City should do all sidewalks

The enactment of a revised snow/ice removal ordinance covering city sidewalks revealed that Lansing has reached a dead-end on the issue.

Rather than writing tickets for specific people who fail to clear a sidewalk on their property, the city will now issue a citation against the property itself, clear the walk with city resources and attach a bill on to the parcel’s property taxes.

That’s not exactly a great leap forward — or backward. The city’s shuffling about on a way to handle the small minority of property owners who don’t clear their walks.

May I suggest a different, perhaps even radical, alternative?

Transfer responsibility for clearing the sidewalks from property owners to the city itself.

Say what? Lansing has at least 550 miles of sidewalk, according to a 2005 inventory. How could the city possibly handle that job?

It would be challenging, to be sure. And it would require the passage of a special millage to fund what would be a necessary surge of people and equipment.

We can get into details later, but I just want readers to focus on one philosophical point first:

Would you blithely accept a new city ordinance that required a property owner to clear snow from the street in front of his property; an ordinance that required a property owner to fill potholes and make other repairs to ensure a safe and navigable road network?

If not, why do citizens blithely accept the idea that maintaining a safe sidewalk system is so important that the city leaves it to the efforts and whims of individual property owners?

Why are public sidewalks different from public roads when it comes to public safety?