I write about the Parker/Cypress/Center Streets route to the Newton Centre T because it is a well-used pedestrian corridor that can get very bad during the winter and because I know it well.
Now comes more reason to justify my focus. I just learned that my neighbor Julie broke her arm walking to the T after the Valentine's Day storm. She slipped on an icy sidewalk in front of 52 Cypress Street. I wonder how many more injuries there were along this and other routes to transit.
It's not realistic to imagine that the city's going to flip-flop it's snow-clearing priorities, but just for kicks, imagine a world where, immediately following a storm, people all over the city looked out their windows and said, "Better take the T to work this morning. The roads look bad, but the sidewalks are clear."
I know not everyone works in Boston or Cambridge and can take mass transit to work. Hence the "It's not realistic ...," above.
Requiring home owners to shovel their sidewalks would surely help make the situation safer, but it would be even better if the city cleared more of the high-volume pedestrian routes, like Parker/Cypress/Centre.
Previously: Shoveling something
Monday, March 19, 2007
Killer sidewalks
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3 comments:
..and Newton Corner at the Pike crossings-- just wanted to get that in there as well-- more people walk those routes than some apparently realize.
I agree with doug. I had to trudge through the icy snow that covers all the sidewalks through newton corner, right next to high-speed traffic late on saturday night. Apparently I must be crazy to use those sidewalks because even 24 hours after the storm, mine were the first footprints.
Unlike last time, there's snow under there; it's not solid ice, and there should be no excuse this time.
But just like february, mine is the only sidewalk shoveled on my street, even three days later. Some did shovel a small section so they could get from their walkway to their car, but did not put forth the extra 10% effort to make their sidealk passable for everyone else.
Maybe it's because I'm new her, but when I lived in Somerville there was usually only one house on a street that didn't shovel the sidewalk; in Newton it's the opposite. Sad.
Same goes with the Pike Crossing in Auburndale. Anyone trying to get to the Commuter Rail has to traverse unpassable conditions since NO effort was made to clear a path for people to walk. Even a small path would be helpful for people, but I guess that is too much effort.
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