Clear That Snow —& Those Branches

Homeowners are responsible for clearing snow from their sidewalk in front of their houses within 24 hours. If not, they are liable to be ticketed — although the city has precious few staffers to notify violators and to enforce.

What about fallen branches? Who’s responsible to clean those up, especially if they’re too large for an individual homeowner to handle?

That question was engaged in a lively back-and-forth among about a dozen neighbors and city officials at Tuesday night’s meeting of the East Rock Community Management Team meeting (ERCMT), held at mActivity gym on Nicoll Street.

Actually the arboreal subject emerged from a general discussion not of trees’ branches knocked down in high winds, but another act of God, snow.

North Bank Street resident Rob Rocke expressed irritation that long after some homeowners’ failure to clean up snow on their sidewalks was noted and and acknowledged on SeeClickFix, yet the problem of unmoved sidewalk snow still remains un-addressed on sidewalks in East Rock.

“We are out there,” responded neighborhood Livable City Initiative (LCI) Specialist Linda Davis said. ​“We go out and address sidewalks. We either leave door-knockers or we can write tickets. It may not be fast enough for some of you, but we are out there.”

Davis noted that the main writer of tickets is employed by the Department of Public Works (DPW).

East Rock Alder Anna Festa offered with so many shoveling violators, better coordination between LCI and DPW could boost city revenues.

One neighbor then got arboreal. ​“There are lots of big branches out there. Are we responsible” for cleaning those too?

Davis responded that she wasn’t sure.

And there was a follow-up inquiry: Sweeping up smallish branches and twigs was one thing, but what if big limbs have come down?

East Rocker Lynn Street asked, ​“There are big branches out there. What do we do if we can’t put them in the back of the car?”

“I’ll get an answer for you,” said Davis.

After the meeting, Davis directed this reporter to Public Spaces Inspector Honda Smith, who addressed the question.

Cleaning up debris knocked off trees and fallen on the sidewalk is equivalent to cleaning up snow, Smith confirmed.

“It’s an act of nature. As a homeowner, just as they bag up leaves, they do the branches. Making sure it’s not too heavy for the refuse drivers. They treat it like leaf collection.”

Homeowners are obliged to gather and to put the manageable twigs and branches in piles beside the curb, not in the garbage or recycling toters. They should be tied and set beside the leaf bags, she said.

As for large limbs, ​“if the tree is on the sidewalk side, then the city will take care of it, if the homeowner contacts the city,” she said.

“If it’s on the homeowner’s property, they have to take care of it,” Smith added, ​“because we can’t go on homeowner property.”

Towards the end of the Monday night’s meeting Festa suggested that the alders convene a workshop with officials from LCI, DPW, and other relevant city departments to further understand and coordinate enforcement.

Presumably, that workshop would be about clean-up and homeowners’ responsibilities not just for snow, but the consequences of other actions of Mother Nature.

In a presentation Tuesday night before the Newhallville Community Management Team at the Lincoln-Bassett Community School, the Department of Public Works Director Jeff Pescosolido said DPW offers an alternative for individual homeowners dealing with disposal of large limbs that fall on their property.

They can be disposed of, he reported, in the old city landfill off Middletown Avenue if homeowners go to DPW headquarters, show identification, and ask for a coupon for this purpose.

It’s up the homeowner himself or herself to get the branches or limbs to the landfill.