Winter Walking and Cycling

[Bob_McBob]

A relative of mine lives in a corner house in Cambridge. The sidewalk that runs up the side of their property includes both the community mailbox and bus stop for the area. Their realtor heavily implied the city would be responsible for clearing it because of these features when they were buying the house, despite me showing them the Cambridge sidewalk snow removal map that said otherwise.

Earlier in the winter they made a reasonable effort to clear the sidewalk, but at some point they apparently just stopped doing it. They have a new baby and they're really busy all the time, which might be a reasonable excuse, except the fact remains a very heavily used section of sidewalk is now going uncleared. The windrow has built up, there's only a very narrow path down the middle of the sidewalk from people walking on it, and even the mailbox and bus station pads they're not responsible for have a lot of snow built up. I'm not about to tattle on my relative, but I'm amazed they haven't been reported and fined yet. It just struck me as a perfect example of how utterly ineffective the current enforcement system is when hundreds of people are being affected on a daily basis and not a single one of them reports it.

[danbrotherston]

A relative of mine lives in a corner house in Cambridge. The sidewalk that runs up the side of their property includes both the community mailbox and bus stop for the area. Their realtor heavily implied the city would be responsible for clearing it because of these features when they were buying the house, despite me showing them the Cambridge sidewalk snow removal map that said otherwise.

Earlier in the winter they made a reasonable effort to clear the sidewalk, but at some point they apparently just stopped doing it. They have a new baby and they're really busy all the time, which might be a reasonable excuse, except the fact remains a very heavily used section of sidewalk is now going uncleared. The windrow has built up, there's only a very narrow path down the middle of the sidewalk from people walking on it, and even the mailbox and bus station pads they're not responsible for have a lot of snow built up. I'm not about to tattle on my relative, but I'm amazed they haven't been reported and fined yet. It just struck me as a perfect example of how utterly ineffective the current enforcement system is when hundreds of people are being affected on a daily basis and not a single one of them reports it.

If they lack the time, they can hire someone to clear their sidewalk, presumably they are finding the time to clear their driveway to get their car out.

Almost nobody will report this...our current enforcement system is predicated on the assumption that people will ignore blocked sidewalks, and not complain too much.

But councils won't say this aloud, they need to maintain the lie that the system exists to clear sidewalks.

Like, this sounds like I should be wearing a tinfoil hat, but this is the reality as far as I can see it.

It is one of the major factors which has led us (and our incomes) to leave town.

[Bob_McBob]

If they lack the time, they can hire someone to clear their sidewalk, presumably they are finding the time to clear their driveway to get their car out.

Like I said, it's not a reasonable excuse when the sidewalk is going uncleared. I'm more interested in the fact they haven't faced any kind of enforcement yet, considering their section probably has the highest level of foot traffic in the entire neighbourhood. It affects several dozen bus trips and around 100 residents collecting mail daily, plus everyone passing through to the nearby school. I also note that Cambridge appears to have ditched Pingstreet like Kitchener did, and their online complaint portable is currently broken when I try to use it.

And yes, their driveway is fully cleared.

[ac3r]

The likely reason they haven't faced any issues is because bylaws officers are useless. If they're unwilling to enforce mask usage in a pandemic, there's little chance they'll enforce sidewalk clearing in winter unless they get enough complaints.

[ijmorlan]

The likely reason they haven't faced any issues is because bylaws officers are useless. If they're unwilling to enforce mask usage in a pandemic, there's little chance they'll enforce sidewalk clearing in winter unless they get enough complaints.

And don’t forget that even strict enforcement runs into the brick wall of a poorly written bylaw so that nobody can ever be in violation during or in the 24 hours after a snowfall. In principle, the weather could be such that nobody could ever be in violation; if a light flurry occurs every day, nobody is ever in violation of the bylaw.

[danbrotherston]

The likely reason they haven't faced any issues is because bylaws officers are useless. If they're unwilling to enforce mask usage in a pandemic, there's little chance they'll enforce sidewalk clearing in winter unless they get enough complaints.

And don’t forget that even strict enforcement runs into the brick wall of a poorly written bylaw so that nobody can ever be in violation during or in the 24 hours after a snowfall. In principle, the weather could be such that nobody could ever be in violation; if a light flurry occurs every day, nobody is ever in violation of the bylaw.

Yeah, these are all on point.

But I'd still argue there's a very good chance it has never been called in. Very few people will call this kind of thing in. There are many social reasons, not least of which because unencumbered able adults can pretty much walk over everything and those who aren't able to already know to avoid walking places.

And this is the whole point of the policy. Bylaw reporting exists to pretend the policy works...rather than to make it work.

This is why I was legitimately furious at my tax dollars being wasted on pro-active bylaw enforcement. It was nothing more than pretending harder.

[JoeKW]

Is there a way to submit a sidewalk complaint online? Going through this form leads to a success message but at no point does it ask for details about the complaint.

[danbrotherston]

Is there a way to submit a sidewalk complaint online?  Going through this form leads to a success message but at no point does it ask for details about the complaint.

I wasn't able to find one, which is why my sidewalk reporting app went nowhere...

It's not intended to be easy...

I recommend you email your councillor. (You can CC bylaw too if you like).

[Bob_McBob]

Cambridge has an online portal for reporting bylaw issues, with an option for "sidewalk snow complaints". It hasn't worked for the several days I've been trying because the underlying mapping service is broken. They also have a general bylaw inquiry form, and a direct bylaw email form. Their direct email address before the eSolutionsGroup update was bylaw@cambridge.ca.

https://online2.cambridge.ca/ServiceCamb...Roads.aspx

https://forms.cambridge.ca/Bylaw-Inquiry

https://www.cambridge.ca/en/build-invest...dards.aspx

Waterloo has an online service portal (My Permits/eService) that allows bylaw complaint reporting. They also allow direct email complaints to municipalenforcement@waterloo.ca.

Kitchener has a similar online portal, as well as a direct reporting form and bylaw email form. I think their email address is bylaw@kitchener.ca.

https://form.kitchener.ca/CSD/CCS/Report-a-problem

https://www.kitchener.ca/en/bylaws-and-e...guide.aspx

Seems like an app could make direct reports to the various email addresses, and they can be confirmed by using the online reporting forms and waiting for replies.

[danbrotherston]

Cambridge has an online portal for reporting bylaw issues, with an option for "sidewalk snow complaints". It hasn't worked for the several days I've been trying because the underlying mapping service is broken. They also have a general bylaw inquiry form, and a direct bylaw email form. Their direct email address before the eSolutionsGroup update was bylaw@cambridge.ca.

https://online2.cambridge.ca/ServiceCamb...Roads.aspx

https://forms.cambridge.ca/Bylaw-Inquiry

https://www.cambridge.ca/en/build-invest...dards.aspx

Waterloo has an online service portal (My Permits/eService) that allows bylaw complaint reporting. They also allow direct email complaints to municipalenforcement@waterloo.ca.

Kitchener has a similar online portal, as well as a direct reporting form and bylaw email form. I think their email address is bylaw@kitchener.ca.

https://form.kitchener.ca/CSD/CCS/Report-a-problem

https://www.kitchener.ca/en/bylaws-and-e...guide.aspx

Seems like an app could make direct reports to the various email addresses, and they can be confirmed by using the online reporting forms and waiting for replies.

I mean, this was about 4-5 years ago I was trying to build this. I don't remember any of the online forms at the time. I did find the email addresses, and I tried emailing complaints to them, but I didn't get any successful response (like, I never got any reply to any of my emails about snow clearing). There was also the matter of trying to figure out when bylaw would even take a complaint because I needed up to date weather information (which I scraped from UW weather station).

Honestly it was a fun project, I partly gave up because of the difficulty of reporting to bylaw, but also because I realized that bylaw was not a real solution, and partly because CoK ran their pilot....man I had such high hopes.

[KevinL]

It would be really forward thinking of the Region and its municipalities to link up and create a 311 system for any and all municipal issues. We're supposed to be progressive like that. Too bad we're not likely to see it any time soon.

[bravado]

If they lack the time, they can hire someone to clear their sidewalk, presumably they are finding the time to clear their driveway to get their car out.

Like I said, it's not a reasonable excuse when the sidewalk is going uncleared. I'm more interested in the fact they haven't faced any kind of enforcement yet, considering their section probably has the highest level of foot traffic in the entire neighbourhood. It affects several dozen bus trips and around 100 residents collecting mail daily, plus everyone passing through to the nearby school. I also note that Cambridge appears to have ditched Pingstreet like Kitchener did, and their online complaint portable is currently broken when I try to use it.

And yes, their driveway is fully cleared.

I've made a few Pingstreet entries so far this winter about blocked sidewalks and cars blocking bike lanes and they've all been dealt with quickly so far... The city even replied to one of them.

(I shouldn't have to do this anyways but here we are)

[Bytor]

If only Kitchener hadn't apparently cancelled their participation in PingStreet. Uncleared sidewalk reports now go into a black hole.

[JoeKW]

At least half the route to my childs school is solid ice or hard packed snow. It's ridiculous. My parents have come to visit and they can't walk him to school because it's too dangerous or them.

[danbrotherston]

At least half the route to my childs school is solid ice or hard packed snow.  It's ridiculous.  My parents have come to visit and they can't walk him to school because it's too dangerous or them.

Please, call your councillor...and the mayor.

They need to be getting calls day and night. They KNOW how to fix this, they just need to be motivated to do so.