With chilly weather already making its presence known on campus, there’s ‘snow’ time like the present to discuss winter cleanup courtesy.

At the start of the spring semester earlier this school year, campus found itself mired in an arctic cocoon of epic proportions. Aside from tangling with a polar vortex, the Champaign and Urbana areas also got blanketed with an above average dusting, which made it difficult for folks to get around.

As we also wrote that February, it didn’t help that many private businesses — including landlords, Green Street store fronts and Greek Houses — were slow to respond. Instead, students living off campus faced icy walking conditions and snow banks galore in their pursuit of carrying out normal campus activities. For the significant amount of students with alternate mobility modes, such as wheelchairs, campus navigation was nearly impossible.

But aside from the inconvenience of navigating icy impasses, there was a safety component, too. Multiple students ended up with injuries as a result of slick walking conditions.

This winter, we don’t want a repeat. We hope more initiative will be taken to help keep sidewalks and streets clear to allow easier, safer mobility across campus for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, alike.

Last winter the University and local police departments stepped up their game, even to the point that Champaign police personally salted slick sidewalks around campus.  While their efforts are and were greatly appreciated, their actions were only necessary because property owners in Champaign and Urbana failed to hold up their end of the powder proliferation bargain.

There’s no doubt that snow is pretty to watch, as it delicately falls to the ground, but it’s a nuisance transportation-wise that we all need to do our part to abate.

Property owners on campus owe a civic duty to the rest of the community to do what they can to maintain navigable and safe passages for their patrons, tenants and the public at large. Plus, its not like they don’t benefit: Cleared walkways can mean more business opportunities and happier customers. But in failing to do so, citizens do have other recourses. 

Both Champaign and Urbana have similar snow and ice removal ordinances that require property owners to clear public walkways. Those that violate it can be punished with fines. Urbana requires removal within 24 hours following a pronouncement by their Public Works Director. Champaign has a similar requirements but with a 48-hour window for clearance. 

We can all do our part by holding offending property owners responsible and reporting them to the Urbana or Champaign Public Works Department.

We send our cleanup reminder now, in light of the cold weather and snow that’s starting to permeate Champaign-Urbana. Let’s pick up the slack from last year and share in the task of keeping sidewalks clear all winter long — “snow” matter what.