Thank You for Shoveling Sidewalks

Editor,

One of the best things about living in Falls Church City (where I have lived for 25+ years) is its sense of public-spiritedness, which is manifested in the conscientiousness of so many of my neighbors who shovel their walks following a snowfall. The alternative is to either run in the street or step on and off the curb into icy or slushing conditions. As one who enjoys running and walking in the City, I am grateful for your neighborliness — it is that spirit that makes Falls Church City so great!

I wish I could say the same for the businesses in the City. As I ran around town following last week’s snowfall, virtually every home had shoveled its walks. Yet many businesses had not — which was especially galling considering that just five feet away their parking lots and sidewalks in front of their stores were spotless. And among new homes currently under construction, not a single one had shoveled its sidewalks even as half-a-dozen workers pounded nails and blasted music.

Perhaps the most egregious offender was the long sidewalk around Bowl America at the busy corner of Annandale and Maple. Still completely unshoveled several days after the snowfall, I saw families with little kids and strollers walking to Big Chimneys Park choosing between walking on ice-covered sidwalks or stepping into the busy traffic flow.

Thank you to all my neighbors for your conscientiousness in shoveling your walks when it snows. And I would ask the businesses and homebuilding companies — maybe next time it snows one of your employees could grab a shovel or maybe you could be as considerate to your neighbors as those who patronize your stores?

Todd Zywicki
Falls Church City

Barbara Green’s Excellent Letter to Editor

Editor,

We all should thank Barbara Green for her superb letter to the Editor. I have lost two family friends and another family’s friend’s brother who lives out of state from metastatic pancreatic cancer in the last year. All within about a month after they were finally diagnosed.

I wish the Editor would put together more information on who is sponsoring the two bills Barbara mentioned and how we can lend our support to those trying to pass the bills.

Unfortunately, Pancreatic Cancer is not the only disease we get as we get older that is very painful. Saying we have Hospice is great, but ask someone who knows about Hospice and what terminal sedation means. It in essence means that since you are in so much pain they give you so many pain medications that you essentially lose your ability to visit with your family and friends.

How sad!

Tom Leggette