The Snowy Sidewalks of Harrisonburg

After work last night, I walked to Red Front and then home. The sidewalks were atrocious! I was willing to condone their condition considering it had been snowing nearly all day. Perhaps folks had not yet had time to clear the sidewalks. (Kudos to Waterman Elementary, at least; there was someone working on snow removal as I walked by.)

When I was walking to work this morning, it had been at least 17 hours since the snow had stopped coming down. With that much time to remove approximately four inches of snow, I expected sidewalk conditions to be much better than they were last night.

I was disappointed. Snow removal on sidewalks in Harrisonburg really is quite pathetic. Below are my completely unscientific grades for sidewalk conditions for various downtown locations at 9:00 this morning.

Auto Zone: D
Blue Ridge Florist: A
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church: B+
Colonnade Apartments: F
Court House (53 Court Square): A-
Court House (Old Post Office): A-
Court Square: B+
Fire Station on Rock Street: B-
Jail: A-
Kline's/Post Office/Dollar General Area: C
One Court Square: F
WHSV: A

Other downtown locations that deserve bad grades are not on that list because I did not walk on their sidewalks. I picked the path where sidewalks were clearest. The only two places in the list above where I did not walk are Blue Ridge Florist and One Court Square; they made the list because, from a distance, they stood out as particularly good and bad respectively.

As a frequent walker of the sidewalks of Harrisonburg, I say ... bah!

Post-Work Addendum
The sidewalks have greatly improved since this morning. Below are the revised grades as of 4:00 this afternoon.

Auto Zone: B
Blue Ridge Florist: A
Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church: A
Colonnade Apartments: B
Court House (53 Court Square): A
Court House (Old Post Office): A
Court Square: A
Fire Station on Rock Street: A
Jail: A
Kline's/Post Office/Dollar General Area: A-
One Court Square: C
WHSV: A