The winter season is approaching and for homeowners in New York, it’s time to begin preparing for snow removal in their respective yards and on the sidewalk. For some folk, taking care of these responsibilities may be challenging, and so, recognizing this, city council member Justin Brannan is proposing a bill that will help some people with this.
This bill will require the city’s Department of Sanitation to establish a program that would assist persons aged 65 and over, and those with disabilities, with removing snow from sidewalks.
Additionally, it would allow these folk to be liable for only half of the city fine for failure to remove snow from the sidewalks. The current fine for this is about $100-$150.
The Commissioner for the city’s sanitation department, Jessica Tisch, met with the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management members at City Hall for a hearing about the proposed legislation. While the commissioner understands the need for a program like this, she does not support the bill.
“Every property owner, regardless of their age or ability, has a responsibility to maintain their property. This means cleaning your sidewalk and curb line and shoveling the sidewalk after it snows,” said Tisch in the hearing.
Contrarily, Dr. Barry Franklin, the Director of Preventive Cardiology at Beaumont Health in Royal Oak, Michigan, believes that this program should be established. Dr. Franklin has written about four articles that list the hazards of snow removal for the elderly.
“You got to recognize that more people than you realize have underlying heart disease,” said Dr. Franklin. “...[and shoveling snow] is particularly dangerous.”
The doctor even discourages the use of snowblowers after age 45.
“...For some older people who have more severe heart disease, even starting the snowblower and pushing it through a foot or foot and a half of snow can be sufficient enough to trigger heart attacks,” said Dr. Franklin.
At the hearing at City Hall, Commissioner Tisch argued that the elderly and disabled community should either receive help from a family member or neighbor during snowy periods or hire help. She mentioned that city in collaboration with the Department for the Aging “provides resources to local not-for-profit organizations and other community groups to establish registries of volunteers willing to help remove snow on behalf of persons who are unable to do so due to infirmity, illness, or disability.”
The commissioner’s lack of support for this bill is also due to the proposal’s requests for a reduction in fines for older and disabled people who are unable to remove snow from their sidewalks. She believes that this would only hurt the community the bill seeks to help, seeing that persons may opt-out of shoveling snow, because their fine would be lesser, making it difficult for these groups to navigate places with un-shoveled sidewalks.
Christopher Schuyler, the senior staff attorney-disability justice, at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, attended the hearing to show support for the bill. After hearing the commissioner’s thoughts, he said, “These bills just really seem like kind of just common sense measures. Low-income people, especially people with disabilities should not…have to adhere to the same responsibilities, as large property owners in terms of clearing, and they should not pay the same fines.”
Councilmember Nantasha Williams, the councilmember of District 27, shared similar sentiments during the hearing when she expressed her disappointment with the commissioner’s disagreement with the fine reduction for the communities the bill targets. Williams believes the fine reduction would serve the elderly and disabled people who do not have a fixed income.
In response, the commissioner said, “I am an incredibly practical person and I like to like find practical solutions to practical problems. But I also see very practical challenges just to be administering something like what you're proposing.”
She then questioned how the department would be able to determine which folk needed a fine reduction just from looking at their property.
Williams agreed that there were practical issues with the proposal but said that the bill could be amended in a way where the council members and the sanitation department can agree on how fines will be handled.
“I just want to provide a resource for [the elderly and disabled] if they needed to be able to have some type of release,” said Williams.
Though the sanitation department does not support council member Brannan’s bill, it will still be presented to the council. According to Williams, the lack of support from the agency does not hurt the chances of the bill being passed, but council members usually make amendments after hearings to ensure they are also meeting the needs of the agencies they are seeking help from.
Brannan’s office was contacted numerous times for a comment on how he would proceed or amend the bill, but he did not respond promptly.
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