City Not Enforcing Sidewalk-Clearing Ordinance

As Chicago remains blanketed by thick snow, pedestrians on the city's sidewalks often find themselves navigating drifts and neglected patches. Often the entrances to shops, apartments and other buildings are even more treacherous with ice and standing water.

But despite a decades-long ordinance mandating that Chicago residents and business owners clear the sidewalks and areas in front of their entrance-ways, Mayor Daley said the city won't be enforcing it (Tribune).

Instead, Mayor Daley urged citizens to be good neighbors (as quoted by the Tribune from a news conference):

"If you have a senior citizen next door, make sure you clean their sidewalk, clean their stairway. If there's a person disabled, make sure everybody has responsibilities. It's a safety precaution, too."

A lot of city ordinances are not enforced, but actually admitting to non-enforcement undermines the deterrent value of the law. And, as one reader commented on the Tribune's website, doesn't that open up the city to a potential flood of slip and fall lawsuits?

Ask a Chicago injury attorney about that one...