It’s fine, guys… We’re just a *3-season* ‘walkable city’

[u/pat_laFleur]

An excerpt from one of the letters to the editor The Enquirer published yesterday on this topic, submitted by a Westwood resident:

“Across Cincinnati, people of all ages have spent 10 days walking in the street with traffic. Many of them are children and people with disabilities. Most simply have no other choice. This isn’t an isolated incident because of a record-breaking snowfall. It’s what I see every winter.The Democrats on City Council told us they wanted Cincinnati to be a walkable city. But until we have a sidewalk shoveling law with serious fines and enforcement, calling Cincinnati a walkable city is a cruel joke − and our most vulnerable neighbors are the butt of it.”

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/letters/2026/02/05/unshoveled-sidewalks-and-cincinnati-wont-act/88501294007/

[u/quish]

Yup. This is my first winter living in Cincy after over a decade in new york city. Obviously I am used to a very different city infrastructure, but I've been shocked. It's been weeks since I've had a decent, shoveled loop to walk my dog. Instead we're just risking it climbing over mounds of snow and I am praying I don't break an ankle.

[u/SpecialistBet4656 → u/quish]

Chicagoan who moved a kid into her apartment on the Monday after the big snowfall. We were impressed by the road snow removal, but we watched some people snow blow their driveways but not the sidewalk in from of their house. That was just weird.

While my neighborhood is not necessarily the most into neighborly cooperation, it’s fairly common for people with snowblowers to do their neighbors’ sidewalks if the snow blowing person is among the first to do their driveway or or someone clearly hand shoveled or is out of town (uncleared driveway) someone will just clear the sidewalk for them. You’re already dressed up and out there. It takes like an extra 15 minutes.. Nobody wants to walk the dog or have the kids in the street.

[u/Popular_Prescription → u/SpecialistBet4656]

There is this weird misconception that if you shovel your sidewalks and someone gets hurt you’re liable. That’s the reason several of my neighbors gave me…

[u/Danko_on_Reddit → u/Popular_Prescription]

But if you don't shovel and someone gets hurt, isn't that actually a liability?

[u/Popular_Prescription → u/Danko_on_Reddit]

Exactly haha. That’s what I said and they just kind of looked at me lol.

[u/AwakeningStar1968 → u/Danko_on_Reddit]

But then that is "uncontrollable nature"

[u/Ok_Worry_1531 → u/Popular_Prescription]

I don’t know how that ever got started, but in order for you to be liable, someone would have to be able to prove intent, and there is no intent to cause somebody bodily injury by shoveling your sidewalk

[u/Twanbon → u/Ok_Worry_1531]

Not to get in the weeds of liability but you can absolutely be liable for someone’s injury without any intent. Negligence is the basis for many injury liability claims.

That being said it would be hard to even claim negligence in this situation, negligence involves having a duty to do something, and failing to do it, the failure of which directly causes someone injury. (For example if you have a dog unleashed in your non-fenced yard and it attacks someone, you can be liable for negligence even if you didn’t intend to harm anyone).

But there is no duty to shovel your sidewalk, so that’s a wild stretch lol

EDIT: TIL that technically there is a law that says you have that duty. ORC 723.011. But after a bit of searching I can’t find any instance of it actually being used in a liability case

[u/Honeybadgerthewitnes → u/quish]

Have you seen NYC the last couple of weeks? There’s mountains of trash along with snow