The #wasnow #waice #waslush #wawind event is now over, but before we all move on as a people, can we talk about something, Seattle?
It shouldn’t need to be said that keeping the sidewalks clear in front of your place is part of being a good neighbor and a member of a community. Oh look, the Seattle Department of Transportation has done just that [pdf], but to no avail. From walking around Capitol Hill (on 12th) in the days after the snowfall, I came across a slew of bad neighbors (and a few good ones too).
In particular, a business that doesn’t bother to clear their sidewalk doesn’t make me feel welcome as part of the neighborhood, nor as a potential customer. And it definitely keeps my wallet closed. So the sheer number of businesses that couldn’t be bothered to shovel or even salt their sidewalks at any point during the week was astounding.
This isn’t difficult. It’s called the social contract: You take care of your area, because you’re a member of society. Thinking of others to that minor extent is the bare minimum of what is asked of you as a functional, non-sociopathic adult. I don’t care if you think it’s Not Your Job.
Oh, and speaking of: As it turns out, taking care of the sidewalks IS YOUR JOB. Meet Seattle Municipal Code 15.48.010:
It is the responsibility of the owner or occupant of private property to remove snow and ice on the sidewalks abutting his or her property in a timely manner and, if practical, prevent its becoming or remaining in an icy, ridged, uneven or humped condition or in a condition which is potentially hazardous to users of the public sidewalks.
Unfortunately, New To Seattle did some digging (metaphorical and literal) and found that the legislation doesn’t have any teeth:
I can’t find any provision in the Seattle Municipal Code specifying a punishment for failing to clear one’s sidewalk. The section of the code covering this obligation, “Miscellaneous Acts,” states civil penalties for other offenses, but not non-snow and ice removal. I suppose that might be treated as a minor class 3 civil infraction, which specifies a maximum penalty of $50.
Next snowpocalypse, if business owners aren’t motivated to keep the sidewalks clear for its own merits and the benefit of others as a community, the City should feel free to unleash the hounds and issue tickets. Even at $50 a pop, just think of the revenue.
It’s more dangerous to clean off the sidewalk. When the snow melts then refreezes, you’re causing a much worse problem. Walking in snow is far easier than walking on ice. When I lived in Alaska, hardly anyone shoveled their sidewalks — of course there’s a lot more snow in Alaska, but I think it’s also because of the refrozen snow risk.
Hear! Hear!!
Shoveling your storefront to the next neighbor’s storefront is the least a store owner can do in a city so ill equipped to handle the smallest amount of snow.
We should also be sweeping said storefronts everyday when there is no snow.
@Drew: Perhaps there is a risk of accumulated, unbreakable ice in the sustained frigid temperatures of Alaska, but as a Minnesotan I will tell you that there are myriad benefits to keeping the sidewalks snow-free – and that cleared sidewalks are indeed safer for the public. In Seattle the temperature will never get to the point where your point is valid. Instead, the sidewalks depicted in Audrey’s photos lay bare a selfish, me-first philosophy that would cause me to cease to patronize those establishments.
Ok, I concede the point. Let’s focus on another issue for a moment; I’m surprised that more business owners don’t remove graffiti faster or clean up outside their buildings. Some sidewalks look terrible and a little sweeping and calling the graffiti hotline would spruce things up.
@Drew: Excellent point. There are many simple measures that a business owner could take to make the city exponentially more inviting. Taking care of graffiti and making sure the storefronts (i.e. sidewalks) are neat are two of those. Another would be to find a way to neutralize the smell of urine that pervades the urban olfactory scene.
As a 95% pedestrian, I can appreciate snow on the sidewalks making it more challenging to get around, but I’m not sure it’s necessarily worth making a stink about. Seattle gets snow for.. what.. maybe a week out of the year? Does no one in this city have a coping mechanism for inconveniences? For being in the pacific northwest, our weather is incredibly mild, and even the extremes of heat and cold are for such a short time and far from much more than discomfort for anyone with a home and common sense. It long past time that we put on our collective big boy panties and deal with it.
It really isn’t that big of a deal if a property/business owner clears their sidewalk, but it does show you which establishments (and residents) care about their neighbors.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=47.6141,-122.325695&spn=0.001042,0.001206&hnear=Red+Lion+Hotel,+1415+5th+Ave,+Seattle,+Washington+98101-2313&t=h&z=20&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=47.614085,-122.325695&panoid=HNEtFpkoAIEf7VUs33Z8gw&cbp=12,220.99,,0,9.26
Pagliachi for one, will not be receiving my business, not because they didn’t clear their sidewalk, but because they went through the effort of dragging out a shovel to clear two sets of wheel strips across the sidewalk into their two garage entrances. Now that is just insulting.
I agree with you in general, but isn’t there a bigger problem that places in Seattle don’t provide near enough supply of tools to clear of sidewalks? I got lucky to find salt and did my best to spread it on my sidewalk, but I don’t own a shovel. I tried to buy one during the snow and every place was sold out of the ~10 they keep in stock. I’ll go buy one now, but to some extent Seattle does make it difficult.
@Larry: Foresight, my friend, is key. I try to buy my winter supplies before winter actually hits. Your mentality is like people raiding supermarkets before a hurricane.