Now that summer is here, the Arlington County Board has finally gotten around to passing an ordinance requiring local property owners to clear the sidewalks after a snow storm. This begs the question: what took so long? Although the blizzards of this past winter were once-in-a-century record-breakers, Northern Virginia still gets some snow most every year. Arlington County has become a busy urban center over the past few decades, so how did keeping sidewalks clear escape the board’s attention until now?
The timing of this announcement on a day when temperatures peaked in the mid-90’s is comical, but also serves as a reminder of the county government’s slow and inadequate response in the days following the blizzard. Who can forget the snow-plow hotline to report streets that still had not been cleared that sent Arlington residents straight to voice mail?
For weeks after the storm, snow-bound Arlington residents had no choice but to walk in the middle of the street as snow plows piled more and more snow on the sidewalk forming chest-high ramparts in many places. Meanwhile, cars trapped in cocoons of ice and snow prevented plows from clearing more than one lane in each direction.
Despite the new ordinance, the Arlington Department of Environmental Services does not appear to have updated their snow removal plans in the months after back-to-back blizzards which crippled mass transit and shut down the federal government for more than a week. A quick review of a map posted on the department’s web site shows that Arlington County still has no plans to clear most residential streets in the event of another mega-storm.
As Arlington County and other inner suburbs have transformed to become part of the urban core, these essential public services have not kept up with the demands of a rapidly growing population. The new ordinance is long overdue, but more comprehensive reforms are needed. Local leaders should review plans and procedures from other cities along the eastern seaboard to ensure that we are prepared for the next “big one.”
