Once again this winter I have taken to
looking at the impediments imposed upon the residents of Aylesford
and Chevy Chase. This area has been characterized as being one of
the most walkable parts of our community. That is true, except when
“ole man Winter” comes to stay.
I read a comment on Facebook from a
friend, which spoke to her normal daily commute to work in Chevy
Chase after a heavy snowfall. The short, five – six block walk
featured one, lone, shoveled walkway and that was done by a church.
Yes, there were sub-freezing temperatures and a coating of ice but
people got out and walked just the same.
I also received a tweet exposing
a downtown surface parking lot for having plowed the lot but leaving
sidewalks full of snow to traverse for the remainder of the trip to
work or shop. By local ordinance, the property owner or their local
agent/tenant is responsible for clearing the public sidewalk within 4
hours of the end of snowfall. In Lexington, that is rarely done.
On my daily way home from work I
usually pass through the University campus and they have done a
admirable job around the main buildings and the like. On some of
their lesser properties, not so good but better than the business
folks who make their profits on the student residents. For all of
the apartment owner who rent to these kids and don't make the
sidewalks safe for them to get to class and back, I say shame on you.
And don't think that the regular
merchants and property owners along Euclid Ave are exempt from the
shame. The embattled Kroger Corporation should take a look at its
Chevy Chase location. The parking lot was cleared and paths made
toward the front door, but they are responsible all the way to the
street and the sidewalk there was untouched. Even though they
acknowledged that a large percentage of their customers from the
neighborhood approach by foot, Kroger has done nothing to make their
property safer for them. As they move the new building closer to the
streets, will they continue to ignore the pedestrian along the
Marquis portion in particular?
Many of the retailers in Chevy Chase
shopping center did, eventually, do a decent job of clearing the snow
and ice. The same cannot be said of the homeowners in Ashland Park
where still there are long stretches of uncleared sidewalks, yet
plenty of plowed driveways are plainly seen. I also noticed that ice
damaged trees were attended to but not the sidewalks
Why is it that this area, home to many
of Lexington's elite(and don't tell them that they are not), feels
the need to disregard non-drivers? The doctors, lawyers and even
highly placed city officials should know their responsibilities and
the consequences of not performing them, and that may be the problem.
There are NO consequences enforced.
The fines for not following the
required civic duties of homeowners and residents are NOT being
assessed. Why do we have them if they are not enforced? Why do they
not carry as much weight as our simple vehicle infractions of running
a stop sign or failure to yield? Perhaps the Council could spend as
much time and effort debating this as the did the handicap parking
issue, with a similar result of raising fines to not be collected.
I have only detailed a short 2 or 3
mile stretch of roadway and I am sure that many of you can elaborate
on others. Walkable areas like the Southland Dr neighborhoods or
parts of the north end all have the same problem. I just think that
we should be doing something about it. The groundhog says that we
still have 6 weeks of winter, so we are not done yet. And there is
always next year still to come.
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