Snow math

Glad to see some reporter is on the case about snow ploughing in NYC after the snowstorm a couple of weeks ago. (Despite what you might have read elsewhere, there has so far been just one day of snow, followed by icy cold conditions.)

The reporter said the city issued 2,800 and so tickets to home and business owners who did not fulfil their civic duties of "clearing a path at least four-feet wide with clear access to crosswalks".

In my neighborhood, I found something counter-intuitive. I ventured outside that night after the snowing had mostly stopped. Most buildings made an effort to deal with the snow, and so it was quite easy to walk around. Notable exceptions were in front of Taco Bell and Starbucks. (Also, outside a Korean BBQ restaurant that is part of a national chain and one of the most popular businesses in the hood.) This creates the strange situation in which I could walk freely outside the little mom-and-pop stores that are barely surviving but must sink my feet in inches of snow in front of these large storefronts (that were ironically open for business).

That shocked me because you'd think that the large corporations should be the least likely offenders. I assumed the fines must not be large enough, or they must have found some loophole to avoid them. According to this article, the fine is $150 for the first offence, and up to $350 for subsequent offences. (I assume the money goes to funding the government workers who plough the snow instead.)

Those fines (if enforced) are clearly too low at current hourly wages. The businesses probably would have had to pay more than $150 to hire workers. So it comes down to whether the business owner wants to be a good citizen. I guess this is where the small businesses have an edge.