Cycle of Rage: NYC Is A HELLSCAPE For Pedestrians - Streetsblog New York City

"We can apportion the blame later in the day, but the greatest walkable city in North America is completely impassible to people on foot or in wheelchairs as the workweek begins. There's no way to sugar-coat this, so we'll just say it: This is an outrage and must be fixed. It is well known that building owners are responsible for clearing the sidewalks in front of their buildings."

"No one is doing his job right now. The reasons are many, but they boil down to our central outrage about the city's decades-old prioritization of the needs of car drivers over everyone else. Here's a sidewalk on White Street in Tribeca that had clearly not seen a shovel since the storm started on Sunday night (no landowners don't get a free pass because the storm started on a weekend):"

"And what about this person pushing a stroller in the middle of the street because the sidewalk (while seemingly all right for a single walker) isn't cleared enough for families? Cyclists don't have it any better. Here is the Sixth Avenue "bike lane" on Monday morning (notice how pristine the lane for drivers is): Here's a set of steps leading from Seeley Street to Prospect Avenue in Brooklyn. Typically, this is shoveled out promptly by the Department of Transportation. But it wasn't at 9 a.m. on Monday:"

Millions of pedestrians, including people in wheelchairs and parents with strollers, encountered largely impassable sidewalks, blocked curb-cuts and obstructed bus exits after the storm as the workweek began. Building owners are officially responsible for clearing sidewalks, while the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are responsible for streets, bus stops and corners, yet both sides failed to act. The failure reflects a decades-old prioritization of car drivers over pedestrians, cyclists and transit users. Specific problem locations include White Street in Tribeca, Church Street, Sixth Avenue bike lane, Seeley Street steps to Prospect Avenue, and South Fourth Street in Williamsburg.

Read at Streetsblog