Shovel your sidewalks! Now, you can get fined

For years, it was the law in DC that property owners had to shovel sidewalks after a snow, but there was no practical way to enforce the law. That’s now changed, and owners of homes and buildings that don’t shovel can get fines this year.

Sidewalks have to be clear by eight hours eight daylight hours after a snow ends. Residential can face a $25 fine, and it’s $150 for commercial properties (which under DC law include any residential building with four units or more, as well as stores and offices and such). People ove 65 or with disabilities can get an exemption.

Wednesday night it snowed in DC until about 10 pm, which means by now, sidewalks should be clear by this afternoon. It’s particularly important to clear the one inch we got last night, because there’s a lot more snow coming, and it’ll be much harder to clean sidewalks if the snow lands on top of a sheet of ice from the last snow.

We also regularly post a “sidewalk show shoveling hall of shame” to highlight local governments, federal agencies, large apartment buildings, commercial parking lots, and others like who don’t shovel. If you encounter un-shoveled sidewalks Thursday evening or Friday morning, take a picture and send it to snow@ggwash.org.