I've just come in from shoveling snow for the last 45 minutes...and I'm
still not finished.
I am blessed with a well-traveled, spacious CORNER LOT, not to mention a
double paved driveway, a front walkway, and a path for the beloved cat to
do her thing in the favored outdoors. (She only uses the litter box if the
snow exceeds 6-7 inches.)
I welcomed the weekend and holiday snowfalls, since I was available to be a
responsible and considerate homeowner, dutifully shoveling before I
showered.
I even shoveled the curbs so that drivers could visibly see the yellow no
parking
zones.
But...today, for example, my intimate other and I were expected at our
respective
jobs at 8:00 a.m. and it was still snowing. So, when I read the above, I
was struck
with irreconcilable guilt. "Tom is talking about me. I left the house
without shoveling.
And by the time I get home, the snow will be packed with pedistrian
traffic." How can I be responsible to my employer and to the community
simultaneously? (Annual leave, you say? Please.....)
I walk 1.5 miles to and from work most days, so I sample a fair share of
who's
shoveling and who's not shoveling. Over time, I have become more forgiving
of those who don't shovel (unless I know it's a landlord's negligence), and
less forgiving when I come to where the sidewalk ends. (And that, itself,
is complex, since those homes were built before the recent city ordinance
requiring that new developments have sidewalks on both sides.) Kurt (my
partner), asked me yesterday whether I would pay to have a sidewalk put in
if I had purchased a home without one (as we walked in the street).
Remember, we have a corner lot, so I had to think ($$$). After a brief
hesitation, I said I thought that I would...if I could find any way to
afford it.
The point is...the issues are multiple and complex. I'm grateful when I
hear people
acknowledge that, without reducing everything to the lowest common
denominator.
To tell you the truth, I'd be willing to contribute my citizen share for
sidewalks to
be laid in areas that weren't required before the ordinance. I know that if
an
individual homeowner must shoulder the entire burden, it'll never happen.
And then there is the abundant public space. (In fact, the CITY owns my
sidewalk.)
I am reminded that this summer the university advertised for workers to
paint
the Kibbie Dome and received no, or virtually no, applications. They were
forced (???) to hire inmates, who themselves received about 50 cents an
hour,
to complete the job. My point is, while a considerable portion of the
Palouse
workforce is UNDERemployed, there is not necessarily a sufficient supply of
available labor to perform all this work we write about on the list.
Only tongue in cheek would I suggest using local inmates to relieve our
woes.
My own observation is that, largely, citizens of Moscow do their fair share
of labor,
both paid and unpaid. And the city, overall, meets my expectations given
its
resources (e.g., East City Park's pedestrian path is plowed diagonally
BEFORE
7:30 a.m. each morning when I set foot on it.), with the notable exception
of Tom's observation of the unnavigable bike paths that consumed so much
planning energy! Curb to curb plowing seems reasonable.
Okay...it's time to get back to business.
Susan Palmer
P.S. Hey, Ron Force, when are you going to expose your theological approach
to shoveling?