Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

After breaking snowfall records with a string of storms that dumped feet of snow on the city, snow is finally starting to clear out this week.  While the snow and ice that remains on the street continues to thaw, some Upper West Siders are still slipping and sliding as a result of snow never having been shoveled in the first place.  Blogger Ashira from In Lieu of a Phone Call notices one section of sidewalk in the neighborhood that has been completely ignored, leading to hazardous conditions.  According to her account, the portion of sidewalks on the east side of Riverside Drive that crosses 96th Street has been for the most part untouched, forcing pedestrians to do their best from falling on the dangerous ice.  Calls to 311 led to an interesting defense of the city’s choice to ignore the section… according to the contact at 311, “since there is no private or commercial property around the sidewalk, the city is not sure which department is responsible for snow and ice removal.”  They claimed they would start an investigation to figure it out, but so far the problem goes unresolved.  Similar UWS sidewalks have remained uncleared, particularly those that don’t border commercial or residential property (another similarly dangerous sidewalk sits against Extell’s no-man’s land on the west side of Riverside Boulevard between 62nd and 67th).  With temperatures scheduled to dip into the teens again on Thursday, for now, pedestrians will simply have to tread very carefully.

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Tags: 311, Complaints, Ice, Icy Sidewalks, Sidewalks, Snowfall, Snowstorms, Storms, Weather