George, Maybe I misunderstand the city's ordinance, which I found through this link:
http://www.cityofmadison.com/BI/snowAssit.html on the Building Inspection website here: http://www.cityofmadison.com/residents/winter/home/sidewalks.cfm But wouldn't 10.28(2), copied below, be the mechanism by which the city charges landowners for clearing sidewalks when they fail to do so on their own? I suspect that it's a problem every year because presumably the Gateway Mall contracts to have the snow cleared, and every year the contractor's employee either doesn't know or doesn't care that they can't store snow there. But issuing tickets and/or charging the landowner for clearing the snow after the fact will probably be enough incentive for the landowner to communicate to the contractor the necessity of keeping that sidewalk clear. This has been going on as long as I can remember, so either the landowner needs to clear the snow every year, or the city needs to start recovering the city's expenses for it. Thanks, chuck p.s Thanks to the Parks Dept for clearing the snow so quickly. 10.28 SNOW AND ICE TO BE REMOVED FROM SIDEWALKS. (1) The owner of each lot or part of lot shall remove all snow and ice upon the sidewalk abutting the premises which he or she owns not later than 12:00 noon of the day after the snow or ice has accumulated on the sidealk. The owner of property abutting sidewalks on two intersecting streets shall remove all snow and ice from the sidewalks of both streets, including that portion of the sidewalks bordering the crosswalk, including the curb ramp, if any, regardless of the source of the snow accumulation. Provided that when ice has so formed upon any sidewalk that it cannot be removed, then the owner shall keep the same effectively sprinkled with sand, salt or other suitable substance in such manner as to prevent the ice from being dangerous, until such time as it can be removed, and then it shall be promptly removed. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be subject to a forfeiture of not less than twenty dollars ($20) nor more than fifty dollars ($50) for a first offense and not less than thirty dollars ($30) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) for any subsequent offense. Each day any violation of this ordinance continues shall constitute a separate offense. (Am. by Ord. 11,218, 3-31-95) (2) The Department of Planning and Development shall cause all sidewalks which shall not have been cleared of snow and ice as above described, to be cleared upon default of the person whose duty it shall be to clear the same. The said Department of Planning and Development shall keep an accurate account of the expenses thereof and report the same to the City Comptroller, who shall annually prepare a statement of the expense so incurred in front of each lot or parcel of land and report the same to the City Clerk, and the amount therein charged to each lot or parcel of land shall be by said Clerk entered in the tax roll as a special tax against said lot or parcel of land, and the same shall be collected in all respects like other taxes upon real estate. Prosecution under Subsection (1) of this ordinance shall not bar the City from proceeding under Subsection (2) of this ordinance, nor shall proceeding under Subsection (2) bar prosecution under Subsection (1). (Am. by Ord. 8262, 2-20-84) (3) Actions for violations of Sec. 10.28(1) shall be commenced by citation as provided by Sec. 66.119 of the Wisconsin Statutes or summons and complaint or warrant as provided by Sec. 66.12(1)(a) of the Wisconsin Statutes. (Am. by Ord. 6370, 10-10-78) Rev. 3/15/98 10 - 28 The difference between the forfeiture listed in the ordinance and the amounts listed on the tickets are as follows. The City Council has adopted the higher amount in or each category, first offense and subsequent offenses. So we start with the $50 and $100 base fine. To each of these the following costs are added. Forfeiture (Base fine) $50.00 26% ( of $50 ) Penalty Assessment. $13.00 $10.00 Judicial Assessment $10.00 $8.00 Crime Lab Assessment $13.00 Municipal Court Costs $28.00 Total $114.00 The Judicial Assessment, Crime Lab Assessment and 26% Penalty Assessment are all mandated by statute and added to all Municipal citations. Chuck Strawser University of Wisconsin-Madison Transportation Services UW Commuter Solutions Pedestrian/Bicycle Coordinator 124 WARF bldg 610 Walnut Street Madison WI 53726 608-263-2969 www.wisc.edu/trans <http://www.wisc.edu/trans> ________________________________ From: Hank, George [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 9:32 AM To: Briski, Kevin; tim wong; STRAWSER, Charles Cc: Parks; Schumacher, Al; john coleman; [email protected] Subject: RE: [Bikies] Please clear bike path/sidewalk at 600 Williamson St/Gateway Mall [was: Bikies: clearing of bike path] Kevin, Yes it is an enforcement issue. The inspector was trying to contact the owner to get them to clear the sidewalk and was running into a roadblock of disconnected phone numbers and answering machines. She finally reached the representative yesterday afternoon and told him she would recheck the location on the way in today and ticket them if it was not cleared. It is my understanding that a parks employee cleared it yesterday. We can ticket an owner and/or contractor when this happens but I am not aware of a mechanism where the City can correct the problem and then bill the owner. This is something we need to pursue. Finally, we will ticket without warning if they do it again. Thank you, George George Hank Director, Building Inspection Division 215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Suite LL-100 PO Box 2984 Madison, WI 53701-2984 (608) 266-4849 Voice (608) 266-6377 Fax [email protected] www.cityofmadison.com From: Briski, Kevin Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 5:52 PM To: tim wong; STRAWSER, Charles Cc: Parks; Schumacher, Al; Hank, George; john coleman; [email protected] Subject: RE: [Bikies] Please clear bike path/sidewalk at 600 Williamson St/Gateway Mall [was: Bikies: clearing of bike path] George Hank... Is this a enforsement issue? KB Sent from my Windows Mobile(r) phone. ________________________________ From: tim wong <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 5:04 PM To: STRAWSER, Charles <[email protected]> Cc: Parks <[email protected]>; Schumacher, Al <[email protected]>; Hank, George <[email protected]>; Briski, Kevin <[email protected]>; john coleman <[email protected]>; [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Bikies] Please clear bike path/sidewalk at 600 Williamson St/Gateway Mall [was: Bikies: clearing of bike path] I noticed last summer that there is parking on the south side of the street (nothing new), but that is designated for Gateway customers only (new, I think). Is that legal on a regular street? In any event, I agree with Chuck that 1) it has been blocked since the snow storm, 2) it is usually blocked after the first big snow in winter, and 3) it isn't wide enough for two-way traffic (or, really, one-way traffic) and many, if not most, bicyclists ride on the sidewalk going eastbound. On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 10:18 AM, STRAWSER, Charles <[email protected]> wrote: Good Morning Al, George, Kevin, et al., I'd like to add my thanks to John Coleman's for the excellent job that Parks has done clearing the bike path through the Isthmus. Many of the roads (though not all) that I've used are also very well cleared, and I'd like to thank the Streets department for that. However, the problem that John reported last Thursday (copied below), and I've just submitted to the city's report a problem website today, still exists: snow removed from the street, path, and possibly parking lot at 600 Williamson St has been stored on the sidewalk there, forcing westbound bicyclists and pedestrians to travel the wrong way down a one-way street in order to reach Blair and continue downtown. This seems to be a problem every year, so perhaps all the parties involved in storing the snow there need agree to cooperate in complying with the ordinances requiring the sidewalks to be kept clear, and especially that storing snow there is not acceptable. I think everyone would agree that if westbound motorists on Williamson Street had to travel the wrong direction up E Wilson because the westbound traffic lanes of E Wilson were being used to store cleared snow, that that would be a problem requiring a quick resolution in the short term and a plan to prevent the problem in the future. It might also help to create a counter flow bike lane on that short section of one-way street, since the sidewalk in question is a substandard width for multi-use purposes even in the summer. To that end I am cc'ing Arthur Ross, city Bike coordinator, and Robbie Webber, chair of the PBMVC, to ask that a contra-flow lane there be put on a future PBMVC agenda. Thanks for your time, Chuck Strawser University of Wisconsin-Madison Transportation Services UW Commuter Solutions
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