http://wkbn.com/2015/03/05/youngstown-mayor-proposes-stricter-shoveling-law-for-downtown/ (http://wkbn.com/2015/03/05/youngstown-mayor-proposes-stricter-shoveling-law-for-downtown/)
Jay, the Mayor has heard you and is going to take action.
Sometimes spending 5 minutes with the mayor pays off.
Do we now have the "Snow Police" going around at 7 am writing citations?
If a downtown business refuses to clear their share of the sidewalk, and someone is injured by a fall should the business owner be held responsable? Absolutely no, he didn't ask that person to walk past his business. If that person is so absolutely stupid to walk on an unshoveled sidewalk that very well might also be icy, that is his or her fault, and that person should foot all the costs related to the fall.
I've always believed that a sidewalk is part of the public right of way. They are merely lanes for a different type of traffic. At its very basic level, govt. exists to do those things that we cannot do individually. We pay taxes so govt. can provide us with services. One of those services are roads. It is wrong to split up a road with govt. taking responsibility for a portion and then giving responsibility to another portion to the landowner.
The landowners are already paying for govt. services through their taxes. The city is trying to shirk their responsibility, and what is worse is that the landowners are all for it!
On some streets, there are sidewalks only on one side of the street, so who is responsable for clearing a path on the side of the street where there is no sidewalk? There are homes there with driveways, but no sidewalk, so must the home owner get out there and clear a path so that people do not have to walk on the street? As one gets outside the city, on many main roadways, there are no sidewalks on either side of the street, forcing people to walk on the streets risking life and limb. No one on these streets makes any effort to create a path so that people don't have to walk on the roadway.
QUESTION:
I'm no bridgewalker, but who is responsable for cleaning the walkways on the bridges?
I was heading south over the Market Street bridge today. A man was walking north along the street but not on the sidewalk behind the cement barrier. I suspect the bridge sidewalk was still snow covered so it was easier for him to walk next to the street.