The Georgetown Metropolitan

GM had a snow day yesterday and took the opportunity to walk around Georgetown and take stock of the sidewalks and roads. His findings: Most residents held up their end of the deal, but it only takes one bad apple on a street to cancel out the efforts of its neighbors.  But residents were head and shoulders above businesses, who have left most of the sidewalks on M and Wisconsin almost untouched by shovel or salt.

Ideally a sidewalk should be shoveled down to the brick. For the record, that is exactly what GM did in front of his home:

Not everyone has a shovel good enough to scrape the snow off the bricks (although GM was doing a pretty handy job using a pizza peel until his neighbor lent him a shovel).  After a storm like last weekend’s blizzard, it seems acceptable to have a thin layer of packed snow.  If that’s the case, you still ought to throw down some (pet-friendly) salt to make sure you don’t end up with a sheet of ice.

But a disappointing number of residents and businesses failed to meet even that lax standard.  With all the entrepreneurs running around offering to shovel your sidewalk, to do nothing truly earns you the Sidewalk of Shame title.

GM took a random walk through the village and came across several Sidewalks of Shame:

R St. between Avon and 31st.

Reservoir and 32nd. This is a classic example of the negligent corner-house owner. They cleared out the sidewalk in front of their door but completely ignored the Reservoir St. side.  If you don’t like it, I’m sure there are plenty of non-corner lot homeowners that would be happy to trade houses with you. Continue reading →