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NH cities and towns are supposed to clean their own sidewalks. This winter, that's been a challenge.

A snowplow clears a street in Concord during a January 2023 snow storm.
Zoey Knox
/
NHPR
A snowplow clears a street in Concord during a January 2023 snow storm.

After several rounds of winter storms, many around New Hampshire are struggling to navigate uncleared snow banks and icy sidewalks. On social media, some people have raised concerns about the impact of uncleared pathways for students who walk to school or people with mobility challenges.

In New Hampshire, cities and towns are largely responsible for maintaining their own sidewalks. An 1898 decision from the New Hampshire Supreme Court found that cities and towns could not require private property owners to clean up nearby municipal sidewalks. More recently, in 2009, the court ordered the town of Tilton to keep its sidewalks clean during the winter so that those pathways remained accessible, as mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In recent years, it’s been a challenge for state and local governments to hire enough plow drivers or other public works employees to help with winter storm cleanup. But that doesn’t absolve cities and towns from their legal obligation to maintain accessible walkways, James Ziegra, senior staff attorney at the Disability Rights Center said.

“Staffing shortages are not an excuse to not provide accessible sidewalks for people,” Ziegra said. “Especially when getting around town is critical and people have mobility impairments and they're not able to drive or access public transportation or even to get to public transportation.”

If people are seeing blocked or difficult to access sidewalks, Ziegra recommends reaching out directly to the local public works department. If it’s still an issue, he said they might want to seek outside legal help.

In Dover, officials say staffing shortages are making it hard to keep up this winter. Community Services Director John Storer oversees a department that handles public water, sewers, roads, highways and snow removal. He said tighter budgets have made it hard to recruit and retain workers — not to mention, some staff, like so many others right now, are also getting sick. All of it affects how fast and when a snow plow comes around, he said.

Storer said Dover has roughly 80 miles of publicly maintained sidewalks, and they do not have enough equipment or staff to immediately plow every mile right after a storm. There’s a possibility they may not be able to get to the whole city by the end of the season.

“That is a stark reality of what we're dealing with with the level of staffing and funding and equipment that we have,” Storer said.

With those constraints in mind, Storer said the city has to be strategic about how they clear snow. They target areas with high traffic first, like commercial areas and public transportation routes.

“We try to have one key walking route through all the school zones, so a child can safely walk to and from school,” Storer said. “But it may mean that we're not able to get both sides of the street in a timely fashion.”

I’m a general assignment reporter, which means that I report on all kinds of different stories. But I am especially drawn to stories that spark curiosity and illustrate the complexities of how people are living and who they are. I’m also interested in getting to the “how” of how people live out their day-to-day lives within the policies, practices, and realities of the culture around them. How do you find community or make sure you’re represented in places of power? I’m interested in stories that challenge entrenched narratives and am drawn to covering arts and culture, as they can be a method of seeing how politics affects us.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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