Waterloo Region Connected
Walking in Waterloo Region - Printable Version

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RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Viewfromthe42 - 01-15-2016

If a tenant of a rental property is required to do any maintenance, it's typically in the lease agreement. I have lived in places before that specified I was to shovel all sidewalks, driveways, and entryways, rather than the other renters in my unit, or the other unit in the house (it gave me a rent discount). The landlord did not want to invest in a lawnmower for each home they rented, and so the grass was not part of the contract, and indeed was contracted out.

We might think it's practical to have residents shovel, but we are all unique. Asking an 80-year-old retiree to shovel is quite a demand, as would be a single mother, or a student who's at school from 7am - 11pm (I was one of those). Many choose to rent to only need to pay one thing, rent, which takes care of so many small home living detail items that they'd rather not deal with. I feel that temptation even now, unsure of what phone to get or when to replace it, and tempted by the type of program Apple offers, to pay a flat monthly fee and get a new device every year. Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we don't see greater value in having someone else do it, either because it takes them less time (e.g. getting a trained professional to do your taxes), or because we value having free time rather than doing the chore (e.g. being able to sleep an extra hour because we pay someone to plow the driveway).

It's what always makes me laugh about those people who'll drive kilometers out of their way, and wait in 5-10minute lineups, just for gas that's 1-2 cents cheaper for a 25-50L fill up, telling us that their time is worth less than $4/h. But that's off topic by a mile.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - ookpik - 01-15-2016

(01-15-2016, 09:58 AM)Canard Wrote: I just had a thought. The viewpoint of the pedestrians is its their right to clear and safe passage.
That viewpoint is hardly unique. Car drivers feel the same way.

Quote:That got me thinking: The sidewalks are like roads - provided/built by the Municipality (not the home owner) as transportation to the public. So therefore, 100% it should be the responsibility of the local authority to clear it. I don't shovel the road in front of my house (usually!), so this is the same really.
This is hardly a new thought and certainly not on this forum. Many municipalities have been clearing sidewalks for decades. Studies show that the added cost to homeowners is in the $25 to $50 per property per year.

The problem is that
1. All-too-many non-pedestrians refuse to pay even such a small amount extra in property taxes. And why should they? After all the consequences to them of not clearing their sidewalks is—nothing.
2. Politicians are too spineless and gutless to take any action beyond lip-service on this issue.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - MidTowner - 01-15-2016

(01-15-2016, 10:51 AM)ookpik Wrote: This is hardly a new thought and certainly not on this forum.

If we were only allowed to express completely original thoughts here, there might not be a lot going on. It's just his viewpoint.

(01-15-2016, 10:51 AM)ookpik Wrote: The problem is that
1. All-too-many non-pedestrians refuse to pay even such a small amount extra in property taxes. And why should they? After all the consequences to them of not clearing their sidewalks is—nothing.

This is the problem, and I think the solution is that there has to be some consequence to this dangerous behaviour. It generally irks me when people abuse bylaw reporting, but in this case I think the way to effect change is to make more ratepayers aware that having the sidewalks cleared is important, and that there are consequences when they aren't.

The best way to do this is to make the municipal government aware when property owners are deficient. At some point, it becomes cheaper for us collectively to just clear the sidewalks and stop fielding and following up on all these complaints. And the more property owners who get the threat of a city contractor's bill charged to them, the more who are likely to come to the realization that $50 extra in property taxes is a fair cost to having a system that works.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - ookpik - 01-15-2016

(01-15-2016, 11:06 AM)MidTowner Wrote: If we were only allowed to express completely original thoughts here, there might not be a lot going on. It's just his viewpoint.
I wasn't trying to censor him but rather to point out that it's been widely held and widely discussed on this forum. My apologies if it came across otherwise.

Quote:This is the problem, and I think the solution is that there has to be some consequence to this dangerous behaviour. It generally irks me when people abuse bylaw reporting, but in this case I think the way to effect change is to make more ratepayers aware that having the sidewalks cleared is important, and that there are consequences when they aren't.

The best way to do this is to make the municipal government aware when property owners are deficient. At some point, it becomes cheaper for us collectively to just clear the sidewalks and stop fielding and following up on all these complaints. And the more property owners who get the threat of a city contractor's bill charged to them, the more who are likely to come to the realization that $50 extra in property taxes is a fair cost to having a system that works.
One way to do this would be to hold the city (and its politicians) to public account. Here's an idea...

Suppose there was a smartphone app that let people report uncleared sidewalks to the city on a crowd-sourced basis. You encounter an uncleared sidewalk, you snap a photo and you post it along with address and date/time stamp. All reports would be public, locations and instances shown, say, on Google Maps. People could post multiple reports over time on the same property in order to identify property owners who deliberately ignore the bylaw.

The city would be free to join the community and to demonstrate their commitment to enforcing the bylaw by posting each time they took action, e.g. sent the property owner a bylaw infraction warning, sent out a crew to clear the offending sidewalk, etc. (It probably wouldn't matter because we could infer it through the app. If the city started to enforce the bylaw, reports on affected properties would cease.)

At the end of the season it would become apparent if homeowners were cooperating, if the city was following up with those who weren't, what actions they were taking, how effective they were, etc. I suspect that would quickly demonstrate just how ineffective the current system is and easily make the case for general sidewalk clearing by the city.

But even if my prediction turns out wrong and the city does start to take this issue seriously, we still win. Then there will be loud whining from those caught in the net. Hopefully that too would create sufficient pressure on politicians to accomplish the same goal.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Viewfromthe42 - 01-15-2016

Step one is a twitter account that only tweets out the moment at which its residents become "delinquent," i.e. takes the city's version of when a snow event has ended, and tweets out howevermany days later when unshoveled sidewalks are actually delinquent.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Pheidippides - 01-15-2016

Most gas stations fall into this boat too. Hundreds of metres of frontage with sidewalks heaped with snow and ice and the hundreds of square metres of pavement for the cars is scraped dry within an inch of its life. A great big middle finger to pedestrians.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Pheidippides - 01-29-2016

From Planning and works agenda for next week:
Level 2 Pedestrian Crossover (PXO) Implementation Strategy 
http://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/regionalGovernment/resources/PW/PA2016-0202.pdf#page=27

"Staff recommends the installation of the Level 2 Pedestrian Crossover at all existing roundabouts in 2016 and recommends installation at non-roundabout locations starting in 2017."


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Markster - 01-29-2016

You can read about what Level 1 and Level 2 pedestrian crossings look like here:

https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/150402


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Canard - 01-29-2016

Thanks - they have the "shark teeth" at the Franklin/Sheldon roundabout and I was wondering what it meant. It makes me a bit uncomfortable driving over it! Maybe that's the idea. Smile


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - tomh009 - 01-29-2016

It looks like it would need to be located a minimum of 30m away from the roundabout. And it makes sense, you don't want to immediately back up the traffic on the roundabout.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - MidTowner - 01-29-2016

But then people on foot need to walk an extra 60 meters at every intersection...


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - tomh009 - 01-29-2016

There is no free lunch ... everybody will have a bit of inconvenience, we just need to find a balance. But 60m really isn't so bad.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - ookpik - 01-30-2016

(01-29-2016, 09:27 PM)tomh009 Wrote: But 60m really isn't so bad.

For able-bodied persons that "only" adds 1 minute walking time at every crossing. (More for those with disabilities or in inclement weather.)

Imagine the furor from drivers if cars had to wait "only" an extra minute at every crossing.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Canard - 01-30-2016

Nobody likes waiting an extra minute, be it a driver, cyclist, or transit user.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - MidTowner - 01-30-2016

Obviously no one likes waiting an extra minute, but in this case people on foot aren't being asked to wait, they're being asked to detour. Ookpik's point is entirely correct: when we talk about a 60 meter detour- at every intersection- for people on foot, it "really isn't so bad." A similar delay for motorists wouldn't garner the same reaction.

If we figure someone in a car does 40 kilometres per hour, this is like asking motorists to detour the better part of a kilometre, and to do it several times on a given trip- all to accommodate someone else.

More practically, if these crossovers are located (a minimum) sixty meters out of people's paths, many people will just not bother with them.