Break Out the Shovels, Norfolk
Words Jesse Scaccia
Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 11:56 am
According to the National Weather Service, Norfolk got 6.5 inches of snow this past weekend.
And if you took a look outside last night, it seemed like roughly 0.0 inches had been cleared off most city sidewalks.
You know it's bad when even the mall doesn't follow city codes.
I took a walk from my apartment (at the corner of Botetourt and Brambleton) to MacArthur Center last night, and it was no short of treacherous. My friend Mira, who lives in the same building, fell four times on her way Downtown yesterday. Clearly, somebody was dropping the ball with sidewalk clean-up, and it was putting a whole lot of people at risk.
I called Jim Checkovich, Norfolk streets engineer in the Department of Public Works.
“City ordinance requires the property owner to clear snow off the sidewalks in front of either their business or residence,” he said.
According to Code 1958, § 45-30, “It shall be the duty of every person using or occupying, in any manner or for any purpose whatsoever, any house, store, shop, building or tenement of any kind… within three (3) hours after the fall of any show has ceased, to remove and clear away, or cause to be removed and cleared away, the snow from the sidewalks fronting such house, store, shop, church, building or lot…”
My Norfolkian brothers and sisters, we are doing it to ourselves!
But even worse than putting ourselves as private citizens in danger, we need to break out the shovels with our public servants in mind. I spoke to Chris Amos, public information officer for the Norfolk Police. I asked him if the icy sidewalks made things more dangerous for city police officers.
“That’s a question that I’m not sure even needs to be answered,” he said. “If you have to walk on those sidewalks, what do you think?”
I told him it’d be pretty dangerous.
“Amen,” Amos said.
Taken Saturday morning.
Then there’s our intrepid postmen and women. We need to keep things clear with their safety in mind.
“Safety is always a concern with any difficult weather conditions,” said Fran Sansone, media spokesperson for the Hampton Roads Post Office.
“We ask (property owners) to keep a clear, safe, accessible path to their mailboxes,” she said. “Your property has to be safe for someone to be there.”
According to Sansone, mail carriers have the option of not delivering mail to an address if they deem it unsafe. A property owner can also be sued if a mail carrier falls on their property.
“But we don’t look to do that,” she said. “We just want to get the mail out and make sure the carriers are able to do that.”
According to Cathy Coleman, president of the Downtown Norfolk Council, the DNC has made efforts to make snow-covered Downtown safer.
“Our Clean Team Ambassadors picked up sand from the City and worked until after midnight last Friday evening to pre-treat the areas near residential entrances to add an extra level of safety for our downtown residents who we knew would be here throughout the weekend,” she said.
“They have continued to monitor the sidewalks downtown and in the areas where property owners have not done what they are required to do by city code, they have attempted to make the areas safer for pedestrians.”
From my side, I give anyone in Norfolk and Hampton Roads who has not yet cleared their sidewalks a pass. We’re not used to this. And I’m sure a lot of people aren’t even aware of the laws.
But now that the sun is out again, and pedestrians are out and about, we all need to do the right thing and break out the shovels. In the end, it’s our city. We make it as safe–and as beautiful, creative, friendly, fun–as we want it to be.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated at 5:03pm.
COMMENTS
Post a comment
ABOUT THE WRITER
Jesse has been published a few times on the editorial page of The New York Times; was the executive producer of a 6-part docu-drama for B.E.T.; was the managing editor of The Montauk Pioneer; reported for a San Diego weekly; has an MA in journalism from N.Y.U. and an MA in education from UConn; once made a documentary about American table tennis; also edits TeacherRevised.org; has appeared on Fox News and 20/20 talking about education. The script he co-wrote, Out of Manenberg, is in preproduction with Zen HQ Productions of Cape Town. He is working on a memoir while in ODU's MFA program. Email him: Jesse@AltDaily.com.
Other posts by Jesse Scaccia.
Other posts by Jesse Scaccia.
RELATED POSTS
More Opinion Posts
RSS
What in the world!!! What about the sidewalks on the main roads!!!!
Downtown property owners pay a special tax to the Downtown Norfolk Council to handle street cleaning, snow removal, etc. They dropped the ball!
Day 3. Fell again 20 minutes ago. Gym parking lot. Maybe I’m totally hexed, but really? Help me out city officials. A girls got to have her legs man!
There’s a sidewalk on the corner of the Princess Anne Terrace that is terrible to walk on any time of year because it is built on a hill, therefore it’s steep. I walked down that way the other night & fell atleast six times before I decided I had to crawl on my knees or take another fall & slide into the street. It was extremely dangerous.
Norfolk has a rather large older population who are unable to shovel snow. Hindsight is 20/20, but teenagers and college kids looking for some extra money could’ve bought a shovel and distributed flyers around the various neighborhoods.
In the meantime, homeowners who truly can’t do it themselves and can’t find someone who will shovel for them, can always go to the US Post Office website and put a hold mail request for a few days so at least they won’t get in trouble with the mail man.
About the sidewalk shoveling – This is how it is where I grew up in Pennsylvania, but since it barely snows in Virginia I seriously doubt anybody here realizes this is the case and expects the city to swoop to the rescue. Though to me I really do think it’s odd for anyone to assume it’s the city’s job to shovel the sidewalks to and from your home(in neighborhoods). It should occur homeowners. Haven’t we all watched movies and tv shows that had little kids getting paid to shovel walkways?
The roads…yeah, that’s a totally different story.
On second thought, I don’t think I know anyone who owns a shovel.
ditto lizzelizzel! I left my snow shovel (or any shovel for that matter!) in the Shenandoah Valley when I moved here. crazy to have such an ordinance on the books of a modern urban center. does the reference number mean it was enacted in 1958? was that when Norfolk was a “dirty, gritty Navy town” as people have told me was our history? if so, the times they have a-changed! thnx for letting us know, Jesse
Sec. 42-34. Removal of snow from sidewalks–By owners or occupants of abutting property.
It shall be the duty of every person using or occupying, in any manner or for any purpose whatsoever, any house, store, shop, building or tenement of any kind, and of persons having charge of churches and public buildings of any description, other than public schools and buildings owned or occupied by the city, and of owners of unoccupied houses or unimproved lots, situate on any paved street, lane or alley in the city, within three (3) hours after the fall of any show has ceased, to remove and clear away, or cause to be removed and cleared away, the snow from the sidewalks fronting such house, store, shop, church, building or lot, in such manner as not to obstruct the passage of the water in the gutters. If snow ceases to fall between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., the removal of the snow before 11:00 a.m. will be deemed compliance with this section.
(Code 1958, § 45-30)
State law references: Authority for above section, Code of Virginia, § 15.1-867.