City workers did a good job clearing the streets after the recent snowstorms, D.C. officials said, but residents and business owners not doing their part to clear the sidewalks was a problem.
City officials and residents dissected the city’s snow cleaning performance at a meeting of the D.C. Council’s Public Works and Transportation Committee.
The biggest issue, they said, was the impassable sidewalks. Residents complained that unshoveled pedestrian walkways and huge piles of snow blocking access to many of the cleaned ones was a threat to public safety, forcing Washingtonians to walk on the streets.
The heads of the District’s transportation and public works departments explained that it is the responsibility of the business owners and residents to clean their own sidewalks.
“People were not ready to clear their own sidewalk three to four times,” said DDOT Director Gabe Klein.
Another problem that the witnesses pointed out was that not all D.C. streets were properly plowed and some residential areas were missed.
Klein explained that in some cases, plows were not large enough to push the deep, heavy snow. In other cases, plows were too wide to make it down narrow residential streets that had cars parked on both sides.
He also said that the cleaning efforts and funds were spread fairly across the city’s eight wards.
Part of the efforts to improve the snow-cleaning results for next year will include the purchase of a new truck that will suck and melt the snow, Klein said.
» The Arlington County Board will consider an ordinance that would require the “occupant or other person in charge” of commercial and high-residential properties to clear snow and ice off sidewalks and walkways within 24 hours. Failure to do so would result in a $50 to $100 fine. Exceptions would be made for those who are over 65, disabled or physically impaired.
