Rommel Young said he moved from Los Angeles to Muskegon a year ago. So Michigan’s winter weather has been quite an adjustment for him.
“I expect some cold days, but I didn`t expect this type of cold weather,” Young said.
He spent Friday afternoon shoveling his sidewalk and walkway.
“It look decent when it`s shoveled, and I`m making it a lot easier for the next person that walks toward the sideway,” Young explained.
He added, “Because you gotta look at the elderly, ones that`s in wheelchairs, one`s that`s on crutches. We need to make it better for them, if the community can stick together as one.”
That’s the mindset residents and property owners should have about clearing their sidewalks, said Mohammed Al-Shatel. He’s the director of public works for Muskegon.
Even with the city’s snow removal ordinance, which requires property owners to clear their sidewalks within 24 hours, some pedestrians find the plowed streets are an easier route to walk.
“Compliance hasn`t been up to probably where I`d, personally would like to see it,” Al-Shatel explained.
He said getting people to follow the law is nothing new and has been a challenge for years, and so has enforcing a deadline for people to do the work.
“As soon as you possibly can. It`s difficult to say within 24 hours, because 24 hours from when? You know, that`s becomes a difficulty for us and the difficulty with ordinance about snow,” he explained.
He says the city hasn’t enforced the law, but they have made numerous attempts to communicate with residents, via community officers, commissions meetings (which are televised), through Facebook, etc.
