Winter Walking and Cycling

[MidTowner]

Trying to get my head around the expectation for plowing snow off the sidewalks and how it would be much different than what's currently being done at the bus stops (that a lot of people are speaking negatively about).  

Are the proponents envisioning a 24/7 sidewalk clearing service that scrapes right to the concrete and does multiple passes a day to keep it clear?  I'll tell you now that's not gonna happen.  

I'd actually picture it being worse, since most people would no longer bother clearing their sidewalks, since hey, the sidewalk plow (that we're all paying for) will be coming by... eventually....

I think what most people are referring to when they say that sidewalk clearing should be the responsibility of the city is what city staff put in its report, which is about the same standard as now: sidewalks cleared within 24 hours of the end of a snowfall. That's what other nearby municipalities who clear sidewalks have as their standard.

I don't think anyone is envisioning a "24/7 sidewalk clearing service that scrapes right to the concrete and does multiple passes a day to keep it clear." The service level the city investigated, which it expected to cost ~$26 per household per year, was clearing within 24 hours of the end of a snowfall.

You're right that most property owners wouldn't clear their sidewalks since it would no longer be their responsibility. Many don't now, while it is.

I've shared this before: I grew up in London, and sidewalks were as long as I could remember the city's responsibility, and as I recall they usually did them in a timely fashion. We lived on the same street as a school, and my dad was a weirdo, so he cleared the sidewalk sometimes. Nobody else did. Obviously not, since the city did, usually reasonably quickly.