Phil's Sidewalk

I had to take Kathy over next to Hahnemann for a Doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon. So, while I was waiting, I took a short spin over to Phil Palmieri's neighborhood, just to see if Phil had shoveled the entire sidewalk in front of his house. I shot a little video clip of what I found:



That's three strikes for Phil.

The first time we went over to see if Phil had shoveled his sidewalk, we first checked the Mayor's sidewalk and Gary Rosen's sidewalk. We found that the Lukes' sidewalk was shoveled, but right around the corner, the Rosen's sidewalk wasn't shoveled. Then we went over to Phil's house and found that he had only shoveled the little section of the public sidewalk that connects his front walk to his driveway. That's only about 25% of what he's supposed to clear, per the city ordinance.

The next time we checked, two weeks later, both the Lukes and the Rosens had shoveled their sidewalks, but the same partial snow removal "I'm a scofflaw" pattern was still in evidence at Phil's house.

Now, another couple of weeks later, to find the same deal a third time in a row is certainly dismaying.

I like Phil. He's my district councilor, and I've always voted for him.

But now he's made a joke out of this whole thing. The recent City Council vote to jack up the fine for not shoveling the public sidewalk in front of your house was unanimous. Phil voted "yes" to jack up the fine for the very thing that he, himself, obviously refuses to do.

Not that this sort of "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" attitude isn't endemic within the Council chamber, but Phil is now the ONLY ONE who appears to be practicing this particular form of civil disobedience.

Personally, I don't think Phil or anyone else who owns property in the City of Worcester should have to be stuck with providing this particular service under threat of monetary forfeiture. But let's face it, if you've voted for the stupid ordinance, the least you can do is comply with it.