping and sliding all the way to school. The people who do have time to shovel and don't. This creates another problem for the kids who are walking, because then they get their shoes/boots, socks and bottom of their pants wet from the snow. One way to prevent these problems would be to call a snow day more than once every 4 years so that kids don't have to walk on bad sidewalks. Another would be to spend the money and buss the students. This I'm sure would receive great opposition from the city.
People should lobby the state legislature to have the landowener law: " landowner has no civil liability for injuries suffered when someone slips and falls on "NATURAL ACCUMULATION OF ICE AND SNOW". If you shovel, you have now created an unnatural condition. You can be liable for injuries for someone who falls on an "UNNATURAL" accumulation." (Quoted from Jeff Endress fri. Sep. 20 2005)about it being a homeowners liability if someone is injured on their property if they shoveled, this would then allow the city to ticket non-shovelers.
"Natural Accumulation"?
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:33 pm
by Ellen Malonis
I am so glad this is being addressed here, now, before the snow flies. We've got to make Lakewood walkable again, all year long, in both the residential & commercial areas. This has been a problem in our neighborhood - we live near Riverside, where the tree lawn is very narrow. Some of the snow that accumulates is thrown from the plows over the tree lawns and onto the sidewalks. Many caring neighbors on Riverside clear their sidewalks despite this additional challenge. We have a corner lot down the street that has NEVER shoveled and this creates an extremely treacherous situation. It is just plain inconsiderate and unneighborly. We have plenty of industrious teens in the area who regularly offer to clear sidewalks, so there is no excuse, except perhaps the lame legal one.
How is the "natural accumulation" defense made after days of people trying to walk through unshoveled snow? We've all experienced it, I'm sure. After a day of sun, even if it is below freezing, the shoveled walks are clear. But, after several days the uncleared ones are truly a hazard of crusted-over compacted icy footprints, all over the place, which offer no traction - how is that a "natural accumulation"?
Thanks for bringing this up. Ellen
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2005 6:34 am
by Jeff Endress
The case law has made it clear that "an otherwise natural accumulation does become unnatural due to the natural process of thawing and re-freezing". The cases are quite interesting in their logic. We all know what the winter conditions are, we should all proceed with due care to protect ourselves against known hazards and dangers. I didn't write them.....but that's the underlying logic.
Jeff