Winter Walking and Cycling

[jamincan]

I have to shovel my driveway anyways and the sidewalk only takes less than a minute to do in light snowfall and maybe a few minutes in heavier snowfall. It is also good exercise. I and most of my neighbours will continue to shovel our sidewalks along with our driveways so I don't see how we benefit! I am all for prompt clearing of sidewalks and tighter enforcement which I am sure would be far less expensive. Other than the increased cost of plowing, our neighbourhood would also end up with poorer clearing of sidewalks as we would have to wait for days after a heavy snowfall before our sidewalks would be clear.

Here's the thing. Under the current system, your sidewalk isn't actually promptly cleared. Or maybe in your individual case it is, but for most people it isn't. You can't look at the sidewalk in isolation, you have to consider the entire sidewalk. One neighbour who waits as long as they can to clear the sidewalk means that the entire sidewalk, including the section you cleared in front of your house, is effectively impassable. There are sidewalks in the city that remain impassable for most of the winter due to the way the current by-law and enforcement works.

If the city takes over sidewalk clearing, that changes the matter. You can still spend a few extra minutes clearing it immediately as before, but you no longer have one person negating your efforts by failing to do their part since the city will come by eventually and make sure the entire sidewalk is cleared, not just the little bit in front of your house.