It’s hard to remember the snow once we’re swatting away mosquitos and basking in 90-degree weather. But the white stuff will be back in less than five months’ time. Last winter was a record breaker. The season clocked in as the third snowiest on record. And this makes for disgruntled shovelers.
Property owners are responsible for clearing the sidewalks which cross their property. In a city developed before 1950, it is common for sidewalks to line every block. Homes on the corner get the double benefit of a walk on two sides. And it is an important service. Failure to clear the precipitation when it is light and fluffy can result in a coating of ice which is treacherous for pedestrians. People use the walkways to walk to school, access busses, walk their dogs, access their properties, and on it goes.
The burden was so great last season that some cities looked into taking on snow removal as a centrally provided good. Some people are disabled and are unable to do their own walks. Some people are away and not in town to chase the snow after a storm. And then some folks simply don’t pull their weight. There is a threat of a fine for these folks, but when many residents let it go, it’s difficult to keep up the policing and fining.
So why not turn over the responsibility to a central system to be sure everyone gets to walk on clear dry sidewalks? Well- the cost of it of course!
The traditional way of handling the snow is a polycentric model. One might think it is a one-on-one match between a property owner and a strip of concrete squares, but that is missing a crucial element. Not everyone is at all times available to take care of their responsibility. The polycentric model implies that groups of people band together, and either one neighbor or another will pick up the slack, and do more than their share so that all the walks are clear.
The arrangements are extensive. I can’t count how many times we’ve come home from being out of town and our drive is clear. Guys with snow blowers love to run their big machines a little bit longer when half a foot of the fluff has blanketed the neighborhood. Some people exchange the use of an unused garage space for snow removal. Whether people are motivated by safety or helping out others or have a specific deal in play, the work that is necessary to keep a micro market of snow off the sidewalks is volunteered by a cluster of neighbors.
This is free labor. To hire it all done is bound to cost everyone more money in bureaucratic overhead and extra labor. A centrally planned snow removal program lacks the voluntary social contribution the residents dedicate to the project.
There can be reasons why this type of labor is unavailable. The very first single-family home I purchased was in a neighborhood built following WWII. I was amazed at the high percentage of original owners who were still living on the block, all entering their late sixties and seventies together. These folks had the ability to pay for the snow removal, but in other areas of high concentrations of homogeneous groups, the lack of ability or resources can cut short voluntary participation.
I think analysis would easily show that shoring up these weak spots in the system would still be far more economical than pushing a program through for centralized services.
Home Economics 