def _read_csv_lines(path):
    """
    Opens CSV file `path` and returns list of rows.
    Pass output of this function to `csv.DictReader` for reading data.
    """
    csv_file = open(path, "r")
    csv_lines_raw = csv_file.readlines()
    csv_lines_clean = [line for line in csv_lines_raw if len(line.strip()) > 0]
    return csv_lines_clean