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Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte
It’s up to the homeowner to clear the snow from their sidewalks. The city did a great job of plowing but it’s up to the homeowner to get the snow off. When the snow isn’t shoveled it turns to ice and makes safe walking impossible.
If the landlord lives out of the city it’s up to him to make sure that his sidewalks are being shoveled properly. A fall can be deadly to a senior citizen. I asked our fellow neighbors to comment on the subject.
“Sometimes tough for older residents. if you plow and clear bike lanes why not do the same for sidewalks?”
“Because the city doesn’t care about older or disabled residents. It’s very sad that bike lanes take priority over pedestrians.”
“Call 311 or your City Councilor and report them. When property owners pay enough tickets, they’ll manage it as they should.”
“That should be a 500 dollar fine.”
“I’d be making some $$$ shoveling if I still lived there.”
I’m pretty sure there is a student shoveling Service. Check with 311.
Absentee landlords are responsible for the upkeep of their property.
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Save the harbor save the whales. Climate control, woke-ness. From the mountains to the sea. Higher taxes, bike lanes, road cones, etc, etc,etc.
Making this bikes vs pedestrians is bizarre but par for the course for a Jimmy Del Ponte’s “let’s copy your uncle’s unhinged Facebook comments and call it an article.” Have you actually taken a look around since the snow? While some bike lanes are reasonably clear, others absolutely are not. What is absolutely clear and goes completely unmentioned are the general travel lanes for automobiles. Despite the framing that the city cares more about bike lanes than pedestrians from my view it’s clear the city cares more about drivers than either bikes or pedestrians.
Let’s make a deal, we should treat streets the same way we treat sidewalks and bike lanes. If the individual is supposed to clear the sidewalk in front of their house/business they should also be responsible for the whole street too. If it is obvious to you that that is inadequate let’s apply that logic consistently and push the city to take full responsibility for all right of ways (comfort drivers, for people on bikes, and for pedestrians).
Also as I point out in response to your “articles” repeatedly older people and disabled people do bike. In fact there are many elderly and disabled people for whom biking is easier than walking. These bad faith arguments are really getting old. There is room to work together on the real issues, but you need to stop needlessly putting community members against each other.
When I was growing up in Somerville we used to make some pretty good money in those days shoveling sidewalks especially houses on the the corners.