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Let the Walks of Shame Begin

February 12th, 2010 by Claudia Holwill · 37 Comments · Capitol Hill

With the sun out and the city still shut down yesterday, it’s fair to say that most people had ample time to get out there and clear their sidewalks.  But there are still those residents who seem to be oblivious to (or just choose to ignore) their duty to clear their sidewalks.  Know of someone who should be shamed? Email a picture and address to ClaudiaTheHillIsHome [at] gmail.com

The following is a perfect example of a true Walk of Shame.  The owners of 329 East Capitol Street have a perfectly shoveled driveway:

But as of noon on Thursday, they had not even attempted to touch their sidewalk.  This was a corner house, and while I didn’t get a picture from the front, I can tell you that none of the sidewalk on the 4th Street side of their property nor the East Capitol Street side of their property had been touched by a shovel.

As detailed on Tommy Wells’ Web site, “District law requires property owners to clear snow and ice from sidewalks, handicap ramps and steps abutting their property within the first 8 daylight hours after snow, sleet or ice stop falling. (DC Code, 2001 Ed, § 9-601.) This applies to all property owners – residential, commercial, federal, and municipal. If ice cannot be cleared without damaging the sidewalk, then property owners may spread sand or salt to make the sidewalks safe. (DC Code, 2001 Ed, § 9-604.) Property owners must also clear snow from the ADA-curb cuts. These are part of the sidewalk. Property owners are also asked to clear snow from catch basins and storm drains to prevent flooding during snow melt. If you rent a single-family home or your lease explicitly states that you are responsible for clearing the snow, not your landlord, then you can be cited as well. Be sure to call your landlord or review your lease terms if you are not sure.”

Update: I received a note from Charles Allen, Tommy Wells’ chief of staff.  He said “Tommy and CM Mary Cheh introduced legislation to change the law so that it would allow tickets to be issued. As you may have already seen, under current DC law, the city’s only remedy if someone doesn’t clear the sidewalk is to detail staff to the location, clean it themselves, and then sue the homeowner or business to recover the costs. That renders it pretty useless and it’s rarely, if ever, used.

Tommy and Mary’s proposal would replace the requirement to sue, with straight forward citation and fine – much more likely to be enforced and used.”

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  • Tim

    When I lived in the Boston area I got a ticket once for not shoveling….they should do that here too. It’s unsafe for those of us that rely on walking/metro when the sidewalks are so unattended and full of ice!

  • http://brunchandthecity.wordpress.com/ Claudia Holwill

    Tim, I’ve wondered the same thing about why DC doesn’t issue tickets. I think there is a move to change this but, as of now, this is the only method of enforcement, which seems pretty impractical and costly:

    (from Tommy Wells’ Web site):
    According to the municipal Code, if property owners fail to comply, the District is required to clear their sidewalks (DC Code, 2001 Ed., § 9-605) and sue the property owners for the cost of clearing the snow or ice plus a $25 fine (DC Code, 2001 Ed., § 9-606). If sidewalks in public space are uncleared, DDOT and DPW are responsible for the matter and you should call 311 to report the problem

  • Kelly

    The worst shoveling / plowing problems I’ve encountered are the National Park Service failing to clear any of its sidewalks in the neighborhood. Most notably, the ones on Pennsylvania Ave SE between 4th and 6th Sts (Seward Sq), and 7th and 9th Sts (Eastern Market Metrorail plaza, which was partially cleared by WMATA, but not the other side away from the entrance).

  • jet setter

    What happens if you’re out of town?

  • http://brunchandthecity.wordpress.com/ Claudia Holwill

    jet setter – you’re still responsible for having it taken care of while you’re away.

    But I do have some sympathy for that kind of situation, so I’m focusing more on houses like the one above. They were home and clearly able to shovel since they did such a great job on their driveway.

  • Bill

    some people may be homebound and unable to shovel. what a hypocritical rule – when the city of dc gets the roads in driving condition, then they can tell me what to do with my walk. anyway,look around.. everytime i go out to drive people are walking down the middle of the street, regardless if the walks are cleared or not.

    trying to call people out for not shoveling is a little much, when you dont know their situation.

  • http://www.DCLikeALocal.com Tim Krepp

    Bill,

    Of course we know their situation: their sidewalks are not shoveled!

    Their may be reasons why folks can’t get to it. But if you can shovel your driveway, you can shovel a sidewalk.

    For all the excuses made for homebound folks, what about the elderly and infirm that are trying to get around the city. They deserve some consideration too.

  • Kricker

    Bill, there are people who are homebound, but the people who take care of them should make sure the walks are shoveled.

    I just walked the south side of F street between 3rd and 4th, and of the 10s of houses on that street, only 2 or 3 had shoveled their walks (despite all of them having shoveled their stairs and/or driveways). You can’t tell me there’s a whole block of homebound invalids living on that street. I’ve seen them, they’re not.

    It’s not only the law, it’s common courtesy.

  • Tracey Broderick

    I don’t think this is very nice. I am a FIRM believer that people should shovel their sidewalk, believe me. But as a single parent who has been dealing with two children off school all week, a lack of food supplies, a broken snow shovel, and a complete lack of any available new shovels, I have done my shoveling to a minimal level. You don’t know people’s stories, and life this week has been really unpredictable. Set a good example, and encourage shoveling, but be nice about it.

  • jaybeas

    I understand where Bill and Tracey are coming from, but there are plenty of places where it’s obvious that the owners are a) home and b) able to shovel the sidewalk (such as the residents who were able to clear their driveway and/or front steps).

    Also, what about commercial properties? They have no excuse. For example, the apartment complex at 317 12th St. NE hasn’t shoveled its sidewalks. There is a path dug out from each building to get to the street, but that’s it. This surprised me, because when it snowed in December their sidewalks were the first on our block to be cleared.

  • Bill

    These are good points, maybe I was a little too outspoken – plus you are right, the law is the law and agree too that it is courtesy…

    I still think it is wrong to post their picture when you dont know if, when they were on their way out the door to shovel the walk an emergency or something of higher priority arose to call their attention away.

  • Mary

    501 15th St SE, 1414 E St SE, and 1311/1313 E St SE – I don’t care if they themselves can’t do it or don’t have shovels – they shoveled their walks to their doors, just not the sidewalks. The two residential houses have 3 and 2 sides of sidewalks to shovel, which is more than most, but still their responsibility. Also there have been groups of young men with their own shovels knocking on E St SE doors this whole week.

  • http://imgoph.blogspot.com/ IMGoph

    JAMES L SWANSON paid $1.5 million for that house, according to DC tax records. i’m sure he could afford to have paid a neighborhood kid to shovel the walk.

    no sympathy. this is anti-social behavior at its worst.

  • Bill

    wow.

  • http://n/a Lynette

    Anti-social behavior at it’s worst? That’s a bit over the top IM. Laziness, maybe, but I can think of worse things to do to one’s neighbors/community.

    Perhaps we could put a positive spin on it and give an award for “cleanest” sidewalk – an honor my husband is certain he’d receive.

  • http://Www.dclikealocal.com Tim Krepp

    I don’t know if it’s anti-social behavior at its worst, but you can certainly make the argument that it is at its most visible.

    It shows a tremendous amount of contempt for your fellow members of society to plow your driveway and mound up the snow on the sidewalk, like the house pictured.

  • RSB

    Must agree with Kelly about the Park Service; however, what frustrates me the most are the folks who have perfectly clear sidewalks, but haven’t done anything about the curbs around their property. It’s fantastic that you shoveled your walks, but if people can’t get to them because there is 15ft of slush they need to walk over, then a lot of your efforts are for naught.

  • Duke

    232 6th St., SE haven’t touched theirs once since even the first storm

  • http://twitter.com/nicholeaileen Nichole Remmert

    Being from a more northern place, my attitude does tend to be, “It snowed, figure out how to walk on it.” Obviously it’s great if people shovel, but I tend to give those that can’t/don’t the benefit of the doubt.

    That said, please look at this picture. This is not a matter of people who are elderly or infirm. If these people could either shovel their driveway themselves or hire someone to do so, then there is zero excuse for them not to be able to at least clear their sidewalk.

    Believe me, I probably have more lenient standards re sidewalk shoveling than most DC residents (at least those that comment on blogs) and even I am pretty appalled at this.

    No one here is purposely being un-understanding, but it’s kind of insane to see a driveway THAT meticulously cleared accompanied by untouched sidewalks.

  • Duke
  • Amy Salunga

    There are apparently a number of infirm folks on the south side of the 600 block of Maryland Ave. NE.

  • Brian

    No effort has been made to shovel the following addresses after any of this year’s snow storms:
    19 D Street SE (unoccupied/under-renovation rowhouse);
    21-27 D Street SE (unoccupied/newly-constructed condos – 1 unit under contract but not yet closed);
    the corner of D Street SE & New Jersey Ave SE (not sure if the District or Amtrak is responsible for this corner.)

  • http://mattstudioapparatus.blogspot.com/ Matthew

    6th St. SE from 395 overpass to Mr. Henry’s is newly dubbed “The Widowmaker”. From Penn Ave. SE to Stanton Park is “The Dogswallower”.

  • Get a life

    Wow…. I never knew we had a community of such tight-assed whingers in this city. That people have time to go out and take photos of sidewalks infront of other people’s houses and post them online means only one thing to me…. get a life! With so many things happening in this world, you choose to get upset about a bit of snow on the sidewalk!? It snowed, so just walk on it. If a little bit of snow scares you then get in your car and drive!! jeez

  • http://www.hypersyl.com Jason Vines

    If people not shoveling their sidewalks bothers you that much, then you could *volunteer to do it for them* rather than petulantly and irresponsibly posting their names and addresses online, along with pictures of their houses.

  • kck

    I slipped on someone’s icy sidewalk a broke my ankle last year so I speak from experience. Apparently, had I done my research, I could have pursued the home owner through civil litigation. The post even made mention of this issue last week. Have no fear, should it happen again, I would go after the person for not shoveling the sidewalk.

  • Sameena K.

    My husband said yesterday some of the biggest houses on East Capitol between Lincoln Park and 2nd Street with the biggest yards were the worst offenders he has seen yet the past 2 weeks. Many of their individual sidewalks were totally cleared but the sidwalks for the public in front of their houses were not even touched.

    We’d like to go sledding at the Capitol today, but know there’s no way we could get a stroller through all this snow and don’t think we can carry two toddlers 22 blocks total. Driving and parking closer obviously is out, as we will either encounter chair-saved spaces or people who decided that because they don’t want to drive, they won’t bother clearing the snow in front of or behind their car, to ensure other people might have an easier chance parking. Not exactly the “takes a village” concept I’ve come to expect on Capitol Hill, but more of the “Well, I don’t need to get out–sucks to be you.”

    Actually–aren’t these people worried that the snow they haven’t bothered to shovel around their car makes it that much more likely someone parking in front or behind them (or just driving down the street past their car) will slide right into their car and damage it?

    I’ve been very glad to park off an alley the last few weeks–yet, my husband shovelled the entire alley from our house down to the intersecting street last Monday morning. Sure it was self-serving so that we could get in and out, but 2 neighbors saw him doing it and came out to help, making the job that much easier and ensuring safer access for everyone. After reading all of your posts, I’m so happy we don’t street park.

  • Dave Garrison

    It is ironic that you should select 329 East Capitol Street property to make this point about the failure of property owners to shovel their sidewalks. The house is largely unoccupied. For years it was a “party house”, rented out to organizations for entertainment purposes. There is no sign of the new owner around. The building is very large and quite grand inside. It is divided into four living units and from time to time there is evidence that one or another is rented, however briefly. The parking pad in the back was actually plowed out by the Fluor Corporation whose office is across the street and who rents the parking space for use by its employees. Someone did shovel out the walkway from the fence to the front steps, perhaps a renter. But no effort has been made to address the sidewalks. Those of us who live on the unit block of 4th St SE have been focused on clearing out the on-street parking areas, the storm drains, and the access paths at the ends of the unit block of 4th SE. It appears our next chore will be to shovel out the long sidewalk on both sides of this house so that pedestrians don’t have to walk in the street.

  • CC

    Many of the houses that are not shoveled are renters or group houses. Apparently, being a 20-something Hill intern renders one incapable of shoveling.

  • Sameena K.

    Oh, clearly you missed the debate on MOTH about accusing renters of not shovelling, doing yard care, etc. There are many renters who are shovelling not their own areas but also neighbors’ areas and sidewalks neighbors have neglected. Believe me–you should see the corner of my street–the owners of the house right there haven’t bothered to either sidewalk on either side of their corner.

    Renting or owning, I think it just comes down to common courtesy to your fellow man.

  • Sameena K.

    Sorry, that was not ONLY their own areas…

  • Not Going To Take It

    Please join me in a silent protest of these violators of proper human snow conduct. Since the rules don’t apply to these homes and people, I have decided that my rules also don’t apply. I have taken to throwing my dog poop bags on the lawns of the offending homes. It might seem harsh but fight fire with fire. Please help me in this no Gandhiesque protest.

  • Dilligent Shoveller

    After walking to Safeway Wed. morning, I pick International Graduate “University” campus (entire 1300 block around D and E St. SE) as the single worst offender I’ve encountered on the Hill. There was absolutely no effort made to shovel sidewalks on a block connecting lots of Hill foot traffic to a major grocery store. Watkins Elementary and Safeway both did a commendable job of clearing walkways.

  • Dilligent Shoveller

    My renter neighbors shovelled. Biggest problem has been DC plows dumping it back on the curbs at intersections.

  • Sam

    The entire block of North Carolina between 9th and 10th is awful – Nice houses, paths to the door shoveled, but very little on the sidewalk. Between that and the dog owners at Lincoln park who have stopped picking up after their pets (the snow doesn’t make it disappear), the walk to the Metro is an unwelcome adventure.

  • Ann Marie Koshuta

    Hi Claudia,
    I just saw this and am a little late to the party, but I have a real problem with DC dinging the taxpaying public, yet again, when the city can’t even do their part of the job. The side walks are clear and the intersections are TERRIBLE. Instead of Tommy Wells and Mary Cheh coming up with ways to ding the citizens, they should be coming up with ways to make sure our taxes are working. :) And yes, I’m tired of renters, who don’t know the rules and rental agencies(hello Formant (who don’t care when you call to complain about one their rental properties).

  • Ann Marie Koshuta

    One more thought….Tommy Wells and “Liveable Walkable Community” and tickets to the citizens…..where is the city in this bargain? If the city can’t hold up their end then why should the citizens be penalized? The intersections are what are unsafe. I also agree with those who posted about walking on it….once it is tamped down, it is not that bad.

    And for anyone who has lived in a truly walkable Northeastern City….Capitol Hill(most of Washington) is not that convenient for walking….if you are beyond a certain age or have a busy family lifestyle.