Hearing Thursday afternoon on proposed downtown snow-shoveling proposal

YOUNGSTOWN

City council will have a public hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday to discuss a proposal to bill downtown business owners at least $150 if they fail to remove snow and ice from the front of their properties.

While acknowledging some businesses don’t do a good job of taking care of snow and ice, a few people who work downtown question the need for the law.

“I’m not sure legislation is going to be a game-changer,” said Sharon Letson, executive director of Youngstown CityScape, a nonprofit organization focused on revitalizing downtown. “The real answer is to take care of our frontage and for us to work together to resolve this.”

But Letson said some downtown business owners, primarily those who don’t live in the area, don’t shovel.

“We have people in wheelchairs who need to get from Point A to Point B and have to go on the street to get there,” she said.

The proposal would require those in the central business district to remove snow and ice from city sidewalks by 7 a.m. on the day after it snows with a minimum 42-inch cleared path. If a sidewalk is fewer than 42 inches wide, the full width must be cleared.

Read more about the plan in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.