[bscb-l] snow removal

Thu Mar 25 00:37:39 GMT 2010

Hi Annmarie,
This actually looks pretty good, especially for Malden which does not have 
the best reputation for accessibility. Is it enforced? and, I wonder if it 
can be applied to bus stops and the poles where push-buttons to walk are 
located?
Bob Hachey
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Annmarie Strazzullo" <a.strazzullo at yahoo.com>
To: <bscb-l at acb.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 5:30 PM
Subject: [bscb-l] snow removal


> In Malden, home owners are responsible for clearing their sidewalks.  Here 
> is a
> portion of that law.
>
> for public use by removing any snow or ice accumulating thereon
>
> or by otherwise make the same safe by covering with sand or other suitable
>
> substance.
>
> B. Removal of hazardous conditions shall be made within the first twenty
>
> four hours after such snow or ice accumulates on said sidewalk. Sidewalks
>
> shall be cleared to provide a minimum passage of thirty six inches in 
> width.
>
> A minimum passage of thirty six inches in width shall also be cleared to 
> the
>
> street. Handicapped access ramps shall be cleared to the full extent of 
> the
>
> width and length of the main slope and side slopes.
>
> C. Violation of this ordinance may be enforced in the manner provided 
> under
>
> M.G.L. Chapter 40, Section 21D in accordance with the following schedule 
> of
>
> fines:
>
> First offense - $25.00
>
> Second offense - $50.00
>
> Third/subsequent offenses - $100.00
>
>
> Annmarie
> ***
> Music is a healing force all living spirits sing.--Joanna Shenandoah, 
> Oneida
> composer
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "alice dampman Humel" <alicedh at verizon.net>
> To: "Bay state (Massachusetts) discussion list" <bscb-l at acb.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 3:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [bscb-l] snow removal
>
>
> As with so many things, with home ownership comes certain 
> responsibilities.
> for example, homeowners are required to keep their property free of
> overgrowth and debris, and inspectional services can be called if things 
> get
> out of hand. There is no reason that the average homeowner can not shovel
> the sidewalk in front of his house, especially in this day when so many
> people have snowblowers to clear their driveways and parking spaces. They
> don't clear the sidewalks because everybody knows that only losers walk, 
> so
> why bother? *sarcasm, in case no one recognizes it.*
>    If people are too poor to pay the fines, then they should clear the
> sidewalk, and then they don't have to pay the fines. It is not "selfish 
> and
> heartless" to make people, poor or otherwise, pay fines for breaking the
> law. Should poor people not be fined for speeding or running red lights or
> littering? What's that silly saying, "Don't do the crime if you can't do 
> the
> time" or something like that?
>    As for all the red tape involved in exemptions for the disabled
> homeowner, why is this red tape any more objectionable than the miles and
> miles and miles of red tape that are involved in every other transaction 
> in
> our contemporary society? Don't get me wrong, I object to *all* the red 
> tape
> and paperwork and bureaucracy, but why only object to this particular mile
> of red tape? Not all disabled or elderly would apply for the exemption,
> because many (not all) have friends, neighbors, kids, whatever, who will
> shovel for them. And I do shovel my own sidewalk and front steps with my 
> el
> cheapo red plastic snow shovel. So there are also people like me, who 
> might
> technically qualify for the disability exemption who wouldn't be applying
> because they can still manage on their own.
>    My parents and their neighbors, my aunt and uncle and their neighbors
> all cleared their sidewalks as a matter of course, and this was in the 
> days
> when it was a person, his back and a shovel out there doing it.
>    As soon as kids were big enough, the shovels were passed down to them,
> and it became their job. Some kids went around the neighborhood clearing
> sidewalks for nothing or next to nothing. Later, my uncle actually did get 
> a
> snow blower, and he used to go around the whole neighborhood clearing the
> sidewalks of the elderly, the disabled or anybody else who asked him!
>    So there are many solutions to this problem, but IMO allowing home
> owners to shirk one of their responsibilities for making their 
> neighborhood
> a nicer place to live is not one of them. I also know plenty of people who
> live in non-owner occupied buildings, triple deckers and such, who go out
> and shovel the sidewalks for that very reason...they feel a responsibility
> toward their neighbors and their neighborhood. It's the lack of such
> feelings that make some neighborhoods such cold, impersonal wastelands.
>
>    Alice
>
>
> alicedh at verizon.net
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Alison" <alison2911 at comcast.net>
> To: "Bay state (Massachusetts) discussion list" <bscb-l at acb.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 2:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [bscb-l] snow removal
>
>
>>I agree that we should fine homeowners who actually shovel snow onto the
>>sidewalks, just as it is currently illegal to shovel snow into the street.
>>But forcing homeowners to clear the sidewalks otherwise is unreasonable in
>>so many cases, it will never be enforceable.  Forcing people to apply for
>>disability exemptions will end up being a headache for everyone, since you
>>know it will involve a lot of hassle and red tape, and forcing poor people
>>to pay fines will never really work because nobody is going to let us be
>>that selfish and heartless--it will not be enforced.
>>
>> If we think it's so easy to shovel the sidewalk, then we should go out
>> with shovels and do it ourselves.  If we think that's too much to ask,
>> then how can we force other people to do it? Because this policy so
>> obviously unfair to some people, it will never be enforced, and all the
>> "exemptions" will leave us with basically the same mess we're in now,
>> except that homeowners with disabilities will also have good reason to
>> think BSCB hates them.  Why would we fight against so many other people
>> with disabilities just to pass a law that isn't going to be enforceable
>> anyway?
>>
>> --Alison
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "alice dampman Humel" <alicedh at verizon.net>
>> To: bscb-l at acb.org
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 1:18:13 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>> Subject: [bscb-l] snow removal
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Actually, many cities and towns in many states have and successfully
>> enforce ordinances that require people to shovel out their sidewalks. I
>> think the fines should be raised to much higher levels to "encourage"
>> people to clear their sidewalks. Many cities and towns simply tack the
>> fines onto the homeowner's tax bill.
>> The solution to the problem of disabled homeowners is called "exemption."
>> They apply and are exempted from the ordinance.
>> How many homeowners and/or renters refuse to shovel their sidewalks, but
>> are perfectly capable of shoveling out their precious cars, parking 
>> spots,
>> and driveways and leave a 5 foot high mound of snow right smack in the
>> middle of their unshoveled sidewalks making walkking on the sidewalk an
>> impossibility? It may be possible to slog through an unshoveled sidewalk,
>> but it is not possible to get past these mounds without going out into 
>> the
>> street, and of course with all the snow, one has to go further out into
>> the street than for a non-snow off-curb obstacle, thus endangering both
>> person and dog, if there is a dog.
>> Technically, you are correct that the sidewalks are city property, and
>> that the city is responsible for keeping them in good repair (and they
>> can't even manage to do *that* much of the time). But as a homeowner, one
>> has responsibilities that transcend the tecchnicalities, and it would not
>> be possible for a city or town to clear all the residential sidewalks.
>> Of course, in a place like the former Soviet Union, the sidewalks in
>> residential areas were indeed cleared by government crews, but I can 
>> hearr
>> the conservatives screaming "socialism" all the way from here.
>> Additionally, European urban landscapes are quite different from American
>> ones. Very few people own one-family homes inn the cities or what we call
>> suburbs, and there are more apartment buildings, so that social structure
>> is different as well.
>> There are many solutions to this problem, but I doubt the current 
>> American
>> social, political or economic climate would embrace any of them.
>> I do agree about the snow plows, though, and they leave those
>> insurmountable mounds on streets and at corners. And because those mounds
>> are so enormous, they stay around for months.
>> There's another problem involved with snow that we might as well
>> address...in for a penny, in for a pound. And that is the grossly extreme
>> overuse of chemical melting compounds on the streets and sidewalks that
>> turn them into vast oceans of caustic slush and muck. God, I'd rather 
>> deal
>> with ice and snow than with that sludge.
>> Alice
>>
>>
>> alicedh at verizon.net
>> alicedh at verizon.net
>> _______________________________________________
>> bscb-l mailing list
>> bscb-l at acb.org
>> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/bscb-l
>> _______________________________________________
>> bscb-l mailing list
>> bscb-l at acb.org
>> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/bscb-l
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> bscb-l mailing list
> bscb-l at acb.org
> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/bscb-l
>
> _______________________________________________
> bscb-l mailing list
> bscb-l at acb.org
> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/bscb-l