If you loathe shoveling snow and/or walking on sidewalks where the residents don't bother to shovel, there's some welcome news!
Parts of Uptown will have their sidewalks plowed this winter as part of a pilot program by the City of Chicago.
The pilot area includes the blocks bordered by Foster Avenue to the north, Marine Drive to the east, Montrose Avenue to the south, and Damen Avenue to the west (sorry southern Uptown and Buena Park!).
Why us?
Uptown and Lincoln Square were chosen due to the high population density and the large number of elderly and disabled residents (the highest on the North Side).
Additionally, the report says, "the area features many community amenities like schools and several significant commercial districts such as the Uptown entertainment district."
Under the targeted program, the report reads, "City and/or contractors will provide sidewalk snowplow services to any block where a residential property with four or fewer units is located. Vacant lots will also be plowed under this approach."
You can check the map above to see if properties on your block qualify it for plowing.
However, "larger residential, commercial, industrial, and other non-residential buildings will be encouraged to continue clearing their sidewalks."
As dedicated haters of shoveling (but we all do it anyway), we are thrilled to be part of this pilot program!
While this is a welcome idea, the qualifying properties logic feels a bit off... Why just four units or fewer? Single family homes in this area often house the wealthiest citizens who have the most means to outsource this work. Smaller two and three flats are often similar stories. Meanwhile, six flats with lower unit values / average occupant incomes are left out of this? I understand why massive buildings with 15+ units and large property owners shouldn't qualify, but why not smaller six flats who often are self-managed?
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point, and I agree with your point. However, the way I read that is the city will still be plowing the entire block so long as there is even a single residential property with 4 or less units on it.
DeleteEssentially this means any fully residential block will get plowed, but a strip that is truly commercial in nature would not. EG: Ravenswood, parts of Wilson, Clark, and Sunnyside. Most of those strips are either truly businesses or high density buildings run by management companies: EG: places already paying for snow removal if only to avoid liabilities.