I've been advocating for student walkers and sidewalk safety for a little over four years now. One of the most dangerous times for pedestrians is during the winter months when roadways, streets, and sidewalks can get covered in snow, sleet, ice. We've just had our first hard winter storm of the season on Dec. 1 - Dec. 2, 2019. I monitored the storm coming in and alerts going out to the community. With as much technology we have today, no one could possibly not know there was a winter storm coming. We've got television news, radio, social media, websites, alerts that come to your phone and/or email, and let's not forget word of mouth.
Winter Storm of Dec 1, 2019 - Dec. 2, 2019
I gave the Village of Endicott an A for informing the community. Not only were alerts going out when local news covered the weather forecast. You also had social media posts and tweets going out from the Broome County Office of Emergency Services, The Village Website updated with announcements, The Endicott Police Department also took part in informing the public. And there were even updates going out from Community Service Personal like Senator Fred Akshar and Jason Garnar Broome County's youngest County Executive in history. The word got out, it was up to you "the community" to take action.
With a heavy storm you have to take into account how much weather will get thrown at us and what type of weather can be expected or unexpected.. I gave road crews an A+. From the moment the storm started and even now, crews are still out cleaning up. I've never seen anyone work so hard statewide, town wise, or even in the village for that matter. We had so much snow coming down at a steady rate they couldn't keep up with it! Not for a lack of trying! One lost count of how many plows I saw working around the clock. We have to keep in mind prioritizing counts during a storm. You're not going to see every street cleared in a big storm. They have to focus on First Responder's being able to do their job getting to accidents, fires, hospitals, even if you can't get to yours. That's why we have safety alerts, state of emergencies, caution adversaries. The first big storm of the season can start off sluggish, you're not used to doing it, you want to wait it out, denial. Whatever the reason, the village in my opinion, was waking from a slumber.
Washington Avenue Dec. 1, 2019
I was out there taking photos, getting video footage by 7 a.m. on the first morning and it wasn't until 9 a.m. that I saw resident's slowly coming out of their home. Luckily the alerts and updates were still coming in. The local school closed utilizing their means for contacting parents, news stations, their website. It was a mess out there! And still coming down.
George F. Johnson Public Library
Municipal Building on Main Street
Today, we went out roughly around the same time. 24 hours later and here's what we found. The most difficult and concerning areas were sidewalks and pedestrian intersection crossings.
The Village of Endicott got an A on roadways and streets being cleared. But here in our first photo you can see this intersection crossing area untouched and student walkers had to use it this morning. I myself gave it ago, just to see how safe it was and it was slick and with same level of difficulty.
There were also sidewalks in a number of areas still waiting to be done. I had to give an D. 24 hours later no one even tried.
The snow was about halfway up the my knees. And here you can see where someone had been clearing a parking lot and just stopped in the middle of this sidewalk.
Not even touched.
Some areas that were shoveled or where folks used a snowblower may have been treated and iced over C- for sidewalk safety in those areas.
Cleared yes, but I twisted my left ankle twice on sidewalks like this, this morning. Luckily, nothing serious but due to an uneven surface that froze over and slippery.
Here folks see these beautiful cleared sidewalks on the Avenue, but watch yourself it's really slick.
Then you had people just forgot about pedestrians all together leaving piles of snow to climb over and intersections areas blocked making it a safety issue for anyone trying to cross the street. This had to be given an F.
This is an area for pedestrian crossing. But how... it's not cleared at all.
For the record looks can be deceiving. In this photo you might think that this crossing area isn't much of an issue. Driver's passing by might not think twice but it's a safety risk and here's way. Student walkers use this crossing to come and go from school as well as head out for lunch. Let's take a closer look....
It's the area I mentioned earlier.
That was fun trying to walk over and through. They piled the snow so high from plowing their parking area that the snow fell over into the area pedestrians use. and no one bothered to clean it up.
So when getting a winter storm, try to remember people don't just stop walking about the community. The sidewalks and intersections are used 24/7 just like our roads and streets.. And while you may do your sidewalk, you really should do it all the way to the curb. I won't say the village failed this winter storm test. In fact, I showed a number of areas the community excelled in. The first storm always let's us know what safety issues we need to focus on making better. And over the years I've seen this community reach out to folks in need, we pulled together when Stella hit and this winter will be no different. You should also know, a number of the sidewalks not done yesterday were getting done today as I was out and about. The town and village workers could be seen cleaning up, folks shoveling and using snowblowers were out in numbers. We've got partly sunny skies, it stopped snowing, school is open, and it looks rather beautiful out there our blanket of white.
