Sidewalks of Shame Vol. 27

“Dear PoPville,

I’m wondering what the rules are for sidewalk snow removal for businesses. I have noticed that the Wendy’s and the 7-11 on Georgia ave in Petworth don’t clear their stretches of sidewalk when it snows. The construction site at Shepherd is bad too.

I was walking from Quincy up to the Yes tonight and the sidewalks were awful in front of those places.

Each place is on the corner so the uncleared stretch is really long. I walk with my baby in a carrier so slipping is scary, but at least I can take a detour, it would be impossible with a wheelchair or cane.

I would think that the businesses are responsible for the sidewalk. I would love to know who should be shoveling.”

I believe the businesses are responsible for shoveling, sadly, it is rarely/difficult to enforce.

And below is another one from a reader:

“Another terrible sidewalk situation. The public squares downtown are just covered in ice from the last few days of melt/re-freeze. I had to help an older lady with a cane from falling this morning. The sidewalks of McPherson and Franklin Squares are practically impassable and flat-out dangerous.

Do you know if the Park service does any sort of snow removal or ice mitigation?”