Philly threatened shoveling fines. Then it left its own parks and properties snowy and icy.
Park sidewalks and city-owned buildings are among the shovel offenders.
Before 9.3 inches of snow and sleet blanketed Philadelphia, in the biggest snowfall the city has seen in a decade, officials were adamant: Shovel or face a fine.
In a news conference last week, Director of Clean and Green Initiatives Carlton Williams said residents would have six hours to shovel after the last bit of snow fell. Failure to do so could result in a $300 fine.
But four days after the last icy flake fell, residents across Philadelphia say the city has set a bad example on the shoveling front, noting various city-owned properties, many of them parks, remain inaccessible for people with strollers, wheelchairs, and those who have limited mobility, and a frigid obstacle for even the most nimble.
“It feels emblematic of the city’s attitude towards its residents, where it’s like they have rules and laws for everybody, but if they can’t manage to do something, it’s like, ‘We don’t have the resources. People need to be patient. We’re trying,’” said Coryn Wolk of Cedar Park.
The 36-year-old said she does have some sympathy for the city, as do many others, because it is responsible for so many sidewalks and buildings, and the icy weather isn’t helping cleanup efforts. But as she walked through Malcolm X Park Thursday, frustration set in as she trudged through a sidewalk of tightly packed, icy snow.
The city did not respond to a request for comment regarding shoveling issues but its rules say paths on sidewalks must be three feet wide. Those on streets less than three feet wide can carve out paths that are one foot wide.
Still, Greys Ferry’s Lanier Park, Ridgeway Park in the Hawthorne section of the city, and Cobbs Creek Park also had sidewalks covered by a trampled layer of grey and yellow snow Thursday. In Center City, outside the former Philadelphia History Museum, another city-owned property, passersby had molded a narrow path that should have been shoveled.
Residents say the problem extends to trolley and bus stops that line streets, describing large mounds of snow they need to climb like athletes to reach their modes of transportation.
Chase Howell, 29, described a herculean snow trudge through Center City with the child she nannies Wednesday. In one instance, she tried to catch the Route 4 bus along Broad and Spruce Streets only to find there was “no way to access the bus lane” because of snow pileups. To her disappointment, the next bus shelter north “was halfheartedly shoveled a foot wide but incredibly slippery.”
In the process of lifting and pushing the stroller, Howell hurt her back, but she said that’s secondary in her whole ordeal.
The city owes residents who use wheelchairs more than this, she said. “City curbs should be shoveled three feet wide just as the requirement is for residences and businesses.”
Those stops and bus shelters are not under SEPTA’s purview. The responsibility of cleanup falls to the city and others who own property next to the stops, according to the agency’s spokesperson Andrew Busch. SEPTA, however, is responsible for the bus stops at the major transit hubs and clearing platforms, entrances, lots, and other areas at train stations.
Walking around West Philadelphia, Razan Idris has seen plenty of businesses and properties that have also neglected to clear their sidewalks. But she thinks the cleanup is part of a larger issue that can be applied to property owners who don’t pick up trash or who let their buildings rot.
“I see it as kind of the same thing, like there is little to no accountability for whoever is owning a building or an area or a lot,” said the 30-year-old.
But ultimately, the buck stops with the city, said Idris.
By failing to care for public sidewalks surrounding parks and municipal properties, other residents feel the city is sending a message that the rules on shoveling aren’t being enforced.
In South Philly, pedestrians trudged through crusty snow on the sidewalk along West Passyunk Avenue next to the former Melrose Diner. The sidewalk looked like it hadn’t been shoveled since the storm hit last week.
The property is owned by M R Realty Limited Partnership, state records show. Business owner Michael Petrogiannis did not respond to a request for comment.
A passerby, who only identified himself as Derek, complained about how some property owners leave their neighbors with the responsibility of making the sidewalks safe for use.
“They don’t come out and shovel,” he said. “So I’m the one shoveling for them.”
Staff writers Henry Savage and Max Marin contributed to this report.