So the snow that hit the Northeast over the weekend is gradually sublimating and melting away, and a couple of the blogs on the Streetsblog Network
are looking at the difference in the way municipalities treated
pedestrians and motorists during and after the first big storm of the
winter.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
has posted a telling video shot by local bike shop owner Michael
McGettigan. It shows how, two days after the last flakes fell, the
sidewalk on the Walnut Street Bridge -- the busiest pedestrian bridge
crossing in the state of Pennsylvania -- remained uncleared. As a
result, those on foot were forced out into the well-plowed roadway with
motor vehicles.
As the BCGP blog notes, some private property owners are being
ticketed for not shoveling the sidewalks in front of their homes, but
"apparently the city doesn't ticket giant transportation agencies for
not keeping sidewalks clear."
Meanwhile, network member Greater Greater Washington
launched a discussion about whether local officials and news media in
the DC area were right to tell pedestrians to stay off the streets
during and immediately after the storm. The blog's David Alpert asks:
Wasthat the smart move to ensure safety, or another sign of how oursociety has come to view streets as the exclusive province of cars?...A snowstorm that cuts down the level of traffic and restricts theusable space in the roadway is an opportunity to examine how we thinkabout streets.
That's exactly what Clarence Eckerson did in this video
from the Streetfilms archives, which captured conditions on NYC streets
in the wake of a blizzard that hit the city in February 2006. Check out
the naturally occurring neckdowns (h/t @guiweinmann).
