[Vision2020] Snow Grouch
chasuk at gmail.com
chasuk at gmail.com
Wed Dec 31 01:51:10 PST 2008
On Dec 30, 2008 9:18pm, Craine Kit <kcraine at verizon.net> wrote:
> You do not know me. You do not know my story. You do not know what I have
paid in PAIN since 1976 to keep my sidewalk and driveway safe for
pedestrians. You do not know what it costs me in pain and dollars to
attempt to walk on ice or through deep snow. Your denial of my right to
walk on a public sidewalk on the basis that a property owner is too fat or
too busy or too self-centered to keep it safe is inexcusable.
You are right. I don't know you, except for your exhibited tendency to
embellish what you read.
> I have worked for years to prove the need for winter pedestrian safety
AND to design a system that balances safety goals against the effort
required by property owners to reach those goals [perhaps Tom Hanson will
provide a link to the appropriate section of the Feb 26, 2007 Public Works
and Finance committee meeting]. My proposals have included an city financed
program wherein PCEI connected volunteer shovelers with property owners who
were physically and financially unable to fulfill their responsibilities to
keep their sidewalks free of ice and snow
Quite admirable. Sincerely.
> My programs DIED because you and your kin define public requests for safe
winter sidewalks as "whining".
You introduced the word "whining" to this debate, not I.
> My programs DIED because you and your kin find all sorts of reasons why
property owners should be "excused" from their responsibilities rather than
finding solutions to legitimate problems.
I didn't suggest that anyone be excused from anything. That's not my
position in life.
> My programs DIED because you and your kin turn to those who could be
injured by the negligence of the property owners and say 'if you don't want
to be hurt, get off the sidewalk.'
Poppycock.
> My programs DIED because you and your kin have an "up-yours" attitude
towards anyone who is not bold, brave, physically perfect, and able to
skate on public sidewalks.
I'm fat, suffering from gout, with a heart condition, and my balance is
atrocious. I'm not bold, brave, physically perfect, or able to skate, so I
have an "up-yours" attitude towards myself, apparently.
> Property owners who accept their responsibility to protect pedestrians
crossing their lot find a way to clear their sidewalks. Those who don't
have some bullshit excuse that makes pedestrian safety the pedestrian's
problem.
I disagree. In a perfect world, everyone would meet all of their
responsibilities, and all sidewalks would be cleared. But we don't live in
a perfect world. We live in a world where bullshit excuses mingle with
legitimate ones; where your excuse is another person's valid reason. You
apparently don't like this world, but it's the only one we have. If you
unfailingly meet all of your responsibilities, then I honestly commend you.
There will always be a certain percentage of Muscovites who can't, or
won't, meet all of their obligations. I have empathy for you, but I also
have empathy for them, which is what I was trying to convey in my original
reply. I'm not a Christian, but I still like to think positively of anyone
who hasn't given me reason to think otherwise. This is supposed to be the
season of good cheer.
> Shame on you for sentencing me and my dog to a winter being banned from
the public right-of-way for my "crime" of being crippled.
If that is what you truthfully believe that I have done, then my apologies.
I don't want to deny anyone anything. I'ma liberal. If it were up to me,
all of the streets and sidewalks of Moscow would be clear of snow,
virtually always.
I think the city should invest in "snowmelt" technologies. We aren'ta
metropolis, so it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive. Yes, it would take
years to deploy, but it would eventually make shopping and strolling easier
for everyone, without having to factor in the fallibility of humans.
Chas
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