Walking in Waterloo Region

[ookpik]

And that is why there is bylaw enforcement and standards of snow clearance.  The logistics of clearing the kilometres of sidewalk in the area, with machinery and manpower, in a timely manner seems daunting to say the least.

I lived in North York for over two decades. They cleared sidewalks efficiently and in a timely manner throughout that period even as other parts of Metro, including Toronto proper, did not. They continued to do so even after amalgamation much to the envy of residents of the other boroughs.

Well, sure. But governments actually do amazing things.

North York mayor Mel Lastman held the world record for buffoonery-while-in-office until Rob Ford wrested it from him. Nevertheless he's probably best remembered by residents for innovating snow removal. A constant complaint was that city snowplows would leave large windrows of hard-packed snow across their driveways. This snow would freeze and become very difficult to remove with a snow shovel or residential snow blower. For years city engineers told him there was nothing that could be done about this--until he suggested they add a secondary scooper to city snowplows that would drop down at driveways and clear out the windrow just as the main plow created them. Those plows were instrumental in getting him re-elected several times. 

If there's a will there's a way.