A 76-year-old woman on a fixed income has been fined $200 by the city of Boston for not shoveling snow from the sidewalk in front of her home ( http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/02/support_piling_up_for_retiree_hit_with_ticket ). A stranger has offered to pay the fine for her, but she says she’d rather appeal it.
I imagine there are still places where neighbors would have shoveled it for her. She made a start on the job, but when a lot of the snow turned to ice, she couldn’t finish.
Our glorious leaders may not be able to protect us from gangs of illegal aliens, but heaven help you if you can’t shovel away all your Global Warming. Boston officials appear to be uncomfortable with all the bad publicity they’re getting. Well, they deserve it.
In my own neighborhood, it’s usual for a bunch of us to pitch in and shovel for the few people who aren’t physically able to do it. No one makes a big deal about it; it’s just what we do as a matter of course. Last winter it took half a dozen of us to free Harlem’s car. He was down with cancer (he has recovered!) and couldn’t do it himself. So we did it for him, because that’s what neighbors do.
Obviously the city can’t allow the sidewalks to pile up with snow. Just as obviously, some people are unable to shovel it away without help. So you help. It shouldn’t be an opportunity for government to whack somebody.
Don’t these little tyrants in Boston have a school bake sale they can raid?