After the snowfall, some were quicker than others with the shovel

by Marlene Berlin

What a surprise to wake up to so much white! When I saw the snowfall yesterday, I was eager to get out to see our little world blanketed in snow. The snowfall was thicker than expected, so I was curious about the condition of the sidewalks (because I dream of snow and ice-free walkways). As the snow let up around noon, I set off.

The good news is that Gold’s Gym gets an gold star for snow removal.

Our webmaster, who was out earlier than I, reports that it was the first Van Ness business to tackle the snowfall – a great improvement over last year. But sliding down the scale were Potbelly, Wells Fargo, and the cleaners. They still had snow-covered sidewalks, as did the UDC-owned building that houses the UDC law school and Acacia, just north of Golds Gym. The car wash had slushy sidewalks, a half-hearted attempt at clearing. Access to most sidewalk ramps was minimal.

As for the apartment houses north of Albemarle Street, the sidewalks on the east side looked clear. But Connecticut House on the west side of Connecticut did not put its best foot forward (it would have slipped on its snow-covered sidewalk).

The Hastings condo building at 4444 Connecticut beat Connecticut House hands down. Two guys were out shoveling and salting as I walked by.

Tenleytown also had a lot of digging out to do. The sidewalk around Metro stop on the east side still needed shoveling and the sidewalks south of Albemarle on Wisconsin needed attention.

The roadways, beyond Connecticut Avenue, were not in good shape. Albemarle from 30th to Connecticut was passable, but west of the Avenue heading toward Wisconsin the street was in worse shape, passable but in need of attention.

Chesapeake, which I took on my way back, was packed snow.

When I left for my walk, my husband had asked where the shovels were, so I expected him to be out by the time I came back. To my surprise, I found Benji, one of a family of boys on 30th Street, out shoveling our front walk.

He and his brothers Marco and Jonah are happy to shovel other walks in the neighborhood. Call 202-686-1862 for assistance.

And they’re not the only ones in the neighborhood who are who are handy with a shovel.