General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours

[danbrotherston]

All of the trees have been replaced now.

Why do Canadian cities seem to fail across the board to have mature tree canopies in urban areas? We have countless old suburbs with them, but none of our just-as-old urban areas have them. Is it just for a lack of trying, or some other challenge that other countries don't face?

Trees aren't the only factor, but it's hard to call such bleak environments home for very long.

This is super long ago now but I remember hearing about Dutch Elm Disease in Montreal which was a decade before I was a kid... there are probably multiple factors.

There are many factors...Dutch Elm Disease, Emerald Ash Borer, which are mostly just bad luck, but also things about our built environment. We use literal TONS of salt on our roads which harm trees long term. We also just have very little space for those trees (all the space is taken by roads), and many heavy vehicles on those roads. We have to install proper soil cells for them. We do lots of construction and tear up our roads all the time damaging roots further

And frankly, we just don't invest, it wasn't a priority to have trees.

[Rainrider22]

Salt, Salt and more Salt !!!

[tomh009]

And frankly, we just don't invest, it wasn't a priority to have trees.

And this is not just recent, this goes back 100+ years. Our urban sidewalks tend to be narrow and rarely have space for mature trees, and those sidewalk widths were set in the way distant past.

European cities tend to have sidewalk trees even in their urban cores. One factor that drove those decisions (in Europe) is that wider streets with trees make it less easy for a fire to jump across the street and spread to the neighbouring block -- a big issue back then.

[ac3r]

Salt, Salt and more Salt !!!

[Rainrider22]

So true !!!

[dtkvictim]

I completely forgot about salt... Another reason to hate it.

[timio]

I completely forgot about salt... Another reason to hate it.

Just remember. Never put salt in your eyes

[plam]

I completely forgot about salt... Another reason to hate it.

My condo's landscaping company is so annoying. They really put way too much salt when there is a hint of snow. I have a collection of salt pictures from their oversalting.

And now they've been running gas powered leaf blowers, which should also be illegal.

[tomh009]

I completely forgot about salt... Another reason to hate it.

My condo's landscaping company is so annoying. They really put way too much salt when there is a hint of snow. I have a collection of salt pictures from their oversalting.

And now they've been running gas powered leaf blowers, which should also be illegal.

Your condo board can change that. In our building, we're using an alternate de-icer that is supposed to be more environmentally friendly.

[plam]

My condo's landscaping company is so annoying. They really put way too much salt when there is a hint of snow. I have a collection of salt pictures from their oversalting.

And now they've been running gas powered leaf blowers, which should also be illegal.

Your condo board can change that. In our building, we're using an alternate de-icer that is supposed to be more environmentally friendly.

Yeah. I think it might help to have a reference for specific landscaping companies. I get the feeling that there is some interaction between the management corp and the landscaping company and it's all not optimal. Having another example of a landscaping company might help... Will definitely bring it up at the AGM this year again.

(Some cities are banning gas-powered leaf-blowers. Not only are they noisy, but they're actually highly polluting and also because they're so powerful they disturb the soil more than they need to).

[tomh009]

Your condo board can change that. In our building, we're using an alternate de-icer that is supposed to be more environmentally friendly.

Yeah. I think it might help to have a reference for specific landscaping companies. I get the feeling that there is some interaction between the management corp and the landscaping company and it's all not optimal. Having another example of a landscaping company might help... Will definitely bring it up at the AGM this year again.

(Some cities are banning gas-powered leaf-blowers. Not only are they noisy, but they're actually highly polluting and also because they're so powerful they disturb the soil more than they need to).

I don't know when your AGM is, but you might want to bring it up before they sign a contract for another winter.

Send me a PM if you want the name of our landscaper.

[bravado]

The salt thing seems to be increasing over time with private property. I assume commercial landlords would rather dump too much salt and avoid liability lawsuits. What a perverse incentive

[danbrotherston]

Indeed.

Although our condo corporation was in the fortuitous situation of being within the downtown sidewalk clearing zone. So our contractor only did our parking lot and our super did our say 50 feet of sidewalk, most of which were already covered.

For some reason, there is salting equipment regularly used for judicious application on roadways but on sidewalks they usually just dump it by hand.

[nms]

I would support a ban on leaf blowers in Waterloo!

As for salt, our condo board has had a frustrating time trying to limit the amount of salt spread by the snow clearing company. The snow clearing company claims that the amount of salt spread is to protect the snow clearing company from liability. (never mind the beating that the adjacent grass takes)

[ijmorlan]

The salt thing seems to be increasing over time with private property. I assume commercial landlords would rather dump too much salt and avoid liability lawsuits. What a perverse incentive

Unfortunately I suspect you’re right.

The proper resolution is that something (not sure what) should be changed to make it almost impossible to win a slip-and-fall lawsuit related to winter weather conditions. Slippery conditions outdoors are a natural result of our weather, and there is a more-or-less foolproof workaround readily available in the market:

https://www.icers.ca

So if anybody slips outdoors, it’s their fault for not being properly prepared for Canadian weather. What next, a property owner being sued by the estate of somebody who froze to death because they didn’t have a coat?

Now if so little snow clearing is done that there is an accessibility problem, that’s another matter. But that’s a very different standard; the unreasonable goal of completely eliminating all ice is much more difficult to achieve than removing enough snow and ice that a wheelchair can be used.