Secrets of the City

And it has to be shoveled flat to the sidewalk or have sand sprinkled on it. cjc and I got nasty letters from the city last year.

I’m not sure what they mean by “flat to the sidewalk,” but I’ve never gotten a report so I guess I’m OK. I never sand, sometimes salt (but right now it’s too cold for salt to work anyway.)

I have a house right by my bus stop that hasn’t shoveled once yet this year and the house looks to be vacant.

I’ll bet there is a great opportunity for someone to shovel foreclosed properties.

I have good neighbors on both sides with snow blowers that will occasionally do my sidewalk while they are out doing theirs. It was nice on Saturday night not to have to do the sidewalk along with all the other shoveling.

Flat to the sidewalk means you need to be able to see concrete. Almost impossible if you live on a street where people walk on it before you could possibly shovel. City of Minneapolis offers free sand.

Or you could just shovel it for them…I know it’s a crazy thought huh?

I see ryan is volunteering to shovel the sidewalk of every bank owned foreclosed house in Minneapolis. This particular house has the sidewalk directly adjacent to the curb with no grass to the snow gets plowed right onto the sidewalk. It would probably take me 3-4 hours to clear this now that is it tramped down from 6 or 7 snow storms. By living in Minneapolis to take on certain duties like keeping up your property and shoveling the sidewalk.

Thanks for the tip on the sand, KC. I’ll order some. Being next door to a popular breakfast place, I almost never get at the snow before its tamped down by pedestrians. This time I did, though.

I shovel from one neighbor’s front walk to my other neighbor’s front walk unless they get to it first. (Similarly in lawn mowing season.) Thus, the front walk is always shoveled. I do it by hand, but they have machines. However, the lady on the corner…

So you are encouraging reporting your neighbors to the city, eh? What a great neighbor you must be. I bet you call animal control on your neighbors outdoor cat whenever you can…

I’ve gotten two letters from the city in the last two winters – after never hearing a peep out of them the other eight years I’ve owned my house. My sidewalk is always cleared off so I have no idea what they were reporting on (the letter is both vague and somewhat threatening). And both times it was in the late spring. I now take pictures of the sidewalk after each snowfall.

“So you are encouraging reporting your neighbors to the city, eh? What a great neighbor you must be. ”

Would you rather get a letter or be served with papers when someone sues you for slipping in front of your house because you haven’t shoveled. You decide, I guess.

Why doesn’t the city follow it’s own rules? I live by a city park and it was not shoveled yet from the last snowstorm!

my neighbor likes to snowblow everyone’s driveways on our block, as gives him time to out of the house to smoke more cigs and get away from his wife. unfortunately she was out of town this weekend, which sapped his motivation, so I had to shovel our drive.

Why do you care if your neighbor does or doesn’t shovel their sidewalk?

For one thing, the city owns the sidewalk/boulevard. So maybe they should shovel it in less than 24 hours. Hey, it will create more jobs. For another, the city’s inspectors are out in full forces, looking to collect any fees they can because LGA has dried up and left the city in dire straits. It’s less about “safety” than money.

But most importantly, why do you care what your neighbor does?

I would actually like to see a year-by-year comparison of the money collected from the city for things like un-shoveled walks or weeds growing around the garage. I’m betting the Pawlenty years have seen a major spike as he cut back LGA.

@MollyP

Many of us walk our dogs or walk to the bus stop, and having cleared sidewalks is important to us for our safety! And while the city techically owns the sidewalk, in most places, by ordinance, the homeowner must shovel it.

I care if my neighbors shovel! I run! Every year the same people don’t shovel, and it just burns me up!!!

Not really, but it’s annoying. My sidwalk gets a fair amount of traffic, so it gets packed down, but I get it off really easily by using the ice scraper thing. Oh, and my neighbor snow blows it most of the time. Yeah, Easy Street’s where I live.

Well, when I see people walking in the street because sidewalks weren’t plowed (like this past Saturday), I certainly do care what my neighbor does. It’s the homeower’s responsibility, just like replacing cement and mowing your boulevard.

Not to mention people like Letter Carriers in neighborhoods with mailboxes at the house.

How about people with mobility problems? Or those in wheelchairs? Last year, I saw a person in a wheelchair who had to go out into the street (Broadway NE)because the sidewalk was not cleared, and even where it was cleared, there were piles at the intersection curb cuts.

More so, there are many people with physical disabilities, the elderly, and people with small children need to have shoveled sidewalks in order to navigate the city.

The other day I saw a guy on a motorized wheelchair moving down 31st Street South. He was in the middle of the street because the sidewalks were not plowed.

I used to shovel/snowblow one of my neighbor’s boulevard sidewalks (he’s up there in years) but since he reported me to the city last summer for one tall weed growing in my fenced-off backyard (with a pretty flower), I decided this winter to take a breather.

I care if the sidewalks are navigable both for myself and for other pedestrians. I had an elderly friend who ended up homebound often in the winter because of people who were too selfish/lazy/unthinking to shovel their walks.

My father’s almost 90 years old and is still out shoveling as soon as the snow starts falling. If a homeowner can’t shovel for whatever reason, it’s their responsibility to hire someone to take care of it.

I have and will call to report those who fail to do so, ESPECIALLY those who shovel *their* private driveway/front walk, but not the sidewalk used for the common good.

I am not volunteering to shovel every foreclosed homes sidewalks…just the ones on my block (I stick to my side of the street).

Its not just foreclosures either maybe my neighbor is out of town, but she didn’t tell anybody…maybe he’s too old but too proud and his son doesn’t come round like he said he would. Who knows maybe they came down with cancer but don’t want to tell anyone…if I have time to call up and issue a report I probably have time to go shovel their walk.

I care if my neighbor’s sidewalk isn’t shoveled because it affects the walkability/livability of my neighborhood. Plenty of other people have mentioned folks using the street instead, which is obviously dangerous.

Why not let the city do it? That is a good question–I grew up in Richfield where the city plowed sidewalks, but it was still usually 2-3 days after the snowfall. We still shoveled our front walk (and a path closer to the house for the mail carrier) after it snowed because it’s just what you do.

I feel like, if you’re Minnesotan, then common decency dictates shoveling your walk. That’s what sets us apart from Arizonans or something–we know that we have to contribute our labor to the common good, and in extreme conditions we need to work a little harder to help our neighbors who aren’t able to make their own contributions. That knowledge shaped a lot about who we have been as a state.

MollyP, did you grow up somewhere snowy?

Frankly, I’m shocked this would even be an issue. Where I grew, I never saw sidewalks go unshoveled (unless that person was out of town or something) and really, Sioux Falls doesn’t have that many walkers.

Were I live now, I never see sidewalks. Boo to that.

I get that. But I don’t get why one neighbor would rat out another neighbor for not shoveling his/her walk. Really? Are we that much of ninnies?

Ryan, I’m not advocating for calling up every time someone doesn’t shovel within 24 hours after the last snow flake falls from the sky but when there is an house that hasn’t shoveled even once this year and there are no signs anyone is living at the house, no lights, no foot prints in the snow it’s time to get that sidewalk taken care of. The neighbor on the corner who has some serious OCD behavioral issues can barely keep his own corner lot shoveled but at least he tries.

So Molly how would you resolve an absentee landlord situation where they landlord doesn’t ever shovel?

Or if your block has 4 foreclosed houses that never get shoveled between you and your bus stop?

I don’t think name calling is going to solve the problem.

Molly- come to my neighborhood. If you lived next to a drug dealer or a rental property that is never shoveled you would rat them out. If you had limited mobility and can’t get to your bus stop/grocery store/doctor you would rat them out.

When we got ratted out, we deserved it. We didn’t follow the rule of getting down to the ground, because it is near impossible. If someone had a hard time getting to the bus stop or to the store, then I feel bad. This year we will sand.

I have a feeling Molly hasn’t walked any further than her attached garage since the first snow fall.

Oh, and I also call on grafitti and broken street lights. That’s why I’m called the neighborhood snitch.

(well, part of the reason.)

MollyP – wow, that’s the most ridiculous post to date. There’s plenty of reason to care about your neighbors not shoveling, as shown above; maybe you don’t ever get out of your car, but the rest of us do.

@Jerad: Why not let the city do it? That is a good question.

Why not? Well, how much more do you want to pay for property taxes or, worse, city fees — which aren’t property tax-relief refundable by the state?

My property taxes haven’t gone up (much) but my city fees sure have … and I can’t claim a property tax refund for city fees.

As it is, I’m probably getting a bargain now with the alley plowing because St. Paul stopped plowing alleys years ago and it’s now up to each individual block to contract that service privately. That costs me $15 per winter. Heckuva deal.

I think most people would agree it’s a good idea to shovel your sidewalks. Where I agree with Molly is on the tone of this post… I’m not so uptight to be watching the clock when 24 hours have passed since a snow, or “get those reports in early!” Huh?

and it’s now up to each individual block to contract that service privately. That costs me $15 per winter. Heckuva deal.

How in the heck does that even work? What if one or more neighbor doesn’t pay up? Or disagrees with the other neighbors on the selected provider?

It’s easy enough when you’re part of a development with a HOA, and have voluntarily entered into a contractual obligation, but I just don’t see it being very smooth otherwise.

Really, some people are just lazy pricks and need to be called on it (not you, kc, but you know what I mean).

MollyP – wow, that’s the most ridiculous post to date.

You obviously never saw any of Maz’s  or bud jr.’s comments.

I don’t think people should be called ninnies or rats because they expect other people to obey the law.

Ha – Mnblrmkr, you’re right. I should have quantified that statement by saying it was the most ridiculous post by someone who should know better.

The point of getting your reports in early is that it may take 21 days for any resolution? Can you imagine the pile of snow in another 3 weeks?

I think that calling it in and waiting 21 days rather than just doing it yourself is the epitome of passive aggressive.

Maybe if your neighbors see you doing it for a couple of months they’ll catch on and do it when they see it. Isn’t this how neighborhoods are supposed to work?

“Maybe if your neighbors see you doing it for a couple of months they’ll catch on and do it when they see it. Isn’t this how neighborhoods are supposed to work?”

Do you believe in unicorns too?

Also I don’t think anyone is living in the house so who would be there to see me shoveling the walk?

Hmm I guess in a couple months sometime around April they will catch on.

I think I’ll have to add “knowing what passive aggressive means before you accuse somebody of being it” to my long list of futile battles.

@mnblrmkr: The same house has gone around the past two winters I’ve lived in the neighborhood to collect money from the 16 houses that share the alley.

There is no apparent disagreement over just who is contracted to plow the alley. Why should there be any great disagreement or difficulty if it’s just a matter of finding someone who will plow the alley in a timely manner and charge no more than “the going rate?”

If all 16 households don’t pay up, then no plow is hired and the individual monies are returned. (There is the occasional exception made because of “circumstances.”) The block just east of us didn’t have a plow hired last winter, and that served as a timely reminder to everyone around of what a pain in the ass it is to try driving through an unplowed alley. lol

Most of the people on my block have lived there 15-20 years already and a couple of my neighbors are the original owners of their ca. 1950s homes. It ain’t the suburbs, so we do tend to approach things like this is a more “neighborly” fashion, I suppose.

Also, my new year’s resolution is to post in comprehensible sentences.

Dougie the other neighbors, the ones who also walk by/thru the snow but also don’t shovel it.

Well it seems the owner who was 95 died in early November. I wish the family the best. The family is from Silver Lake and probably hasn’t thought about hiring someone to shovel.

It freaks me out a little what you can find on the Internet with only a few minutes of sleuthing.

I started with looking up the utilities that are about 2 months behind. Looked up the property tax information. Did a search for obituaries found a listing on ancestry.com listing a nickname. Did a search for the name with the nickname pulled up an obit in the Strib.

That’s great that it works there, noodleman. I guess everywhere I’ve lived (or friends have), there’s always been one or two “difficult” neighbors on the block, or in the HOA, that you hear about.

I think that calling it in and waiting 21 days rather than just doing it yourself is the epitome of passive aggressive.

It really is.

Someone did this to my father last year. No idea who though, because of course nobody will say shit to your face. A couple days ago, he came back from shoveling and had an asthma attack and passed out.

So sorry neighbors, and people who park all over the block in front of houses that aren’t theirs so they can park close to church, if maybe my dad didn’t shovel the walk quick enough for you. I’m a pedestrian and when that happens, I just fucking deal with it. Grow up, and do something immediate instead of bitching and waiting 21 days.

sandburg- what exactly is a pedestrian suppose to do when someone on their route doesn’t shovel and they have no idea who they are? what if you have no idea who owns the property across the street from you? what if you are afraid of the person across the street from you?

And is it passive agressive if I call the police on someone selling drugs? Should I confront them too? Where do you draw the line with people breaking the laws?

Historically I have had no problem shoveling my walk in a timely fashion…but after reading all this WHINING I think my new policy will be to wait until the 23rd and 1/2 hour.

Suck it, crybabies! Most of you complaining about the shoveling sound like you rent and have your landlords shovel for you anyway. Hypocrites!

Oh and Merry Christmas!

This is obviously litmus test for assholes. Raindog , Sandburg and Ryan you pass the asshole test with flying colors.

Yeah, I rent, but my rent pays for shoveling too, so why don’t you suck it, rainy. Happy Holidays!

Happy Hanaramakwanzmas.

Whatever “Dougie”. Just make sure you get out of the basement and help your Mom shovel tomorrow, okay buttercup?Dulwich in

My big strong neighbors with big strong snowblowers nearly always do at least the end of my driveway where the snowplow makes a big heavy mound. They sometimes do the driveway too. I kind of like shoveling, it is good exercise, but I REALLY appreciate the snowplow mound being done by someone else. I give them cookies or banana bread, and that seems to work out well.

Grow up you tattle-tale whiny baby Dougie. It’s your neighborhood — and your first response is to tattle to the city? How about find out what’s going on with owners (like you did after the fact) and get a hold of the heirs and tell them you and your neighbors need them to arrange for someone to shovel.

In the meantime, get one of your neighbors with a snow blower and go down and clean it up so you can walk to your bus.

You could have this done 20 days before the city even LOOKS at your complaint.

“Grow up you tattle-tale whiny baby Dougie. ”

Stellar comeback, anonyman…

I for one don’t like calling up other people and telling them what they should be doing. I don’t really want some crazy fucking moron tracking me down and stalking me or killing my dog. There are way too many people on the edge of insanity out there for personal confrontations now days.

“I’m sorry to hear of your loss. I’d like to help out by shoveling this round of snow on your passed relative’s sidewalk. I’m really hoping in the future you could get someone to the house to shovel after it snows”

“What! You asshole, now I’m going to kill your fucking dog!”

You’re right, that seems like the most logical outcome.

Crazy people tend to fall toward the unlogical side of the spectrum.

Nice Christmassy Hannakuh Kwanzaa Solstice feeling around here in mnspeak/SoTC land. I blame the lack of avatars and smilies. They’d just brighten up the place and humanize it a bit. Would you really want to argue with someone who had an animated gif of Snoopy dancing?

@KC you should absolutely call the cops on drug dealers…unless their selling herbal remedies in which case; ummm where do you live?

As an adult, I am able to judge the appropriate course of action to each circumstance I encounter in life. In KCs drug dealing and graffiti scenarios tattling to the cops is the right solution. In Dougie D’s situation I personally would recommend a snow shovel and or boots. If that makes me an asshole so be it.

thanks for the rousing conversation Dougie it was fun…we should do this again real soon mmmmK THANKS.

And where do you draw the line ryan? Should he then start mowing everybody’s lawn? Painting everybody’s house? Doing the exterior home repairs so that the houses meet city codes?

It usually wouldn’t be a real big deal if someone is even semi-regularly a couple days late clearing the walk after a modest snowfall(it’s a different story if we’re talking 6-8+ inches).

But if it never or rarely gets cleared, even after a major snowfall, at some point, the home owner has to be called to account.

There isn’t much difference between selling (small amounts of) marijuana and not shoveling your lawn, both just get you fine. So why should I report the marijuana sellers and not the people not shoveling?

(and I understand that you think there is a difference between a crack dealer and a marijuana dealer, ryanl, but I don’t see a difference when they are dealing in my front yard.)

If my blog was called Constantly Complaining I don’t think I would be so quick to call people passive aggressive.

It’s time like this that I’m happy to be a renter.

Hey, I just came back inside from shoveling (at least as much as my back could handle, which isn’t much since that semi rear-ended me). Unfortunately, if someone called on us, they’d be in the right, even though we’ve shoveled several times now. People walk down Nicollet a lot.

I’m pretty sure it’s not our immediate neighbors who call in, but someone who walks Nicollet regularly.

Uh… I don’t have a point. We need to get some sand.

And my back hurts.

And my lunch was pretty good.

Oh yes, I did have a point. We pay a very small association fee that is supposed to cover snow removal. But the only company we could find at one point that could get in and out of our parking lot, Premier Something Something (Lawn and Snow Removal?), refuses to do the Nicollet sidewalk, which is the side of our house and the whole front of the duplex behind us. It’s because he can’t drive the Jeep down that sidewalk like he can on 33rd. How can you be a snow removal company without a snow blower?

Um… still maybe not a point, just me and my sore back bitching about our useless snow removal company- Premier.

If I lived in an area with vacant homes I would definitely mow the lawn and shovel the homes on my block…IF they weren’t taken care of. Of course this ends on my block. I don’t just go walking up and down blocks looking for sidewalks to shovel.

Fair enough Dougie whats your blog called? Or do you keep your thoughts bottled up and then call someone else about them….does your therapist blog???

<<

Our condo building pays someone to shovel our walk, and it’s really inexpensive. There’s not really any reason someone can’t hire some kid to shovel their walk for a few bucks if they are unable to do it themselves. While I agree that it is a nice thing to help a neighbor out and shovel their walk once in a while, I certainly don’t think that anyone is obligated to do this in order to be a good, responsible neighbor.

Ryan, you sure are cranky today. I think you need a nice, stiff drink.

tara, you are the voice of reason.

I agree with Tara’s last statement, but would replace “cranky” with “awesome” and “Ryan” with “Kurtis.”

Seriously though, isn’t shoveling and mowing supposed to be one of the “joys” of home ownership?

Not for me. I am content to hire out any such chores.

Uh, no.
It was fun to mow and shovel the first year. I still do it myself, but now it is a hassle, not a ‘cool thing’

I would replace “ryan” with “the ladies,” “cranky” with “sassy,” and “drink” with “MnSpeak moderator.”

Tara I don’t think anyone should be obligated. I just think that it’s sad that there are what like 20 families on your average block and for it to get too 21 days it takes 17-19 off them to walk or drive past it…everyday, and do NOTHING about it.

I do think that it is ultimately the owners responsibility. But if they are absent or not getting the job done I may do it for them for the good of my neighborhood. Its not because I am nice; rather that I am selfish! I don’t want vacant looking homes on my block decreasing my property values any more than they have already sunk. I don’t want my guests to think I live in blighted neighborhood.

Really its a business decision for me.

I would replace “Tara” with “Baker”, “Max” with “Ricardo”, “cranky” with “destitute”, and “MNSpeak Moderator” with “crack cocaine”.

Yeah that last bit about the therapist was uncalled for…turns out I am an asshole and a troll….dang!

I do need a drink.

Sorry Dougie.

You can’t tell someone that they should shovel their walk? You can spend time reporting them online, but not looking up their phone number to tell them personally?

My family has lived in the same house for 20 years, everyone sees each other at National Night Out, everyone knows how to get in touch with us. Maybe this approach makes more sense if you don’t know your neighbors, but here it’s just really high school.

Drug dealing is not equal to not shoveling your walk. I’ve lived in a house where I had drug dealers and prostitutes and other crime happening outside my front door. I’d have traded it all for some neighbors who didn’t shovel with 24 hours of snowfall.

I think I might help myself to a drink right now. Oh, and the sangria I made last weekend with the Damiana liqueur that cjc helped me find was AWESOME. Thanks again, cjc!

I’d have a drink too, but I think my boss might frown on that…

when you’re married with kids, you’ll start to appreciate the value of outdoor chores like shoveling / mowing / raking. With thanks to Dave Mordahl, I like to refer to the garage as the “Spousal Avoidance Center”

This might just turn into a nice thread after all.

Quick, who pours the stiffest drink in this town? MNSpeakers, represent!

My vote: StandUp Frank’s.

The Saloon.

My old answer would have been the Little Wagon, but I haven’t been there for awhile.

Actually, didn’t WE meet at the Wagon, aliecat?

Watch out with that grote. My former neighbor almost lived in his garage. Once his mother-in-law who owned the house and lived with the family died his wife dropped him like a hot potato.

I would replace “ryan” with “the ladies,” “cranky” with “sassy,” and “drink” with “MnSpeak moderator.”

I would replace “stiff” with “diminutive.”

I gotta agree that not attempting to contact your neighbors on your own or helping them shovel is sort of “Eaganish”. Having cordial, respectful relationships with your neighbors is one of the best forms of community policing. IMO of course.

Bob, yep…but I was drinking beer.

I like the Saloon for martini’s because they stick to tradition and don’t pour you a bucket of liquor like other bars.

I would replace “JDerusha” with “Julie Nelson in a bikini”.

You are right, drug dealing doesn’t equal not shoveling your walk. Dealing drugs only hurts the user of the drug and their family while not shoveling hurts every single person who tries to walk down the street.

Yes, a very dumb analogy, I know. But, when you buy a house you have to shovel your damn walk. If you can’t do that, don’t buy a house, buy a condo or townhome. If you already own, you need to pay someone to do it. And I shouldn’t have to confront anonmyous strangers, or even my neighbors, to make them do it. It is the law, just like you can’t deal drugs.

And as to ryan’s assertion that there are 20 or more families on each block that can shovel for each other may be true in the suburbs, but not in my neighborhood. I did a quick mental count of my block. There are three single family homes on our block the rest is all rentals, condos and townhomes (and a big YMCA, a “furniture” store, and a convienence store).

I would replace “DeRusha” with this photo:

Now we’re talking..

I would replace this thread with bacon.

Agreed, Aliecat, gay bars are usually a good bet for a good Martini.

I have had good Martinis at The Saint Paul Grill and WA Frost’s bars, too.

If it’s Alie, it’s not a martini that’s being discussed, but antifreeze with an olive in it.

Max, but at least it’s the right amount of antifreeze!

I second Stand Up Franks. My first time in there I ordered a Jack & Coke. Tender poured six fingers of Jack and barely a wisp of coke. I just stared at the glass in shock. He saw my stunned look and asked “do you want some coke on the side”, to which I replied “sure”, so he shot soda out of the gun onto the side of my glass. $4.

Yep, that’s the service for which Stand Up Farnks is famious for, g_rote.

Uh, first of all…I have my own place and shovel after every snow fall. My whole point was that I can’t believe some of you actually call the city to rat out your neighbors who don’t shovel theirs. Nothing like living next to a ninny…

OK On our block there are currently 6 foreclosed homes and 2 rentals that the dead beat landlords refuse to shovel. These places haven’t shoveled at all this year and after our warm weekend we now have 5″ of really slick ice. I can’t walk on it, my dog can’t walk on it. I called the city and don’t feel at all like a ninny. Some one needs to be held accountable esp. the slum lords and foreclosed home which bring blight and crime to my neighborhood!

Well and the other thing is that the house that I reported is not on my block. I’m not sure about other people but I have to walk several blocks (up to 0.5 miles) to get to the bus stop.

I’m just back from walking the dog and nearly wiped out multiple times. I’m fed up with neighbors who refuse to shovel, and worse, when the snow thaws and then freezes into a sheet of %*$^#&@ ICE! they don’t do Anything about it. Our walk is clear and safe. It’s not that hard. If the city can ticket us for snow emergencies in order to keep the streets safe, why can’t they ticket home owners whose sidewalks are DANGEROUS and a public hazard. I can’t stand it!

Here’s a blow torch anonymous, now you can blow it out your ass!

Dougie_D : The Good German