Finance Committee - 12/02/2020 Page 29
Mayor Donchess
Alderman O’Brien.
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you and doing former research on this, some antiquated Supreme Court Ruling came down and
basically said that is not a requirement to shovel your sidewalk, that it came down to the municipality. | don’t
agree with that, growing up in the Boston area, we always, that was part of my chore to shovel the sidewalk.
And unfortunately New Hampshire has, in Live Free or Die, has made it a municipal issue. | don’t see the Live
Free and Die in that but anyways, if you are concerned about your sidewalk, you want good passage for the
kiddos going to school, if you are able-bodied and capable of doing so, nothing stops you from being the good
neighbor to shoveling the sidewalk in front of your facility or your business. And the City, I’m sure will come
along at some point in time. But as living in the community, it all takes us together. And | think when it comes
down to snow removal, | am sure Mr. Ibarra would agree. A little bit of help would go a long way to that issue. |
don’t think we can change the law at this particular time but a little bit of community pride would go a long way.
Thank you.
Mr. Ibarra
| wholeheartedly agree and we encourage that.
Mayor Donchess
Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Lopez
Just to clarify a comment made. So my understanding of the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling is that it’s
not the — the municipality can’t make the private land owner remove the snow but | don’t believe the
municipality has to remove all the snow on every sidewalk either.
Mayor Donchess
Correct.
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
That’s correct.
Alderman Lopez
So just to clarify we weren't saying that like we are going to try to quadruple our snow removal. | would love it
as a professional pedestrian; | am looking forward to trudging through the snow and playing the usual game of
pac man where the street that | was normally going to go down isn’t cleared yet. It’s a hassle and it’s difficult
but | also know the City is working on planning routes out specifically that would be easier to clean such as the
East Hollis side of the rail trail and routes like that. So that at least there is a path even if it’s not in front of
every single door, and every single location. And then to Alderman O’Brien’s point in terms of civic pride, |
know in Ward 4 we have a golden shovel competition where basically anybody in the Ward takes pictures of
themselves shoveling in front of their house, they get a point. If they shovel in front of a neighbor’s house, they
get 2 points and if they shovel in front of a Fire Department, like a fire hydrant they get a third point. And then
at the end of the year, we add up the points for each storm and then vote on who the winner is for those prizes.
It’s one way to go. We never have like blockbuster participation but at the same time, every square foot that is
shoveled is somebody who can get someplace easier. Just an idea to throw that out to the other Aldermen.
