Yes, we have a law that your sidewalk must be cleared within 24 hours of the snow. I doubt if they enforce this law very much. I live in the suburbs near D.C. in a fairly new planned community. I was pleasantly surprised to see an article in our recent community newspaper about an organized effort to sign up to help shovel snow for the folks that aren't able to. It's been my experience that people tend to chip in and help their neighbors in big snow storms.
Is this a great country, or what? Almost all of the responses have mentioned how people chip in and help their neighbors who need it. :-) Thanks for the uplifting response.