Waterloo Region Connected
Walking in Waterloo Region - Printable Version

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RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - goggolor - 12-20-2016

The travel agency at the corner of King & Union has done the same thing... cleared their parking lot and salted the walkway from the parking lot to their front door, left the rest of the sidewalk uncleared. There's also a two foot mound of icy snow you need to climb over to cross Union. On the other side of the street, the sidewalk by Sun Life was apparently closed by GrandLinq so there's no snow clearing at all.

I also noticed in Uptown Waterloo most closed storefronts don't have anyone taking responsibility for the snow. It's particularly bad at 1 King N (King & Erb), the former jewelry store. The entire corner is a slushy mess. King St at the LRT tracks is awful too.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-20-2016

(12-20-2016, 01:08 PM)goggolor Wrote: The travel agency at the corner of King & Union has done the same thing... cleared their parking lot and salted the walkway from the parking lot to their front door, left the rest of the sidewalk uncleared. There's also a two foot mound of icy snow you need to climb over to cross Union. On the other side of the street, the sidewalk by Sun Life was apparently closed by GrandLinq so there's no snow clearing at all.

I also noticed in Uptown Waterloo most closed storefronts don't have anyone taking responsibility for the snow. It's particularly bad at 1 King N (King & Erb), the former jewelry store. The entire corner is a slushy mess. King St at the LRT tracks is awful too.

Yeah, definitely call in complaints for those Smile.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - goggolor - 12-20-2016

(12-20-2016, 01:53 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(12-20-2016, 01:08 PM)goggolor Wrote: The travel agency at the corner of King & Union has done the same thing... cleared their parking lot and salted the walkway from the parking lot to their front door, left the rest of the sidewalk uncleared. There's also a two foot mound of icy snow you need to climb over to cross Union. On the other side of the street, the sidewalk by Sun Life was apparently closed by GrandLinq so there's no snow clearing at all.

I also noticed in Uptown Waterloo most closed storefronts don't have anyone taking responsibility for the snow. It's particularly bad at 1 King N (King & Erb), the former jewelry store. The entire corner is a slushy mess. King St at the LRT tracks is awful too.

Yeah, definitely call in complaints for those Smile.

Already done... those locations are in Waterloo so I was able to use PingStreet and attach photos. Much easier process than Kitchener.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-20-2016

(12-20-2016, 02:28 PM)goggolor Wrote: ....
Already done... those locations are in Waterloo so I was able to use PingStreet and attach photos. Much easier process than Kitchener.

Yes, the Kitchener process is terrible. Call centre staff are even starting to get testy as they're required by the bylaw department ot give a street address, but they all too often get callers who don't know the address, only the location. It's frustrating for all I'm sure. The complaint process exists for a different reason altogether, which I don't care to speculate about publicly.

Regardless, I'm surprised I've been told you aren't able to report uncleared sidewalks with the pingstreet app? Has it been added? Or did you mark it under something else? I've just been calling bylaw who've been very accomodating.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - goggolor - 12-20-2016

You're able to report "Snow Removal Issue" in Pingstreet when your location is Waterloo, but that's not an option for Kitchener.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - panamaniac - 12-20-2016

(12-20-2016, 02:59 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(12-20-2016, 02:28 PM)goggolor Wrote: ....
Already done... those locations are in Waterloo so I was able to use PingStreet and attach photos. Much easier process than Kitchener.

Yes, the Kitchener process is terrible.  Call centre staff are even starting to get testy as they're required by the bylaw department ot give a street address, but they all too often get callers who don't know the address, only the location.  It's frustrating for all I'm sure.  The complaint process exists for a different reason altogether, which I don't care to speculate about publicly.

Regardless, I'm surprised I've been told you aren't able to report uncleared sidewalks with the pingstreet app?   Has it been added?  Or did you mark it under something else?  I've just been calling bylaw who've been very accomodating.

Just to note that this is the case for all complaints relating to a specific property, not just snow issues.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-21-2016

Was told by City of Waterloo bylaw this morning that they do not require property owners to clear the snow that the plow pushes in a pile across crosswalks at corners if that snow isn't actually on the sidewalk.

They are aware this is a problem that means pedestrians can have no expectation of getting around the city by foot without a huge problem.

This explains why I've repeatedly objected to the waist high snow berm at Park and John and it hasn't gone away.

This system is 100% broken.  How can people tolerate this?!  Why are we more concerned with the upset of one Laurier contractor who made a joke in bad taste (and you know, we know absolutely nothing else about).


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - MidTowner - 12-21-2016

That is astounding…I’m almost in disbelief by that. Those windrows at the ends of sidewalks are a major inconvenience and hazard. If you’re walking along a sidewalk and come to a spot that hasn’t been cleared and is impassable, that is one thing, but if you are crossing a busy street with limited time to do so, and realize it’s not possible to get onto the sidewalk on the other side, that could easily be a dangerous situation.

In Kitchener, I complain about those windrows on corner properties than I do others, for that reason. They understand when I tell them that the property owner may have cleared, once, but that the windrow has since been left for days. I’m amazed that Waterloo would be otherwise…a sidewalk is not passable in that situation.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - panamaniac - 12-21-2016

(12-21-2016, 09:50 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Was told by City of Waterloo bylaw this morning that they do not require property owners to clear the snow that the plow pushes in a pile across crosswalks at corners if that snow isn't actually on the sidewalk.

They are aware this is a problem that means pedestrians can have no expectation of getting around the city by foot without a huge problem.

This explains why I've repeatedly objected to the waist high snow berm at Park and John and it hasn't gone away.

This system is 100% broken.  How can people tolerate this?!  Why are we more concerned with the upset of one Laurier contractor who made a joke in bad taste (and you know, we know absolutely nothing else about).

edit


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-21-2016

I was driving along Charles this morning and there was a dude in a mobility scooter.... on the road.

The sidewalk was perfectly clear... like bone dry.

But I'm assuming he just gave up and was rolling along on the road since he couldn't be sure if the "mouths" of the sidewalks would be shovelled or not at intersections...

How do other cities handle this and why isn't this an issue that TriTag is pushing to the media to do something about and get some movement on having the Region take care of this? Seems like it would be right up their alley.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - danbrotherston - 12-21-2016

Other cities plow their sidewalks.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - jamincan - 12-21-2016

(12-21-2016, 12:27 PM)Canard Wrote: I was driving along Charles this morning and there was a dude in a mobility scooter.... on the road.

The sidewalk was perfectly clear... like bone dry.

But I'm assuming he just gave up and was rolling along on the road since he couldn't be sure if the "mouths" of the sidewalks would be shovelled or not at intersections...

Not saying there isn't an issue, because I firmly believe that there is. There is, however, at least one person in Kitchener who uses his mobility scooter on the road or in bike lanes regardless of sidewalk conditions as I was witness to him doing so the entire summer.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Markster - 12-21-2016

(12-21-2016, 12:27 PM)Canard Wrote: How do other cities handle this and why isn't this an issue that TriTag is pushing to the media to do something about and get some movement on having the Region take care of this?  Seems like it would be right up their alley.

They've been on it for weeks.


...and years.




RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-21-2016

That looks like a good start, but none of those tweets are directed at anyone in particular, so will go completely unnoticed by the media and the Region. It's a good idea to usually mention by handle the particular group you're interested in getting a response from.


RE: Walking in Waterloo Region - Canard - 12-21-2016

This is a pretty painful chain of tweets to wade through - from the City and GRT both being clueless as to the location (did they even look at the photo?) to just trying to pass it off to each other, or get people to call in (probably hoping they won't, since it's inconvenient).

How did you get CTV to report the Queen/Charles corner issue? Wouldn't the same methods work, here?