Park View, D.C.

The sidewalks at Reserve 321-A as a snowy mess

While I know the city doesn’t officially clear sidewalks and leaves it to residents to shovel the walks in front of their homes, there must be exceptions to this rule. Not all property in the district is in front of a residence or business (and even those that are don’t all get shoveled).

For instance, Reserve 321-A on the south side of Rock Creek Church Road just west of the old Soldiers’ Home is a small park. It has a Metro bus stop on the property, the District paid to put in new sidewalks this past summer, and the city also mows the grounds. Is snow removal at this location something the city should take responsibility for, or is this something we residents should take ownership of?

Crews clearing sidewalks along the Soldiers' Home (Photo courtesy of ANC 4C10 Commissioner Rob Mandle)

A similar situation exists along the south side of Rock Creek Church Road east of Park Place. Here, after the Ward 4 representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services were contacted, crews cleaned the sidewalks along the Armed Forces Retirement Homes.

I took a different approach with Reserve 321-A. Seeing that the temperature and sun had softened a lot of the snow on Sunday afternoon, I chose to shovel the sidewalk along Rock Creek Church Road. While I was fortunate to have some help, I didn’t have it in me to shovel the sidewalk along Park Place.

While it would be nice if the city could take care of this property during snow events, my sense is that they have all they can handle just trying to keep the streets clear. The most direct method I can think of would be if members of the community would be willing to adopt the park and share the responsibility of clearing the sidewalks. Living next door to this green space, I see children and a lot of dog walkers enjoy the benefits of the park … is anyone willing to help me keep the sidewalks clear?

Sidewalk at Reservation 321-A after my snow removal attempt on Sunday

This entry was posted on January 31, 2011 at 7:01 am and is filed under Community Involvement. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: community service, snow