Poor snow removal makes it difficult for wheelchair users to get around Columbus, Ohio State

Jack Long
Fri, 19 Feb 2021 17:17:04 +0000
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Snow on High Street and Lane Ave. is not removed nor is salt put down for pedestrians who are walking on the streets. Credit: Christian Harsa | Asst. Photo Editor

Every snowfall, Ohio State facility workers cut a line through the ice and snow — clearly dividing the university from the city.?

On the west side of North High Street, sidewalks, accessibility ramps and curb cuts — the parts of the sidewalk that dip down to street level — can be seen. But on the east side, thick layers of snow and ice are packed down, making it difficult for anyone using a wheelchair to get around the city and onto campus.

“I think every person’s least favorite season seems to be winter, but when you use a wheelchair it’s the worst season of all,” Kayden Gill, a third-year in health sciences and a wheelchair user himself, said. “The snow is very difficult to get through even a small amount — like if you have two inches of snow on the ground, it’s probably the equivalent of walking through waist-deep snow.”

When the season’s largest snowstorm pushed through central Ohio earlier this week, it compounded with the ice and snow already left on sidewalks around the University District. Piles of hardened, ice-blocked curb cuts make it harder for wheelchair users and people with mobility disabilities to get around, and prevent those who are blind or visually impaired from feeling the tactile plates underfoot, Scott Lissner, Ohio State’s American With Disabilities Acts Coordinator, said.

When snow moves in, Lissner said his office works with university facilities to make sure accessible entrances and curb cuts are cleared for wheelchair users and others with mobility issues or visual impairments.?

The Student Life Disability Services office and the ADA office also work to prioritize specific pathways students, staff and faculty with disabilities take according to schedules they have provided to the offices. Students, staff and faculty with disabilities can contact the ADA office or disability services to share their schedules.

“[The university’s] snow removal isn’t perfect,” Gill, who is also the president of Buckeyes for Accessibility, a student organization that works toward making Ohio State a more inclusive and accessible place, said. “But it’s a lot better than any of the neighborhoods — the residential areas — around campus.”

In the off-campus areas, many sidewalks are not cleared and often have sheets of compacted ice and snow, making it difficult for anyone — let alone wheelchair users — to get over.

“Snow removal in the city of Columbus is very hit and miss,” Lissner said. “The city of Columbus primarily depends on local property owners to clear the sidewalks in front of their house.”

A city ordinance requires property owners to clear paved sidewalks or shared-use paths that are next to the properties. But there can be confusion around whose responsibility it is to clear public pathways.

Snow removal is a gray area when it comes to landlord-tenant responsibilities, Student Legal Services chief counsel Molly Philipps said. State law and local ordinances, which generally say tenants are required to clear pathways, are complicated by protections for people with disabilities in the Fair Housing Act and the ADA.?

Philipps said students should contact SLS to discuss concerns with snow and ice removal and their responsibilities under their leases.

For off-campus properties, Lissner said to contact landlords and ask why the sidewalks and driveways are not cleared, or notify the city’s 311 service center of poor snow removal at 311.columbus.gov.

This year, 160 complaints have been made to 311 about snow removal in Columbus, Deborah Briner, spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said in an email. She said whenever people are notified of the complaints, they generally comply and are not issued the $100 fine.

“The City of Columbus encourages residents to be good neighbors and shovel sidewalks to provide safe access for all who travel on them,” Briner said in a statement.

Lissner encourages anyone who sees a ramp, sidewalk or curb cut not clear on campus to call Service2Facilties, which can be reached at 614-292-4357.