Friday, January 30, 2009

Chicago Unshoveled: A Photo Contest


posted by chicago pop


Hip-Breaking Stretch of Unshoveled Sidwalk, 56th Street

Location: North side of 56th Street, between Woodlawn and Harper Avenue
Time: Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 5:15 PM
Submitted by: HPP reader mchinand, who notes, "There was one townhouse between East Park Place and Harper that shoveled the portion of the sidewalk in front of their place but the rest was the single file, foot trampled path seen in the photo."


Submit your entry for most egregious unshoveled sidewalk in HP-K!

6 comments:

autumnmist said...

OOOO I vote for this one! I found it rather difficult to walk that single-file path when there was snow at the bottom of it and kept slipping backwards with every step.

Elizabeth Fama said...

This is my vote for most flagrant stretch in the neighborhood, too. But to be fair, I wouldn't describe the irresponsible stretch as starting at Woodlawn. It's really just in front of the I.M. Pei townhouses east and west of Harper Ave. Particularly irritating: neither homeowner on either side of the gated entrance to the "common area" thinks he should shovel it.

The only solution is for the townhome association to pay a service. When I brought it up with a couple of friends in the complex they said, "It'll never fly. Everyone will say, why should we pay for their shoveling?"

A convenient stalemate.

chicago pop said...

Here's another example of Good Neighbors in the highly desirable Unshoveled Rectangle.

OK cheap people in the IM Pei condos, either get your association to hire a snow shoveler like the rest of us, or get your ass out of bed in the morning, put your boots on, and do it yourself.

Lame.

Tom said...

They really are awful the entire way around. The 57th St. stretch between Harper and the Istria under the Metra is NEVER shoveled and almost always a single person-wide stretch of glare ice. There are three townhouses right there that clearly don't feel that they have to shovel the walk because it faces their backyards. I'm quite surprised that no one has fallen and broken anything yet.

Matthew said...

What's the story with the half-finished sidewalk job along this stretch? Not only is it not shoveled, there are distinct sections that are just dirt rather than sidewalk (assuming you could see the dirt beneath the icy mess).

Elizabeth Fama said...

Matthew,
My guess (and it's only a guess) is that those two sections have some specialty work, like a curb cut, which is "not my department" for the first cement crew -- and then it got too late in the season to finish.
EF