Waterloo Region Connected
Winter Walking and Cycling - Printable Version

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RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - Pheidippides - 06-27-2018

Well for Waterloo you can report sidewalks the city is responsible for to @citywaterloo and for other problem properties you can report to snowandice@waterloo.ca so the app could at least send reports to them directly.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 06-27-2018

(06-27-2018, 11:00 AM)Pheidippides Wrote: Well for Waterloo you can report sidewalks the city is responsible for to @citywaterloo and for other problem properties you can report to snowandice@waterloo.ca so the app could at least send reports to them directly.

Ahh, good point, thanks Smile.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - timc - 06-27-2018

Tweeting to @citywaterloo didn't seem to do much this past winter. And I don't know how responsive that e-mail address is either.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 06-27-2018

(06-27-2018, 02:29 PM)timc Wrote: Tweeting to @citywaterloo didn't seem to do much this past winter. And I don't know how responsive that e-mail address is either.

The twitter account is monitored by the media team, who does have contact with the ops people, although I don't always get a response.

The email is probably answered by the same person who answers the message machine.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - Pheidippides - 06-27-2018

I think the Twitter account will only deal with sidewalks adjacent to city buildings/properties; I don't think they will handle individual private properties in a public forum.

The Ping Street app for Waterloo would seem to allow for complaint submission as well.
"Report an issue: bylaw complaint, road issue, cycling issue, snow removal. Take a picture and geo-stamp your probem, send directly to staff responsible for that area."

Perhaps that feature should be requested from the City of Kitchener. Same company; same app. Shouldn't be that hard to add.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - Bob_McBob - 07-03-2018

Opinion: Kitchener’s about-face on clearing sidewalks will be election issue


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - panamaniac - 07-03-2018

Is there a breakdown of who voted for/against the proposed pilot project?


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 07-03-2018

(07-03-2018, 08:55 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Is there a breakdown of who voted for/against the proposed pilot project?

Mayor Vrbanovic, Councillors Fernandez, Marsh, and Gazola voted for it, the rest voted against, and Galloway-Sealock was the strongest opponent and the mover of the motion to kill the project.

Two other things of note:

First, they all claimed to be strongly in support of clear sidewalks and claim this is the best way to achieve that, even though they're voting against a study which would demonstrate that.

Second, they expanded the pilot to cover the entire city, making it not a pilot, but a full implementation, meaning there is now no way to evaluate the effectiveness of the project.  Given this, their claims of fiscal responsibility are pretty hollow.

And for a bonus, Galloway-Sealock explicitly dismissed all those who spoke and wrote in favour of the project as merely "the mobilized membership of one group" and claimed that "almost all" the feedback was negative.  Not only is this incredibly offensive to those of us who are active and interested in this issue, who spoke in council (she said this to our faces, after waiting 5 hours to speak), it entirely ignores the fact that there are in fact at least two major advocacy groups who care about this issue, GRAAC and TriTAG.

Edit: Make no mistake, I will rant about this as often as I'm given the opportunity.

Extra bonuses:

1. Etherington (my councillor) explicitly stated support for sidewalk clearing in the TriTAG survey, then voted against. I didn't think a whole lot of him before, I think less now.
2. In the same survey, Paul Singh stated he felt there was a need to study snow clearing. He voted against studying snow clearing.

Edit 2: Triple bonus: http://www.tritag.ca/blog/2018/07/03/kitchener-councillors-on-snow-clearing-ignorance-is-bliss/


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - panamaniac - 07-03-2018

A healthy debate about it to clarify candidates' positions in the next municipal election would be a good thing, istm.  Although I could see candidates trying to leave themselves wiggle room between "yes" and "no".


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - creative - 07-03-2018

I'm fine with making this an election issue. I would also be in favour of this being a question on the ballot as long as everyone is prepared to accept the results and the opinion of the majority.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - jgsz - 07-03-2018

(07-03-2018, 10:25 AM)creative Wrote: I'm fine with making this an election issue. I would also be in favour of this being a question on the ballot as long as everyone is prepared to accept the results and the opinion of the majority.

In the last election less than 1/3 of eligible voters voted.  It is time for council to make the correct decision since the populace doesn't care that much.   But to get the desired result we must elect councillors who will vote in favour of snow removal by the city.  Ask the candidates where they stand on the issue when they come knocking at your door.  In the meantime keep up the pressure.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 07-03-2018

(07-03-2018, 10:25 AM)creative Wrote: I'm fine with making this an election issue. I would also be in favour of this being a question on the ballot as long as everyone is prepared to accept the results and the opinion of the majority.

We live in a representative democracy, not a direct democracy.  It shouldn't be a ballot issue.

But at the very minimum, "should city plow sidewalks" shouldn't be a ballot issue. 

If you want a ballot issue that makes sense then "should clear sidewalks in winter be a priority for the city" could be one.

You're welcome to vote no to that.  Once that passes (even all councillors who opposed the project claim to support that priority), then it is up to council, through their staff, to determine the most effective way to achieving that goal.

The point is, the first question is one of implementation, which should rarely, if ever be a ballot issue.  Everyone here has plenty of opinions about what the best implementation to achieve clear sidewalks is, but most of us have little evidence.  Why should those of us with opinions, and no evidence make the decision?  We should be voting on priorities and goals only.  Implementation should be driven by data and evidence, to achieve the goals (the second question) in the most efficient, cost effective manner.  

What council has done is decided they don't want evidence to show their policy is effective, in fact, they are spending 130k (the cost of fully implementing pro-active bylaw enforcement) without any evidence whatsoever that spending that money is a good use of fund, nor any way to gather evidence of the efficacy of that spend after the fact.

It is a fiscally irresponsible policy.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - creative - 07-03-2018

To get your "desired result" may not be the desired result of the majority.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - plam - 07-03-2018

(07-03-2018, 11:02 AM)creative Wrote: To get your "desired result" may not be the desired result of the majority.

It's a minority rights issue, which typically doesn't do well under direct democracy. That's why we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Access for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.


RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - creative - 07-03-2018

The vast majority want clear sidewalks. The vast majority also must have quietly expressed their opinions to their representatives that resulted in the decision that was made.