What You Don't Know Can Haunt You: Shovel Your Walks, Please!

Section 19-1 of the Commerce City Municipal Code is a ZERO Tolerance Ordinance

Exhausted, we pulled up to the front of our home on January 2, after an 18 hour cross country drive.  We had not stopped to rest overnight, preferring to get across Iowa and Nebraska in the frigid temps as quickly as possible.  Plus, at one point over the Winter Holidays, I80 had been shut down due to snow and ice, and we did not want to risk spending several days on a hotel lobby floor or in a truck stop with a young child and a dog.

But, we came home to plenty of snow.  We had been gone for over a week and had no idea when the snow came, or how many times it had snowed, but a makeshift path had developed on the sidewalk beside our house where people had gone on their daily sojourns.  I removed the "warning" slip from the city and the next day diligently shoveled our sidewalk.

Too little, too late.

About a month later came the court summons.  This was no joke, no minor oversight.  My husband and I spent about 3 hours in court on Thursday morning finding this out.  Before we went before the judge, the City Attorney called us into his office to talk about our plea.  He was very serious about the matter.  this is a ZERO tolerance issue.  It does not matter that we were out of state.  It does not matter that that was the side of our house and our neighbor had kindly taken care of the front walk, so half of it was done.  Here is what the  Commerce City Ordinance reads:

Sec. 19-1. - Duty of owner, occupant, etc., as to maintenance of sidewalks.

The owner, occupant or agent of the owner of any building, property or lot in the city shall maintain the sidewalks for the property including those on public rights-of-way in a clean condition and remove snow and ice from the sidewalks within twenty-four (24) hours after each snowfall.

I had never even heard of this ordinance, but I know it now.

We were lucky though.  The judge gave us the minimum fine of $25 because it was our first offense, and after court costs it came to about $60.  And I can guarantee that there will be no further offenses of that sort.  So shovel your walks, neighbors.  Then go out and play!