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I encountered this situation just about everywhere I went after the snow. There were some stores I wanted to do last minute shopping at that I couldn't get near and just got back in my car and drove away. I hope that our illustrious mayor (gag) will some day take as much interest in the outer boroughs as he does in his rich friends' playground of Manhattan. You'd never this anything like this there.

Extra point, things might get done in NYC if the government wasn't so departmentalized/bureaucratic. The problem with calling 311 is every group deflects responsibility to another group in an endless circle, never getting you anywhere.

Small towns can't afford viable public transportation. There would be no way to effectively reach a large number of citizens, since they are so spread out and the roads are essentially never-ending mazelike branches off a central artery. If you service the arterial roads, many citizens would still have miles to walk.

The flaw isn't that the small towns don't provide public transit, the flaw is the way suburbs and small towns have become spread out commuter towns with very little gainful employment.

But, anyway, back to the original point of snow clearing. It sucks when officials don't enforce snow clearing practices anywhere, regardless of city or town. The snow is still even a mess from Herald Square to Times Square. On Monday morning, the path leading to and up the stairs at the Astoria Blvd N/W station was still covered in densely packed, slippery snow. I could not believe not even the beleaguered MTA would risk lawsuit by not shoveling.

Lastly, I don't "accept" the notion that bribing is the only way to get things done. It's just the way things unfortunately seem to be. Only people with money or power can get anything done. Getting a grassroots campaign large and loud enough to do anything the way things should be done (popular opinion) still takes lots of money. That's not the same as bribing, but it's still true that it's nearly impossible for the average person to get what they want by doing things the way Bloomberg says we should (call 311 and ask nicely). Sucks.

Things are compounded when the only people voting are seniors and unions. Young people are nowhere to be seen. They're too busy shopping at American Apparel and having crazy warehouse parties in Bushwick.

If anyone has any success stories in getting positive change in their community, please share the methods because we could all benefit from hearing them.

Well, in the years I lived in Bumblef-ck, PA there was no response to anyone's concerns about pedestrians being able to traverse the roads and streets. Too many people with cars and not enough in the way of public transportation. When you have towns where the Mayor is also the local used car dealer what else should one expect? Small towns are no stranger to corruption and ineptitude of local officials. To accept the idea that "bribing dozens of people in power" is the way to get things done in any city or town only fosters that kind of atmosphere.

Was it really necessary for Anderson to lambaste small town PA as bumblef--k? Having lived in NYC and "bumblef--k" for equal amounts of time, I can say that each place has its pros and cons. The biggest pro? "Bumblef--k" is a lot more receptive to complaints than anywhere in the city. The only way to get anything done in the city is by bribing dozens of people in power.

At the bus stop at the corner of Ocean Ave. and Ave. R there's a huge wall of snow with one tiny little cut. I missed the bus today because I couldn't walk to the cut fast enough. The bus driver saw me and still drove away. :(

What I see most is that this area is no longer a place of NEIGHBORS. I find most people are quite isolated and have carved their own niches. However I would think that even within those microcosms those individuals would be helping one another at least. Is everybody out for themselves only today?

Again, the street corners often have snow piled into them by the sanitation trucks plowing past them. I've also seen even several automobiles buried in their wake. What's up with that?

They couldn't handle the amount of calls coming in, I guess.

Really, they could have cleaned up real good in fines if they had.

I called 311 Monday to complain that Pace Tires on 69 Street and Eliot Avenue did not shovel their sidewalk one bit. This is a corner business probably 200 x 200 feet. 311 informed me Sanitation wasn't taking any snow removal complaints. The City could have made a bundle in ticket money if they had the inspectors out.

I'm still not clear as to how Obama has created a scenario where or streets aren't properly shoveled? This needs to be explained further.

Maybe Bloomberg is liable in some fashion, after all he is the mayor. OTOH, so few people care whether he is mayor or not anyway that he has little influence on people's behavior. I mean, he won with only 10% of the voting age population casting a vote for him. Perhaps people that don't vote won't shovel either. It's a lot more work to shovel.

Yep, about 2 1/2 hours of work at various intervals.

Now it used to be that the owner of the corner houses were liable to clear the corners. That was understood if you bought a corner property. Some of these people don't even shovel the side street sidewalk. So I suppose we're asking way too much of them to do the corner.

It wasn't like this years ago. We've gotten lax as a society here. But I hope that those of us who haven't capitulated to this way of (not) doing things continue to maintain their dignity despite the decay surrounding them.

Puleeze Nick! I blame Bloomberg the Rat for cutting back services, mismanagement and corruption. Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr and Jr put us into this huge multi-trillion dollar deficit. George Bush Junior started these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama can't in all that makes sense militarily simply back us out entirely en masse. I'm not pleased with the war but I can't hold President Obama entirely responsible. Closer to home which is what is relevant here, Bloomberg and all the idiots who stayed home on Election day that allowed him to gain his illegal third term are at fault for New York City's woes.

He should be put to work for Sanitation. Maybe he'll finally fulfill a campaign promise to clean up New York!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paypaul/2913495985/

I must say that my block, East 16th btwn Y & Z, is very good when it comes to shoveling. By noon Sunday there was a clear path from avenue to avenue. Most of us have driveways so there is a path to the street in front of most homes. I usually clear a path at the corner since no one else feels the need to. Don't they realize that their wives andkids have to cross at the corner?
One of our neighbors, for years, would never shovel no matter how much or how little snow fell. Now that he's married, his lovely wife shovels the snow for him.

thats a Navy recruitment office. Not marines.

We used to clear a path through from the sidewalk out to the street. It's nice and clear when it's first done.

Then the snow starts to melt and those paths just fill up with water, trapped by the surrounding snow.

Then at night, when the temperature drops, the water freezes.

Then someone falls and sues our ass.

Leave it alone. Let the city clean the streets.

some homeowners on my block don't even shovel the sidewalk in front of their houses.

seems like there was less salting going on as well. i blame obama for bankrupting our country and sending us back to war.