Any time my neighborhood gets dumped on with more than an inch or so of snow, I do what is legally expected of me: I go outside and shovel or snowblow my sidewalk and alley.
Eventually, almost all of my neighbors join me in shoveling and sometimes salting the sidewalk. In the alley behind my house, however, most just wait for the snow to melt.
Sometimes, all it takes is a little momentum, and I can blow through the slippery snow and launch my car into the street (hoping that no traffic is coming). Other times, the snow has been so deep that I got stuck, forced to dig myself out in front of someone's unshoveled garage.
Either way, this isn't the way it's supposed to be.
According to the City of Milwaukee's Web site, "The City of Milwaukee does not plow alleys but does open up the approaches to alleys following significant snowfalls. There are several reasons why the city does not plow alleys including costs, availability of personnel and equipment, and the fact that alleys are primarily service drives to adjacent properties. They are not public right of ways in the same sense that streets and sidewalks are."
I'd argue that its plows don't do much to open up the approaches to alleys, either, but that's a different story.
The City continues, "Private Property, residential or commercial property owners and occupants are required to clear the sidewalks abutting their property of snow or ice within 24 hours after the snow and ice have stopped falling. This includes the corner crosswalk area for property owners with corner lots or those whose property abuts a midblock crosswalk. Violators of this ordinance who are reported to Sanitation districts are issued a notice to clear the walk. If the sidewalks still are not clear within another 24 hours, a Sanitation crew will clear a path on the walk, and the charge will appear on the property tax bill. The city is responsible for only the approaches to alleys; alleys are not plowed."
I don't know which of my neighbors are getting fined for not shoveling, but I bet most of them aren't. I do know that one of my neighbors used to be in charge gathering up $20 per season from our neighbors to hire a plow that would come through the alley each time it snowed more than one inch.
She had to dismiss the plow guy because not enough neighbors were interested in shelling out $20 per winter.
I would gladly pay $20 each winter to make sure my alley was safe and drivable, but I won't pay for all of my neighbors who won't.
So what would it take to get the City to plow our alleys? Could they assess a special tax on only homeowners with alleys? I'd imagine, given the municipal government's purchasing power, that it would cost even less than $20 if everyone had to chip in.
Look, I know why some of my neighbors don't shovel. Some are elderly and others are renters who don't care. To that, I assert that seniors who can't keep up their homes shouldn't live in them, and landlords should be required to insist that their tenants follow the law. (For the record, my neighbor across the alley from me -- one of the few who does shovel -- always digs out our elderly neighbor's car after each blizzard, and we work together to make her a path.)
I'm tired of slaloming my way in and out my garage all winter long, and I bet my few law-abiding neighbors feel the same way.
We pay a lot in property taxes to live in the City of Milwaukee, but for safety's sake, I'm willing to pay a bit more if my neighbors can't, or won't, step up to the plate to do what's right this winter.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
