On Shoveling Snow and on trash at Bus Stops…
When Toledo City Council met last Tuesday, one of the items they voted on as listed in the Toledo Blade was:
Allow city inspectors to issue $75 tickets for poorly maintained courtesy benches at bus stops.
If you were like me until this item came up for discussion before City Council you might not even realize that it’s not TARTA or the City that is responsible for those courtesy benches. If you want to read the exact chapter on these benches it can be found here
What about snow? Well, I know for a fact some in my neighborhood have still not shoveled which makes it unsafe for children like my daughter who walk to school. I’ve heard from other people who state there are sidewalks in their area that are not shoveled yet. One of our regular contributer’s to discussion here on Glass City Jungle, Neighborhood Concerns, discovered that The Connecting Point has not shoveled yet as well. What’s the law on that in Toledo?
521.01. Removal of snow and ice from walks.
(a) The occupants of each single residential, commercial or industrial property and the owner of any multiple residential, commercial or industrial property or of any unoccupied or unimproved property, abutting upon public walks shall clear the walk of snow, ice, dirt, or any other debris within twenty-four hours after such deposit.
(1952 Code § 7-4-29)
(b) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.
With more snow coming down, even though it’s not expected to be a major accumulation…Let’s get shoveling out there! (And please remember to clean up your trash at bus stops.)
If they start ticketing the owners of courtesy bus stop benches, they will simply disappear. Way to go!
February 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pmYou could have a point Ed, I realize part of the motivation behind this was to get garbage being left at the bus stops to be dealt with but I’m not sure if this will solve the issue since they don’t have a procedure in place for trash containers at bus stops that I’m aware of.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:50 pmI can’t get your link to the bench info to work. And no, I never knew those weren’t supplied by TARTA.
February 17th, 2007 at 1:40 pmThey are working for me but perhaps it’s showing up as a cache…sorry about that. Here is the link to the Toledo City Charter.
You can either search using “courtesy” or go to:
PART SEVEN – BUSINESS REGULATION CODE
February 17th, 2007 at 1:49 pmTITLE ONE – Business Regulation Generally
CHAPTER 719 Courtesy Benches
“If they start ticketing the owners of courtesy bus stop benches, they will simply disappear. Way to go!”
Way to go indeed. There is advertising dollars and I for one do not think that they will go away.
No quite the contrary they will be cleaned up and kept clean and not dumping grounds for fast food wrappers and out bags of trash, which I have documented with photos on my blog.
February 17th, 2007 at 3:36 pm“….they don’t have a procedure in place for trash containers at bus stops that I’m aware of.”
Thomas Kroma told me that the benches are placed there by an advertising company and the city does have the resources to clean up the benches and garbage that is dumped there and it has been a loosely held rule that land abutters would clean the area but not a rule set in stone
February 17th, 2007 at 4:42 pmSo, if an advertiser decided to put a bench, shelter, and/or garbage cans next to my property, I’m responsible for keeping the area clean and trash free?
Excuse my French but, No way Jose’…
I have no financial interest in that “business,” so the “business” owner should be liable…
Q. Does Toledo license and/or regulate these “business” locations or do the “businesses” merely donate regularly to the mayor’s campaign fund?
February 18th, 2007 at 2:45 pm“So, if an advertiser decided to put a bench, shelter, and/or garbage cans next to my property, I’m responsible for keeping the area clean and trash free?”
Well, then I guess you would not be prideful, now then, would ya?
It is not set in stone as in regulations per se about the benches but it would seem that the ordinance cited would be somehow related to a trash dumping or some such ordinance and as I do not know and would like to know I will pose the question and see what the response is. The Neighborhood Departments staff and me are old friends, their favorite complainer and only unpaid and unofficial inspector, theirs is a tough job but some citizen has to do it.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:16 pmMy son and I drove to the theaters on Monroe Street and we made note of the unshoveled sidewalks, yes our lifes are filled with little, and here is it how many hours after the “blizzard” and there are sidewalks in front of the Jeep Credit Union at corner of Detroit and Berdan and from there the sidewalks all the way up Berdan and Haverhill to W. Sylvania are blocked.
Further down Sylvania sidewalks are unshoveled at many commercial businesses those that are still in business and those that are not.
The Miracle Mile shopping center sidewalks are unshoveled….
I am making note of them on the Neighborhood Concerns blog to point out inequity with telling citizen to do as we do but do as we do.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:27 pmInterestingly in the ordinance;
“719.08. Location and maintenance of benches; specifications.
(d) No bench shall be maintained in any alley nor at any location where the distance from the face of the curb to the property line is less than ten feet unless the Commissioner of Building Inspection and Code Enforcement in his written approval of the application finds that to maintain a bench at such location is in the public interest. Each such courtesy bench shall be installed parallel to the curb and set back approximately eighteen inches from the face of the curb except as may be otherwise permitted by the Commissioner of Building Inspection and Code Enforcement and each bench shall further conform with the requirements established by such Commissioner with all respect to safety. Benches shall be kept at all times in a neat, clean and usable condition and ice and snow shall be removed from the benches and the vicinity thereof in such manner that each bench shall be accessible at all times.”
“clean and usable condition and ice and snow shall be removed from the benches and the vicinity thereof in such manner that each bench shall be accessible at all times.”
Really…..hhhhmmmm who enforces this? Maybe Mr. Schwartz can motivate the professionals in the offices to get the bus stops cleaned up, maybe…I have written to the Neighborhoods Department and the Mayor has been cc’d.
It’s just dandy to have Pride…
February 19th, 2007 at 10:13 am