It had been about three days since the first round of snow stopped falling on Saturday, and Greg Baranoski had fallen twice while walking along the unshoveled sidewalks in his Bolton Hill neighborhood.
This called for a good old-fashioned public shaming.
Baranoski, a 49-year-old designer, trudged through the streets with pad in hand, jotting down the street numbers of all residences with sidewalks that had gone "unshoveled, unsalted, untouched." He posted the information on the community association's online bulletin board, creating a "Sidewalk Hall of Shame" that included 39 homes on Park Avenue and Lanvale, Bolton and Laurens streets.
"I'm not talking about the ones that were shoveled a bit early before the snow stopped, or the ones with a bit of slush, or the ones with some ice from melting snow," he wrote. "No, I'm talking about ones that never saw a shovel. Ones that have been trampled down only by human feet into an uneven and treacherous ice pack."
The list sparked mixed reactions.
"Show some pride in your neighborhood and clean your sidewalk!" one person responded.
Another cautioned that some residents were elderly or might be out of town. "This kind of finger-pointing smells of fascist police states where every neighbor is a potential informant," read one response.
Some of those who landed on the Bolton Hill sidewalk of shame list shrugged off the distinction. "I did shovel, but my shovel broke and the hardware store ran out," said Nicole Bent, 34, who added that she was stuck in a different neighborhood for much of the weekend. "There's a lot more important things to worry about. Honestly, I really don't care."
For some, epic weather events such as this week's storms offer a lesson in etiquette and responsibility, or maybe a way to assess who is the nosiest of nosy neighbors. But it's not just good manners or badgering that dictates the rapid clearing of sidewalks; it's also the law.
Most jurisdictions can impose small fees on those who don't follow the clearing laws, and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake has called on "any able citizen" with a snowblower or shovel to help clear sidewalks, especially for elderly neighbors, as well as storm drains and fire hydrants. Today, she will participate in a "neighborhood dig-out" in the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood.
"This city is not clear until your street is clear, so let's do this together," she said.
Municipalities across Maryland have enacted laws compelling property owners to make their property safe from slippery snow, ice and slush, said trial attorney Paul Mark Sandler.
In Anne Arundel County, owners with a paved sidewalk must remove snow and ice within six hours after the snowfall. But if the snowfall occurs between 3 p.m. and 6 a.m., the property owner has until 11 a.m. the following morning to remove the snow and ice or risk a $10 fine.
A similar rule applies in Baltimore City, though property owners have three hours, not six. Or in other words, an hour for each foot of snow that was dumped on the region. That would also make Rawlings-Blake's neighborhood dig-out long overdue, according to the city code.
In Baltimore County, you get 24 hours but can't place the snow in any paved portions of the public roadway. Those who don't will have the county pick up the slack - at the property owner's expense. The county can impose a $25 fine for each day that passes without the snow cleared.
It is unclear how aggressively such rules are enforced, if at all. "It's a law that has soft teeth, if you know what I mean," Sandler said.
Then there's the issue of civil liability if a pedestrian is injured after a slip, trip or fall on your property. In most cases, homeowners can't be held accountable, said Benny L. Kass, a Washington attorney, in an article on his law firm's Web site. But he also said that Maryland courts have decided that a property owner has the duty to keep walkways shoveled if the owner knew or should have known of the hazardous condition.
Kass cited a Maryland Court of Appeals decision: "It is not necessary that there be proof that the [owner] had actual knowledge of the conditions creating the peril; it is enough if it appears that it could have discovered them by the exercise of ordinary care."
Attorney Steven D. Silverman said a recent state Court of Appeals ruling has made it nearly impossible for someone to recover damages because of another's negligence when it comes to clearing snow.
On his legal blog, he cites a 2008 case in which a man slipped on black ice in a hotel parking lot. The court found that the plaintiff assumed the risk when he ventured into the parking lot in wintry conditions, he said.
"The law basically says you need to stay home," Silverman said in an interview. "It doesn't matter if the property owner, landlord, business or the city has been negligent. Maryland's a tough state for plaintiffs for a number of reasons, and this [appeals court decision] just makes it even more difficult for an injured victim to make any recovery."
Baranoski isn't looking for a cash settlement after falling during his walk. He said he was simply dumbfounded that the heavy snow hadn't produced more of a response from the neighborhood. Most people on the bulletin board seemed to agree, though they noted that there were likely to be various explanations.
"It's not like a 4-inch nuisance storm; this is the storm of a lifetime, and I think people should make an extra effort to make sure sidewalks are clear since no one can drive," he said. "It's amazing that people are either that lazy or contemptuous of their neighbors."
He singled out one address in the 1300 block of Park Ave., where he said he fell. He said it was partially shoveled - "the part that leads to their cars." The homeowner, Jeremy Walston, said the claim was "totally untrue."
"I shoveled it, and our elderly neighbor's walk as well. I think we've done our part," Walston said. "I'd rather not get into some neighborhood thing."
Bent, who blamed her sidewalk's condition on the broken shovel and being away, said Baranoski's hyper-focus on what others are doing is typical in Bolton Hill and on the message board. "You always see people going back and forth and arguing," she said. "It's always the same people."
Jared Christopher, 62, whose Park Avenue address also appeared on the list, said he shoveled the sidewalk Thursday morning. He, too, didn't care much for the Bolton Hill Sidewalk Hall of Shame.
"I'm 62 years old and can only do so much at one time," he said, adding that he hoped Baranoski would "have something better to do with his time."
Baranoski acknowledged that the community sidewalks were in much better shape on Thursday morning after the previous day's storm. But he didn't think the change came from any civic awakening he may have sparked. Instead, he guessed, people just wanted to get out of the house.
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