Another regional oddity related to snow is that people don't bother to clear sidewalks in front of their houses. I've witnessed this in DC and in the surrounding areas too. Maybe its the old line about it being a transient area and nobody cares about their neighbors, or people feel entitled and manual labor is beneath them, or they just don't bother because they just figure it will melt away in a day or two and its not worth the trouble.

If the picture is of DCist Headquarters, we're officially neighbors!

I shoveled my sidewalk and that of an elderly neighbor this morning. I learned a valuable lesson: salting before an ice storm makes shoveling MUCH easier. We'd salted ours last night, and shoveling took all of 5 minutes this morning. We didn't salt the neighbor's sidewalk, and it took about 40 minutes to do their 15 foot stretch. Lesson learned.

Another snow oddity I've seen here is that folks in cars don't bother to wipe the snow off their roof or hoods. Driving like this is dangerous to the drivers, passangers, and others near them (including pedestrians). This morning at 8 am on Penn a driver had only cleaned off a circle on the front and rear windshield, leaving themselves nearly 360 degree blindspot. Who are these people?

wouldn't this be a much more useful law to enforce than "emergency no parking" for street sweepers that never come?

And while you are clearing off your sidewalk or driveway, please don't push it out into the street like lovely people at the Savoy on Wisconsin did at 10am. While waiting for the bus I watched them plow out the driveway to their hotel into the street causing the traffic to come to a standstill. The cars had to go into the opposite lanes of traffic because of the snow buildup in the street. Real smart thinking Savoy.

Nicole-
Check your lease, it probably has something about snow removal in it. Every lease I've signed in the city has had it, even my 4 unit apartment building (though the rest of the tenants are too good or too lazy to help out). Unless you live in a huge building with a seperate management/maintenace company its probably your responsibility. If nothing else, its the nice thing to do.

wouldn't this be a much more useful law to enforce than "emergency no parking" for street sweepers that never come?

I lived in Pittsburgh for four years where they had street cleaning days, but I actually saw street cleaners most of those days. And the parking wasn't enforced during the winter months (and this was indicated on the street signs) because it didn't make sense to attempt to clean the streets during the winter with the show, ice and slush on the roads.

I also live in an area when the condo association is supposed to shovel away the snow. The last weekend it snowed they were out there bright and early Monday morning. But this morning they were no where to be found. I guess they took their two hour delay along with the feds.

I also realize that it's a nice thing to do, but it goes along with my contempt for supposedly being responsible for that little patch of dirt on the OTHER SIDE of the sidewalk in front of a house that should be the responsibility of the city. I'm not saying the city should shovel the snow on the sidewalk, I just don't feel the need to do it myself.

At least in Arlinton, having each property owner clearing the sidewalk in front of their own property can lead to some strange and frustrating results when property frontages are separated by apparently county-owned sections. Clear pavement followed by ice followed by clear pavement followed by ice, ad infinitum. If such stretches are short, one imagines that thoughtful neighbors might be willing to take on a bit of the clearing job on county land, but some of these sections (like the one abutting a neighborhood park near me) are quite large and thus remain unattended to.

My lease clearly states that we were responsible for clearing out little 12 foot patch of sidewalk so I have no big problems with doing it once or twice a year.

Nicole - You honestly are saying your apartment doesn't have a closet of any kind to hold a small shovel? Even if it doesn't, last year I used a cardboard box and today I just used my everyday hiking shoes to wipe a path, it took all of 7-10 minutes, sprinkle a little salt and your done.

That said I don't see why the City clears the streets but leaves it up to individulas to clear sidewalks for pedestrians; talk about second class citizens. Doesn't the city want to encourage walking/public transportation on snow days instead of encouraging car driving? With the huge homeless population in DC I don't see why we don't just give these guys a shovel, a small bag of salt and assigned sidewalks for each of them to clear. We could simply pay them minimum wage. This way we're giving the homeless easy jobs that pay money, the city would have much more consistently clear sidewalks and this important city function wouldn't be left up to the whims and schedules of random citizens.

my boss has a standing deal with a homeless guy near our office: it snows, the guy comes around, and gets paid to shovel the walk. i also grew up in a neighborhood (much farther north) where old ladies paid kids a dollar (or whatever) to shovel their walks - does no one do that anymore?

Oh well, I'm just having trouble imagining a home in DC large enough to have 10 yards of sidewalk but too small for a single shovel. Regardless I don't think the city should make you even have to worry about this sort of thing, they should be taking care of it themselves.

I have to speak up for at least some of my landlord brethren out there.

True, some are scum and don't bother at all. But a lot of us try pretty hard to shovel steps and sidewalks.

First, don't assume we haven't cleared the walks or haven't at least tried. I've cleared the walks twice in front of two of my places, only to have DC snow plows dump the snow right back onto my freshly cleared sidewalk. So that's a losing battle for me.

And this snow was particularly hard to deal with, as it was very wet and heavy.

So cut your landlord a bit of slack if you see he's at least making an effort.

And a lot of us are small time landlords who manage our own properties. We're going from property to property, doing the work ourselves. So, yes, it wouldn't kill you to actually shovel a bit if you see we're not able to keep up. Quite often the tenant is actually in a much better position to do the job if it's a small job, as he already lives right there, and it may be hard for the landlord to get there, as the roads may be impassable and/or there's no parking for blocks, as no one is moving their cars because of the snow.

It is sortof funny that the DC Emergency Management Agency instructions for cold weather that DCist linked to tell you to call the hypothermia hotline but they don't bother to tell you the number.

Regardless I don't think the city should make you even have to worry about this sort of thing, they should be taking care of it themselves.

I don't think asking people to clean up their own sidewalks is uncommon or unreasonable. I'm from Massachusetts where most years we clearly get plenty of snow and you are still responsible for cleaning your own sidewalk. You can't clean your own sidewalk once every two years? Gimme a break. Even if it was the city's responsibility I don't think they would do a very good job, given the state of a lot of the streets this morning. My drive to work includes a lot of sidestreets in NW and some of them definitely hadn't been plowed at all. Or if they had it was like one tiny lane on a street with two way traffic. Pathetic!

"I take great joy in not getting out of the way, making her stomp and sigh and actually walk around. Sometimes they will actually start to hyperventilate, as if they've been so programmed to people getting out of their way that their brains simply can't compute someone not deferring to them."

I recommend you slap her cell phone into the street, and while she gapes in clueless wonder, whack her with the shovel.

I feel you, Hillman. I'm a landlord and shovel not only my walks, but my neighbor's. My beef is with our absentee/lovin' that passive-income brethrin

I've thought about slapping the cell phone into the street, but I fear at this point they are some sort of life support system and the person would quickly die without it. And then I'd be charged with murder. Which would mean I'd have to quit shovelling, at least briefly.