A resident of Edgemont suggested an interesting idea: that we place guard rails on Ardsley Road between the road and sidewalk. This concept, if implemented, would provide added protection for commuters. In addition, when the sidewalks are slippery pedestrians could hold on to the rails/barriers.
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts regarding this suggestion. So far-- the effort to increase pedestrian safety on Ardsley Road has been unsuccessful. But- I'll continue to try until we solve the problem.
If this approach works we could place barriers on other sidewalks around town.
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19 comments:
I think guard rails are a good idea to protect pedestrians but I cannot imagine they will be very useful to hold onto, they will likely be low down and/or ridged and difficult to grasp.
Guardrails or handrails or both? Not a bad idea, but first resolve the shoveling responsibility.
Before enhancing the sidewalk it needs to be maintained. As the Town lacks the money, authority or will (choose as many as applicable) to keep the sidewalk in safe and useable condition discussing enhancements is absurd; sort of on a par with asking an atheist how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Oh yeah, Greenburgh is the internationally recognized home of the first truly surrealistic government in history. As pointed out in the previous post - is the proposal guardrails or handrails, or both. Mr. Feiner has once again borrowed an idea without comprehending it - Now we can have a Citizens' Committee on Ardsley Road Sidewalk Safety Enhancements to whose report the Supervisor can point in order to distract from his complete failure to govern fairly or effectively.
Paul Feiner is the only member of the Town Board trying to solve this safety problem. If there is a pedestrian accident who will the Town Board blame?
I believe, first and foremost, there needs to be a usable and acceptable sidewalk, not the intermittent, some places broken and unusable thing we are calling a sidewalk. Also I agree we need to first settle the shoveling and maintenance issue..
Thinking that kids are going to doo it on a regular basis is unrealistic and optimistic at best! We need a more rational and permanent solution
Once the sidewalks are cleared of snow/ice, when we figure out who will do it (homeowners, town, county, school kids if you can get them up on a snow day, etc...), a handrail may help and be useful. A guard rail will not work since large trucks and buses often ride up on the sidewalks to negotiate the curves in this narrow road.
Why not build an enclosed overpass.Now someone is saying the roadway is too narrow.Whats coming up next.What does Edgemont want..
To my knowledge we have had snow for many years,too many to remember.We had to have other supervisors,during this time,
Did they handle it any different then? People were still going to work,there were cars on the road ,the only thing missing was the Edgemont community council.
There are some problems that benefit from high-tech or complex solutions, but this just isn't one of them. It snows a couple of times per year, but trucks, buses and overeager cars ride the curb on Ardsley Rd all the time. Any rail would be crushed the first month if not sooner, and then need replacing (more $) so all of us don't have to leap over its jagged edges on the way to and from the station...
And besides, think of the crowded mess this would make of the already narrow sidewalk: a guard rail to be practical has to be low and at the edge of the roadway. A handrail can't be at the edge (walkers hug the INSIDE of the sidewalk, not the street side) and of course should be at hand height. And then think of two people trying to share the sidewalk with each other AND a rail... or someone trying to run a snow blower through the whole mess... all this is expensive impractical and entirely unnecessary!
Same for the thermal sidewalks, and the ludicrous and dangerous "children shoveling at dawn" scenario.
If the town truly does not have the manpower, then HOW HARD IS IT HIRE A GUY??
SURELY there is some enterprising landscaper or similar sort with the most basic of equipment who can be contracted to run a snowblower and a wheelbarrow full of sand up the sidewalk at dawn and dusk, in time for early and late commuters to walk safely, to be paid per service plus cost of sand and salt.
I can't believe the town's procurement system is so inflexible as to preclude this. Nor that a few dollars per year could not be found somewhere for this public safety issue.
Guard rails may or may not be the answer. I wish the Town Council members would join the Supervisor in thinking of ways to enhance the safety of Edgemont residents. Who will the council members blame if a pedestrian gets killed in an accident?
Is there some legal reason that the town can't designate certain sidewalks as "commuter corridors" or "school safety zones" and take the burden of snow clearance from homeowners?
I think most people would agree that protecting hundreds of daily commuters is a high priority public good.
The general principle holds that residents are responsible for clearing sidewalks in front of their homes. But in limited cases, it is not enough to fine homeowners for failure to clear, it's MORE important to get the snow and ice off, in a timely and reliable fashion -- and therefore in the public interest to have the cost shared by everyone (i.e. work should be paid for and performed by city personnel). One could avoid the 'slippery slope' argument (pun intended) by the designations I suggest.
Why wouldn't this work?
Designating Ardsley Road a "commuter corridor" or "school safety zone" is a good idea and consistent with state law (Highway Law 140(18) which makes the town -- not individual homeowners -- responsible for maintaining sidewalks along county roads like Ardsley Road.
State law also authorizes town board to remove the ice and snow from such sidewalks, and makes the cost a town-wide charge.
The Town of Greenburgh has thus far refused to exercise its authority under state law to assume responsibility for removing ice and snow from such sidewalks.
Instead, under Feiner, the Town has consistently tried to shift that responsibility to individual homeowners.
But it won't work.
When state law makes clear that responsibility for maintaining these sidewalks is the town's responsibililty, which it does here, shifting responsibilility to individual homeowners will not excuse the town from liability should there be a tragic accident.
Because Feiner will not work constructively with the town council and community leaders to address these problems -- he prefers instead to issue press releases -- it will be up to the town council to get the problem solved.
Before we can even attempt to put up fancy handrails, let us please make sure Greenburgh has sidewalks on all roads so we do not have people walking in the street.
Supervisor Feiner wants the town to accept responsibility for snow removal on sidewalks. The other council members differ.
The most intelligent solution is that of "2/28/2007 6:17 PM, Simplify, simplify.." This matter does not need to be complicated.
Town SHOULD remove snow on SOME sidewalks -- specifically those on major walking routes to schools and train.
This makes sense, as 3/1/07 8:58am Even Simpler said, as a public safety exception to the general rule of homeowner responsibility, because it's more important to get kids to school safely than to fine lazy homeowners.
This would solve the problem of daytime snowing, which never gets cleared by the time the kids leave school (or commuters head home), because most homeowners are out at work and even with the best will in the world are not going to be able to clear the snow in a timely fashion.
Feiner is right and dissenting council members should change their minds. Perhaps defining these "corridors" in a very limited way would convince them that the cost would be minimal for a significant safety gain. And that no expensive precedent would need to be set.
This is a simple issue that Paul proposed a simple solution to a while back....budget in the town to clear the snow on Ardsley Road when it snows.
This idea was shot down because some felt that a study should be made to insure there were no other similarly deserving areas and that shoveling Ardsley Road would set a poor precedence that the town take over homeowners responsibilities etc, etc. The simple and obvious solution shot down by complications and unecessary politics and envy or whatever it was that prevented the simple and obvious solution. I am pleased Paul still sees the issue as important and in need of a solution. I would agree...simple...just snowblow and sand the sidewalk when it snows, on the towns coin...end of story. Sometimes this town makes an iceberg out of a snowpile.
The ardsley hill has been there forever. Yuppies of late want a guard rail!!? What a mess that will be in a few weeks. Look at any other guard rail around. Besides if the weather is bad most folks take the bus or a cab up the hill. Want to be good to your heart? Walk up the side streets. Dumb
I think guard rails for Ardsley Road should not be done unless you provide guardrails for all streets that do not have sidewalks. Why should Ardsley Road get special treatment over Underhill Road, Fort Hill Road or Old Army Road which have areas that do not have sidewalks.
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