Photo by e.phelps

Now that all of us have spent a month slipping and falling and busting our asses all over this city, the D.C. Council is considering fining people and companies who do not clear their sidewalks. Yes, now: Now that March and the attendant arrival of spring appear before us like the light at the end of a long frozen tunnel, our ever-loving Council has decided to take action that would have saved the city a lot of pain and hassle back as early as December. The city will be ready for the next storm of the century, I suppose?

In a fit of esprit d’escalier, the Council discussed a plan to ticket business owners for $250 and homeowners for $25. Would that be $25 per day that you don’t shovel the sidewalk in front of your home? If so, this seems low. The going rate was, what, $40 to shovel out a car? Probably less so to shovel out a walk? As a class, homeowners in Georgetown widely failed to shovel their sidewalks consistently — you know who you are, you jerks. And fancytown homeowners, as Jay-Z put it, have a few dollars and can fight the case. To work as a disincentive, tickets ought to start at $50 at a minimum, with exceptions for the elderly and others unable to do the work, and should compound over the course of the day.