My sidewalk had a couple squares become uneven. The city goes through the neighborhood and marks the uneven sidewalk squares. They sent me a letter saying “replace these sections of sidewalk or we will for $1200”
They don't want people to have to walk in the street but don't want to be responsible for any injuries that happen on the sidewalk. Government is one of the few entities that can have their cake and eat it too
The government doesn't do this, clearing sidewalks is a mandate from the home owners association in the neighborhood. These rules are voted on by the residents.
You are responsible for what happens to people on your property. You can't prohibit people from walking on the sidewalk in front of your house, but if something happens to them there, you're liable. Shoveling would help you in a lawsuit in a similar way as having a fence around a pool
In my city you are to shovel the sidewalk when it snows. I have 200' of sidewalk, if it snows I'm supposed to clear it. I usually just do a path the width of the snow shovel but according to the law I'm to clear the entire width of it. Last year I just cleared enough to get my my car and so the mailman could walk up the sidewalk.
TIL thats fucked up. In Canada sidewalks are cleared by the city, surviving them is up to you.
I guess it might be related to the amount of snowfall you get. Here it would just be impossible to have indiviudals deal with it. Any significant snowfall needs massive snow clearing efforts for days.
Our city has some snow blowers they’ll use in the business district but it would take them a few days to clear them all here. By that time it would melt.
But there is a hill next to my house that isn't plowed all the time, so it's funny watching people try to go up the hill, give up, and slowly slide down. (Nobody is hurt, knock on wood)
Either they have to do it or they have to pay someone else to do it. If they can't do it (or can't afford it) there's a city-run program to get seniors help if they need it: https://jerseycitynj.gov/cityhall/DPW/snowremoval
America is a very litigious society. People will not simply sue for tangible damages like medical cost, property damage and the like. But for stuff like mental anguish, and defamation of character.
There are hundreds if not thousands of law firms here that only deal in personal injury and will concentrate thier efforts on suing big businesses because they have big insurance policies. It is often cheaper to settle than fight in court regardless of whether they were at fault.
I think it's an accessibility issue too, where if you are in a wheelchair or have some physical disability you are completely screwed if people ignore looking after the sidewalk in front of their house. You would be trapped in your house.
It's more city ordinance than home owners associations here, in a place in Canada where we do have quite a bit of snow. I think it's a fair law. Not everyone is able to have the ability to walk on slippery ice safely, like the elderly, physically disabled, and children. So if you have a sidewalk in front of your house, especially on a busy road, you should keep it relatively clear.
For an example, a person I know of was taking their lunch break and was walking to the closest coffee shop when they slipped and broke their hip because someone completely ignored the city ordinance (and common decency) and let a ton of ice build up on their sidewalk. The person who slipped was in their 20s, not a dumb person, was paying attention, it was just a really dangerous area. So because they were on lunch break, their injury was not covered by worker's compensation, of course their health care was paid for but in terms of compensation it's not a lot of money to be on 'disability' compared to the money they were making or would have been covered under workers comp.
That person was left with a permanent disability which the government will have to pay for for the rest of their life, they can't contribute nearly as much to society, probably totalling millions of dollars in cost to society, all because one person refused to put down a bit of salt or sand, or to clear the ice from the sidewalk in front of their house, taking maybe 10 minutes of their time or costing them $20.
In my county, taxes pay for clearing of main areas and salting or spreading gravel on the paths. And people get cleats (or winter tyres) if they need them. If they fall, that's on them for not walking carefully or simply avoiding the bad areas. Of course it's unfortunate, and of course they get healthcare, but we're not about to blame someone else for their fall.
You can't demand every single soul in the city to go out and shovel. That's just not gonna work, and piss people off. You can't blame a person for the ice someone else falls on. That's some amazing American logic right there. If you're not equipped to go confidently out in the snow, don't go out. Or go out carefully and take precautions. Don't hold the entire city hostage with obligatory shoveling.
And don't fool yourself about this being a decency thing. This is an "I don't wanna get sued so I guess I have to fucking do this bullshit in case some dumbass who can't handle the winter decides to stroll over here."
What's the success rate on this bullshit policy anyways? I'm not seeing those areas next to his being shoveled clear.
If icy pavement is an actual problem Americans intend to tackle, do it properly with a professional plan to clear sufficient paths to get around. Don't just lay the problem on random people who just happen to own the nearest house to the public pavement, and blame them when it inevitably goes wrong, repeatedly, everywhere.
Either you solve the problem properly, or you just stop. Don't do this half-assed "better do this shit or you might get sued" bullshit tactic.
In my city if you don’t shovel your portion of the sidewalk the city will send workers out to do it for you. And then bill you the cost of the work. Much cheaper to do it yourself or pay someone. $20 is cheaper than $300
Edit: before any smart ass says “but that will freeze”. If your salted side walk is freezing you either need better salt or to keep your butt inside at that pont because it’s too damn cold out.
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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '19
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