Comments on: “Where’s the sidewalk rant?” You ask.

By: Jef Nickerson

Jef Nickerson — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:24:33 +0000

Mario, Bradford or Longo? That side of Atwells needs extra vigilance since it is in shade all winter, any snow that falls, even a little, is there for the duration. I think I get so annoyed by the sidewalks at Andino’s parking lot, Sona, and next to the Atwells Mini Mart that by the time I get home, I’ve forgotten any sidewalks that are clear, and am just annoyed by the ones that aren’t.

I have noticed that the sidewalks at that white house have been clearer, they were never touched at all in prior years.

By: Mario

Mario — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:14:25 +0000

Jef, I’m surprised you didn’t take a picture of my cafe. I worked my tail off this year to clear a path from the corner of Pequot St. going all the way down to Bond St. You’re absolutely right! It’s unbelievable how the city and business owners don’t provide a proper path for pedestrians to walk. I’m always out in front of my cafe sweeping, picking up garbage and shoveling. I even go around to my neighbors on Bond street to shovel> They’re older ladies and they can’t do it, God forbid something happened and an ambulance needed to get in… Please keep an eye on me and let me know if I’m ever slacking. Thanks

By: A Christmas Miracle! at Greater City: Providence

A Christmas Miracle! at Greater City: Providence — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:46:07 +0000

[...] is Garibaldi Park at the Arch on Atwells and that is a clear sidewalk. When I was ranting on Tuesday, this was not clear. So sometime between Tuesday afternoon and this morning, it was [...]

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:15:48 +0000

A non-profit or some kind of program would be awesome, but i guarantee the union goons at Public Works would be up in arms because that’s their job, even though they can’t even plow correctly. My street has about an inch of packed snow on it still with no hope of it ever being removed. In fact, the only time I’ve ever seen even my street plowed fully was when my neighbor got into a yelling match with the plow driver because my neighbor put his car in the street to clear his driveway and the plow happened to come. After the yelling match, the plow driver took “revenge” by making several (4-5) runs up and down our street plowing right up to the curb.

Anyway, my street is halfway decent when it comes to people shoveling. There’s one house where the landlord has the parking area plowed parallel to the street piling the snow on the sidewalk, creating a big wall. The big problem is Chalkstone, which gets a TON of foot traffic all year. Walgreens is the worst offender. Normally they plow a 1 foot wide path through the snow along the sidewalk, this time they did nothing. I’ve already written my councilman about it.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:29:46 +0000

I have wasted too many hours calling the police, public works, mayors office, and getting a blank stonewall. The only explanation I can figure is that if the city were to begin enforcing the sidewalk snow clearing ordinance, they would have to hit nearly all of the politically wired landlords. (Exhibit A: Carpionato\’s oh-so-classy University Heights)

Much easier it is to raise money by perpetually fining the hapless folks too powerless to even command an overnight parking space. The towing companies can enjoy a windfall ransoming parking-ban towaways, but

with the help of the city, a local non-profit could actually create some sort of self-sustaining business out of snow removal…

.
We can only dream!

By: Marc Doughty

Marc Doughty — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:37:57 +0000

The situation around Point St./Wickenden/Eddy is pretty bad. I snapped a few photos today and I’ll post them tomorrow. Parking lots -do- seem to be the worst offenders, next to the city itself.

Hundreds of people cross the Point St. bridge by foot every day, and it’s impossible to do that right now because it wasn’t cleared. That kept dozens of hungry jewelry district workers from walking to Wickenden for lunch or last-minute shopping for the last few days, myself included.

There needs to be an easy, low-paperwork way to get the city and business owners to clean up their acts. I’m thinking about something like a lien, but less paperwork. If a business hasn’t cleared their property of snow in a timely fashion (24 hours?), the city calls in a company to do it, and then charges the business for the removal, second offense and increasing fines get tacked-on to the removal. There should also be a way for citizens to initiate the process, like a the ticketing system we use at work to make sure problem requests get tended-to. Unfortunately, I’ve had the police tell me one too many times that ‘I know this guy, I’m not going to fine him’ to trust this to happen out of the goodness of their own hearts. Frankly, every police call should get a ‘tracking number’, like I get when I call customer service, but that’s another issue.

By: Jef Nickerson

Jef Nickerson — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:54:24 +0000

This is from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. Apparently this is the most used pedestrian bridge in the state of Pennsylvania, and of course, the sidewalks are not clear. Misery loves company I suppose. I was going to do a similar video on Atwells, but there weren't enough people walking, I think everyone has given up.

By: brick

brick — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:21:15 +0000

Just to add to what Matt said, I was disappointed as I walked to 7 stars yesterday on Hope to note that their plowman had piled all the snow on the sidewalks at each end. Here is a business that is almost completely reliant on foot traffic (even if the foot traffic is cars parked on Hope St.) and when I complained to the manager I got a “oh, hmm” kind of thing.

Meanwhile, though I did not take any pictures, the mommy brigade had to wheel strollers on Hope St., which had cars parked even though the parking lanes were half full of plowed snow and was essentially a one lane road.

I think a big problem is that plow guys are paid to come in, plow, and move on. You would think the city would go after this free revenue especially for clearly dangerous situations.

By: Jef Nickerson

Jef Nickerson — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:35:52 +0000

Jen, I just did a new post for the shelter ad business.

I think with the help of the city, a local non-profit could actually create some sort of self-sustaining business out of snow removal. Gather together a band of workers, students, people from Crossroads, people who want to make a buck… and put them on a call list. Set up a system whereby residents can call and pay someone to clear snow when they don’t feel like it (revenue). Pay the workers, and put the remainder of the revenue toward the non-profit that runs this, and toward charity removal. Elderly and disabled people could register for free or reduced price removal service from these workers.

If the system does not generate enough revenue, fines could also be applied to the operation of this program. I’m sure there are enough people out there that would love to be able to call or register for a program where vetted people come out to shovel. With enough revenue the program could even get some trucks and snow blowers.

The city and state could also pay to use these workers for areas like the bridges. I’m imagining some gripes with cross-union issues…

By: jencoleslaw

jencoleslaw — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:15:09 +0000

i am laughing in horror that the bus shelter ad was changed, but not shoveled.

I truly believe that the city could either make money or break even by employing a group of people (youth? out of work worker bees, clean scape? Crossroads?) to shovel out bridges, walkways etc, and then put a lien on the property until the bill (maybe it is per running foot or something) is paid by the property owner.

I am willing to bet that it happens in other cities but for whatever reason it simply is impossible here