Unusual and interesting article in the LA Times - http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-adv-bel-air-disaster-20140905-story.html

How an affluent, semi-isolated community gets ready...

I'm impressed!

Not so much by the amount of dollars spent, (although it is impressive), but by the willingness of the residents to come together and put out the time, money and effort.

It's refreshing to read about a community that really is a community instead of just a bunch of people living in the same place.

Ignore the rest if you don't want to read my rant.

I am on my community Home Owners Association (HOA), and all we get is apathy from the vast majority of homeowners.

An example. The County has a law that homeowners are required to shovel the snow from the sidewalk in front of their homes. In my conversations with the County Emergency Ops folks, they said the purpose of this is to have a safe path for people to walk, especially for the kids to walk to the bus stop (the County is good about plowing the road and they don't want people walking in the road). If you don't clear the walk, the County can fine you and charge you the cost of clearing the sidewalk.

Probably 80-90% of the homeowners don't clear their sidewalk when it snows.

A couple of years ago, the HOA sent out a note to all the homeowners reminding them of this. All that happened was for the HOA to get nasty responses.

But then, I grew up in a very small town that probably distorted my perspectives on these things.

It´s about the same around here. Only the authorities do not enforce the law. They neither fine nor clear the sidewalks and charge. It´s not a surprise that the home owner do not welcome a reminder from the HOA.
It´s a pity, but antisocial behavior seems to spread rapidly these days.

Same here. . .

If the city or HOA want to put in sidewalks, they should be responsible for keeping them clear. It's no different than clearing the streets. The sidewalks are probably also within the right of way of the road.