Cincinnati sidewalks and snow (Orwell, Wilson: tax, zoning, restaurant)

[progmac]

IMO, it is the responsibility of a good cincinnatian and a good american to clear his or her sidewalk. The public walk that I've been charged with comes first and next comes my private walk. Sue me until I can't afford a shovel, if I have a property you better believe I'll take care of it and the public walk for which I'm responsible.

[cincydave8]

Originally Posted by progmac

IMO, it is the responsibility of a good cincinnatian and a good american to clear his or her sidewalk. The public walk that I've been charged with comes first and next comes my private walk. Sue me until I can't afford a shovel, if I have a property you better believe I'll take care of it and the public walk for which I'm responsible.

I agree 100 percent. I live in an apartment building and while the landlord plows the driveway and parking area in back he doesn't shovel. Last year, I bought a shovel and have shoveled every storm since. I have a dog and since I live in an apartment, I have to walk him to get him to do his duty. This time of year, my walking route changes on which streets have more shoveled sidewalks.

If you're physically able to then you should shovel your sidewalk. It's just the right thing to do.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by progmac

IMO, it is the responsibility of a good cincinnatian and a good american to clear his or her sidewalk. The public walk that I've been charged with comes first and next comes my private walk. Sue me until I can't afford a shovel, if I have a property you better believe I'll take care of it and the public walk for which I'm responsible.

I plow about 1000' of public sidewalk in my second home neighborhood, Pendleton OTR, because no one down here does anything. Unfortunately, I cannot salt it due to not having the proper equipment. Hence the liability. I'll still do it, but I'll be a lot more attuned to the weather reports.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

I plow about 1000' of public sidewalk in my second home neighborhood, Pendleton OTR, because no one down here does anything. Unfortunately, I cannot salt it due to not having the proper equipment.

You don't have one hand to hold the bag of salt and the other to throw it on the ground?

Wilson, you're confounding me on this issue. Where is your common sense?

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

You don't have one hand to hold the bag of salt and the other to throw it on the ground?

Wilson, you're confounding me on this issue. Where is your common sense?

You try manually handling a "bag" of salt for 1000 feet of sidewalk. You might have done, what in your life? 40 feet?

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

You try manually handling a "bag" of salt for 1000 feet of sidewalk. You might have done, what in your life? 40 feet?

I certainly see your point. 1000' is a lot of walk. I have enough of a problem just salting my driveway and the short walk distance from the drive to the front door.

Gave up on the shovel. Fortunately have a next door neighbor with a good snow blower. He recognizes my increasing physical limitations and blows off my driveway for me. He recognizes his two Springer Spaniels make a beeline for our back door daily and beg to be given their doggy biscuit treats. A good neighbor relationship sure comes in handy.

I also recognize that sidewalks, where they exist, need to be cleared. Much of early Mason was built without sidewalks. To try and compensate for this the city has a project to construct bike paths. They are about one lane width and serve a good purpose. But they are asphalt and not built to withstand heavy equipment or treatment.

I know for many years the city of Mason has a tremendous winter road clearing program. May be one of the best in the local Tri-State area. Another reason I love living here. Of course our taxes reflect the cost of this. But that is part of the reason you pay taxes, make your life less complicated.

I have noticed they DO NOT obviously have a program in place to clear the bike paths. Trying to make a resolve to get my old bones in shape and attend a city council meeting to complain about the apparent lack of a program to clear our city-wide bike paths from winter's foibles. Just one of the many projects I need to get my old bones up to.

For the entire Metro Area, yes there needs to be some uniformity in snow removal requirements and property owner's responsibility. But IMO there has to be more than just laws passed placing the burden on the property owner. These have existed for eons, but are mostly ineffective due to such things as Act of God/Nature Clauses.

Like anything else in our society, there needs to be a planned response on how organized public institutions will react to these situations. If we cannot create an organized response to snow removal, public safety, etc. then we have failed as a society.

[cgs2000]

'no "common-law duty to remove or make less hazardous a natural accumulation of ice and snow' as today's Expirer reminds us (Snow enforcement lax, but that could change) but the city apparently clarifies the common law by an ordinance...which is not enforced except when convenient to the city.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I certainly see your point. 1000' is a lot of walk. I have enough of a problem just salting my driveway and the short walk distance from the drive to the front door.

Gave up on the shovel. Fortunately have a next door neighbor with a good snow blower. He recognizes my increasing physical limitations and blows off my driveway for me. He recognizes his two Springer Spaniels make a beeline for our back door daily and beg to be given their doggy biscuit treats. A good neighbor relationship sure comes in handy.

I also recognize that sidewalks, where they exist, need to be cleared. Much of early Mason was built without sidewalks. To try and compensate for this the city has a project to construct bike paths. They are about one lane width and serve a good purpose. But they are asphalt and not built to withstand heavy equipment or treatment.

I know for many years the city of Mason has a tremendous winter road clearing program. May be one of the best in the local Tri-State area. Another reason I love living here. Of course our taxes reflect the cost of this. But that is part of the reason you pay taxes, make your life less complicated.

I have noticed they DO NOT obviously have a program in place to clear the bike paths. Trying to make a resolve to get my old bones in shape and attend a city council meeting to complain about the apparent lack of a program to clear our city-wide bike paths from winter's foibles. Just one of the many projects I need to get my old bones up to.

For the entire Metro Area, yes there needs to be some uniformity in snow removal requirements and property owner's responsibility. But IMO there has to be more than just laws passed placing the burden on the property owner. These have existed for eons, but are mostly ineffective due to such things as Act of God/Nature Clauses.

Like anything else in our society, there needs to be a planned response on how organized public institutions will react to these situations. If we cannot create an organized response to snow removal, public safety, etc. then we have failed as a society.

I think we put down about 12 oz. per sidewalk square which would be about 25 gallons of salt for what I plowed last time. And, without equipment, getting it evenly spread is possible for 40 feet. Not possible for 1000 feet.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

I think we put down about 12 oz. per sidewalk square which would be about 25 gallons of salt for what I plowed last time. And, without equipment, getting it evenly spread is possible for 40 feet. Not possible for 1000 feet.

Again, I stated we need a common public policy for addressing winter pollution problems. Our challenge as a society is how to improve our collective worth, whether it is summer or winter oriented. Again I emphasize the idea of Society. Without the intent of society we can all just crawl back to the Neanderthal Age.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

Again, I stated we need a common public policy for addressing winter pollution problems. Our challenge as a society is how to improve our collective worth, whether it is summer or winter oriented. Again I emphasize the idea of Society. Without the intent of society we can all just crawl back to the Neanderthal Age.

When I was a tyke, the garbage men came around three days a week and got the cans from the back yard and put them at the curb. Today, not only do I have to do that job, there are pages of rules telling me how to do it and what fines I will face for not doing it right.