04-16-2023, 03:50 AM
Fundamentally I'm okay with prioritization of city clearing. I.e., same as roads, clear main roads and bus routes (and school routes, and pedestrian areas) DURING the storm, then work on less busy routes once the main routes are reliably clear.
I'll grant the "owner clearing is better" crowd one thing, yes, a random sidewalk on a cul-de-sac will be cleared sooner if the property owner does it (not that city clearing stops them doing it). What we have to get through their heads is that that is completely irrelevant. Nobody cares if joe blows sidewalk on a random cul-de-sac is cleared in the middle of a storm.
Unfortunately I think this is a product of two things...first, seeing sidewalk clearing as a service for property owners (it isn't, and it's so frustrating that this is such a common refrain even in the media) and the second is our hyperindividualism. We are completely blind to the system of sidewalks. "Oh my sidewalk is so clear isn't that great"...no...why would you think that?!
I'll grant the "owner clearing is better" crowd one thing, yes, a random sidewalk on a cul-de-sac will be cleared sooner if the property owner does it (not that city clearing stops them doing it). What we have to get through their heads is that that is completely irrelevant. Nobody cares if joe blows sidewalk on a random cul-de-sac is cleared in the middle of a storm.
Unfortunately I think this is a product of two things...first, seeing sidewalk clearing as a service for property owners (it isn't, and it's so frustrating that this is such a common refrain even in the media) and the second is our hyperindividualism. We are completely blind to the system of sidewalks. "Oh my sidewalk is so clear isn't that great"...no...why would you think that?!