2008-03-03-WALKS-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Sidewalk Committee Meeting Minutes Monday March 3, 2008 Attended: Olga Guttag, Jerry VanHook, John Davies, Lucy Fletcher-Jones, Francine Stieglitz, Meg Lotz, Wayne Brooks, Sue Ellen Briggs, and Jean Williams The February Minutes with January notes were unanimously approved with one correction/clarification. Hilton Pryce Lewis, resident of Pleasant St. said his neighbors were willing to do something to see sidewalks on Pleasant St. Jean Williams introduced her article requiring residents to clear or sand their sidewalks with a little background. Between 1975 and 1984 she had no car and got around by walking. She still walks and is concerned for the safety of pedestrians. When sidewalks are not cleared people walk in the street and that is dangerous. She then talked about the opposition to her article. The elderly can not shovel. True but there are many maintenance issues they can’t handle so they hire someone to do it for them. What can’t they hire for shoveling? If the sidewalk is 5 inches of ice how do I clear that? The article does not require dry pavement, but the ice should be covered with sand or ashes so that it is not slippery. The town snowplow puts the snow on my sidewalk. That is against a town bylaw. If that happens the homeowner should call DPW. They are responsible to come and remove the snow. This article isn’t fair because not everyone has a sidewalk. This is true. Jerry commented that this article could be amended on the floor of Town Meeting. Olga had three concerns; one was the time limit for making the sidewalk passable. She would like to see no time limit, just that is has to be done. The second concern was that there was no penalty for noncompliance and third there was no exemption for medical or financial situations. Jerry said that bicycle riding in the center is prohibited but it is never enforced. The police don’t have the time to enforce the issue. When Jerry sees bicyclists in the center he lets them know there is a $50 fine for that activity. Francine was concerned about the enforceability. Lucy wondered if DPW could take care of all the sidewalks.