Hazardous conditions discussed at budget meeting
No question that winter 2015 has been a relentless onslaught of snow that seemingly has a blizzard hitting every few days. One of the biggest issues for many municipalities is what are the responsibilities of local merchants, much less residents, when it comes to handling all this white stuff? It’s an issue that was sternly addressed at a recent board of trustees meeting when Robert Mangan, the director of the Village of Garden City Department of Public Works, was presenting his proposed budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year. During his presentation, Trustee Robert Bolebruch shared the travails he and his wife had when they recently ventured out to Seventh Street to dine and had to deal with mounds of snow that lined curbside in addition to the icy condition of the sidewalks.
“My wife and I decided to go to out, so we go to Seventh Street and when I pulled up to the spot, my wife can’t get out of the car,” he explained. “So what happens is that she has to get out, stand in the street. I have to get out of my car and I literally have to walk four cars before there’s finally a break. In fact, I’m sitting there watching not one, but two people have to take their elderly parents and try to get them over the ice and into their cars. So to me, when I look at Seventh Street, which everyone says, ‘Shop Garden City. Support people and everything else like that,’ we have mounds of snow on both sides of ice, which are mountains. We don’t have any way for residents to go through except to fall. And even the sidewalks themselves have a small path and there is ice on both sides. I would think it would be far better for the residents of this village if we used the resources that we have to clear all the ice and the snow without destroying the sidewalk that’s there and to clear it up for our residents. It’s dangerous and there is absolutely no reason that in this village that this exists.”
When Bolebruch went on to add that his wife was exasperated enough to say she didn’t want to go out to Seventh Street again until spring, he felt that there were many other people that felt the same way. “That affects the people who have businesses in our village, so we have to change that. However we do it, you guys figure it out. But it has to change,” he demanded.
When Mangan responded that snow removal had to occur during the night because parked cars would be in the way, Bolebruch pointed out that part of the issue was also icy sidewalks and that snow removal could just as easily be dealt with if the street were closed off. At this point, fellow trustee Dennis Donnelly echoed the sentiment of slippery surfaces in front of merchant stores and that punitive measures might be needed to ensure that pathways were cleared for pedestrians.
“One of the ways we can solve part of that problem with the sidewalk is to issue tickets to the store owners that don’t clean in front of their stores. It is their responsibility to clean in front of their stores.” Donnelly said. “As far as Bob’s point about the street, it is pathetic when you think that when you park your car on the northbound side of Seventh Street by Franklin, you would have to walk all the way down to Dunkin’ Donuts to be able to get onto the sidewalk. For the store owners that are there, it makes very little sense that your customers can’t get to you. Bob makes a good point that we ought to do a better job in the street side. But we also ought to issue as many tickets as necessary to make sure people get in compliance.”
A recent visit to Seventh Street the day after the March 5 blizzard revealed that store owners are complying with the village code which dictates that a store merchant must clear the area from in front of their location within 24 hours following the last snowfall. Otherwise, a warning is issued with a subsequent violation meriting an appearance to the village’s justice court where the final determination of a fine is rendered by the court. And while some of the snow mounds on the south side of the street were between four and five feet high, a walk through Seventh Street on Friday, March 6 revealed that pathways had been cleared through and any ice had been cleared away on sidewalks. It’s a point of pride retailers take when grappling with these particularly inclement conditions.
“As a business owner, I make a concerted effort to ensure that my sidewalk is clean, not only for my customers but for every customer that shops on Seventh Street,” said A New Leaf proprietor Kimberly Orlic. “The village does a good job of clearing the parking lot.”
Vilma Sceusa contributed to this story.
