Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 by
Michael •
Burlington was hit with back-to-back snow storms this week, leaving about 15 inches of the white stuff, on top of a little left over from the previous dumping… and the first day of winter has yet to arrive!
On Front Porch Forum we’re seeing a growing number of city residents upset with the City’s snow removal effort, especially concerning sidewalks and curb cuts. Several tax payers with limited mobility (e.g., wheelchair users and stroller pushers) have weighed in.
So far, no official response from the City.
As a past chairman of Burlington’s Public Works Commission, I’m aware of many of the challenges involved. My own observation (and I tend to pay attention since our family has a wheelchair user)… it looked like a good first pass to remove the bulk of the snow, but there hasn’t been the follow-through to get down to pavement, push back the piles, open up the curb cuts at intersections, etc. that I’ve seen in past winters. That’s just an impression… no thorough survey done on my part. However, I’m not alone, as the postings to Front Porch Forum make clear. Here’s one example…
I took a walk downtown yesterday with a double stroller-two kids. It’s about the equivalent to a wheel chair in width and possibly ease of mobility. My walk was quite exhausting and frustrating. There were numerous places where I had to walk in the middle of the road, wasn’t able to cross the street and had to go two blocks out of my way to get to the place I wanted to be (Post Office). The whole time I was thinking, what about people on wheelchairs, or mom’s who don’t have a car and need groceries (kinda like me). What about people who have a hard time getting around all the time? How are they getting around? –Tiffany