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City urges clear sidewalks — or it could cost you

The city was aggressive last year — and issued more than 1,700 work orders for failure to shovel walks.

MINNEAPOLIS - Andrew Kay won't risk anything this year.

After the city dinged him last year for failing to shovel his sidewalk properly within 24 hours, Kay got right to work on Wednesday after a heavy pre-Thanksgiving snowfall.

"I've definitely become more aware of it," Kay said, "since being tagged for it."

Kay arrived home last winter to find crews shoveling his walk — which then resulted in a bill of a few hundred dollars to reimburse them for the work. 

According to data provided by the city, Minneapolis issued 1,765 work orders last year to do the job for people who didn't shovel. In total, property owners were billed more than $357,000 combined, working out to an average of about $200 for each job.

"You get the bill," Kay said, "And you're like, oh, it wasn't worth that much!"

Rules for snow shoveling can be found here.

At 9 p.m. Wednesday, a snow emergency also went into effect for the streets. More information on that can be found here.  

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