By now, Saturday’s record-breaking temperatures, which prompted the most optimistic upstate New Yorkers to wear shorts and dream of early spring, have fallen back to earth, buried beneath a fresh coat of reality.
With a storm expected to coat parts of our region in heavy snow as of this writing, let’s remember the cold hard truth that comes with Northeast winters.
Homeowners and businesses are responsible for clearing the walkways in front of their property.
This isn’t an issue that should have to be covered in great depth. But, apparently, a lack of shoveling has become a serious problem in Scotia.
As our Chad Arnold reported, officials in the Schenectady County village of roughly 7,000 people are urging residents and business owners to clear snow and ice in a timely manner after the mayor and others received numerous complaints about this not happening.
A National Weather Service watch and warning map issued Feb. 12, 2024. Blue counties mean winter storm watch, pink mean winter storm warning.
Like many municipalities, including the towns of Glenville, Rotterdam and Niskayuna, as well as the city of Schenectady, Scotia has a law requiring residents to complete this basic obligation. The village typically distributes notices to delinquent shovelers 48 hours after a storm. But Arnold reported the village allows property owners to go as long as two weeks without imposing any fees.
Now local lawmakers are looking to give more heft to the enforcement of the law so that once notices are sent two days after a storm, residents have three days to clear the walk to avoid penalty.
Shoveling within five days of falling snow is a very reasonable expectation.
More than mowing the lawn – another home-ownership obligation regulated by municipalities – shoveling the sidewalk has a direct impact on your neighbors.
It may seem like the kind of issue over which people get salty for no reason, but snow and ice removal has real ramifications. Not clearing a sidewalk drags down walkability, which is not only inconvenient and a detriment to the local economy, it’s also a matter of public safety.
“When people don't take care of it, whether they are doing it intentionally or not, I don't think they're necessarily thinking about that person in the wheelchair who's trying to get to an appointment or the kid trying to get to school,” said James Rath, executive director of Capital Streets, which is focused on creating safer and more equitable transportation systems in the Capital Region. “Their inaction is affecting those folks."
As Rath suggested, insufficient snow clearance in Scotia has caused everyone from kids to people using wheelchairs to divert into busy roads, Arnold reported.
And it’s ironic that this is happening in a village that prides itself on walkability, where people should understand even more than residents of sprawling suburbs that poor snow removal can hurt small businesses.
"We're watching the battle between local businesses and big box stores, and when it's harder to get to your local pharmacy down the block than it is to get in your car and go out to a paved parking lot, that's a scary situation for local businesses," Rath told me.
Between unshoveled sidewalks and abandoned shopping carts being scattered around the town of Glenville, the Schenectady suburbs’ streets are a bit of a mess.
It’s time to clear this up. Let’s start with residents expeditiously shoveling snow.
"I tell people if your sidewalk is not shoveled, that's like your road not being plowed,” said Andrew Neidhardt, founder of Walkable Albany. Among other initiatives, the pedestrian-focused group organizes volunteer "Shovel Brigades" that clear snowy sidewalks in Albany – including intersections piled high with snow drifts created by city plows.
“People don't stand for their road not being plowed for even 12 hours after it snows, but we're fine with sidewalks being blocked for 12 days?” Neidhardt said. “The person walking is just as important as the person driving, so it’s a really important thing if you want people to be able to choose walking as an option – and a lot of people don't have a choice at all."
No matter what Punxsutawney Phil saw or did not see, and no matter what Saturday’s temperatures made us believe, the reality is winter remains.
So as soon as the next Nor’easter rolls out of town, let’s make sure sidewalk snow and ice does not.