Clear the sidewalks

Yet another winter begins and yet again the politicians in the area show how little they care for the poor. The sidewalks pile up with snow, both because the street plows push it there and because Spokane Valley doesn’t enforce sidewalk clearing by property owners.

I complained that snow was still on many sections of the sidewalk two days after the latest snow. The response I got from the city was that people have 48 hours to do it. First, do they not know that’s two days? Second, they don’t enforce it after the 48 hours. Third, why don’t they wait 48 hours to clear snow off of the streets? On Wednesday, I did errands down Appleway. I saw:

Plows covering the sidewalks

A person walking on the tiny section of the bike lane that was visible, close to cars, as the sidewalk was not passable

A person in a motorized wheelchair on another section, struggling to move

The working poor use sidewalks far more than do others, to buses, stores and more. So do folks who want to care about the environment. It seems politicians don’t care about either group. They need to have sidewalks cleared much faster, and they need to enforce the laws to do so.

David Teich

Spokane Valley