Boro: Keep
walkways clear of snow
BY BRYAN SABELLA
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — Borough officials noted that Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow, thus guaranteeing six more weeks of the winter doldrums.
Since winter is here to stay for the time being, at least according to the famous groundhog, Mayor Ed O’Brien urged borough residents and business owners to comply with town ordinances requiring shoveling of sidewalks at last week’s Borough Council meeting
O’Brien said the borough received "numerous complaints" from residents, and said police issued several summonses for failure to clear walkways.
Police Officer David Liantonio said the department had received "lots of complaints" and issued a substantial number of warnings, but only a handful of summonses.
"Most people complied after receiving a warning," he said.
Some of the complaints stemmed from the cold wave that hit on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Sunday before the holiday saw heavy rains that, combined with snow melt, covered roads in a thick layer of slush. Some residents complained that plows pushed the slush piles onto sidewalks where it froze and became rock-hard ice overnight.
O’Brien asked that those residents realize that Department of Public Works personnel "were playing ‘beat the clock,’ " in that situation, and praised their efforts over the course of a stormier-than-usual winter season.