02-16-2019, 08:08 PM
Found this from Mr. Davey interesting: "or punish the good stewards of our city with higher taxation for the sake of the uncompassionate few who fail to do their civic duty."
1) Many people in this city are OLD! When we have rain, snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, etc, falling on our sidewalks, making these area's passable in a timely and regular fashion, is very difficult. It's hard enough for the able bodied to keep on top of this -- especially without the help of -- gasp -- salt, let alone those with disabilities, or the aged. Calling them "uncompassionate" is just wrong. Or perhaps Mr. Davey doesn't know what the definition of compassion is. Perhaps he needs to do research on what compassion is. I get that he did mention this in his editorial, but he's not understanding how widespread the problem is with people who simply are unable to handle this issue.
2) We're not 'punishing' 'good stewards' of 'our city' with 'high taxation' for the sake of those that are apparently 'uncompassionate'. What we're trying to do is create a safe passage for anyone that walks, cycles (I am fine with this), parents with strollers, and those on mobility scooters to travel safely and consistently.
3) No matter where you go in this city, there are huge chucks of sidewalks that haven't been cleared. This alleged 'few who fail to do their civic duty', is actually a huge number of people that either don't, or can't, do that 'civic duty'. What happens when we have out-of-town landlords that simply can't make it into the city safely due to the weather? Leave it up to the tenants to clear the ice and snow?
The only person I see here that is devoid of compassion is Mr. Davey.
What I do see is the city not wanting this responsibility, not because of a 3.5% hike in property taxes (and city portion only, excludes regional portion), but because of the concern of any lawsuits that might come about for failing to do this job in a timely fashion.
For what it's worth, I live in a section of Kitchener across from a forest. We're totally in-town, but no sidewalks. I don't use sidewalks as I drive everywhere, especially since they took away our GRT route away when the LRT was approved. But I am still okay with the property tax hike because it will help out a lot of people.
However, Mr. Davey is right at one point -- there is no 100% perfect solution. No matter how hard the city tries, no matter how hard home owners try, and no matter how hard they try to help each other, there are always going to be times where sidewalks are not walkable, just like the roads are not clear of snow.
1) Many people in this city are OLD! When we have rain, snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, etc, falling on our sidewalks, making these area's passable in a timely and regular fashion, is very difficult. It's hard enough for the able bodied to keep on top of this -- especially without the help of -- gasp -- salt, let alone those with disabilities, or the aged. Calling them "uncompassionate" is just wrong. Or perhaps Mr. Davey doesn't know what the definition of compassion is. Perhaps he needs to do research on what compassion is. I get that he did mention this in his editorial, but he's not understanding how widespread the problem is with people who simply are unable to handle this issue.
2) We're not 'punishing' 'good stewards' of 'our city' with 'high taxation' for the sake of those that are apparently 'uncompassionate'. What we're trying to do is create a safe passage for anyone that walks, cycles (I am fine with this), parents with strollers, and those on mobility scooters to travel safely and consistently.
3) No matter where you go in this city, there are huge chucks of sidewalks that haven't been cleared. This alleged 'few who fail to do their civic duty', is actually a huge number of people that either don't, or can't, do that 'civic duty'. What happens when we have out-of-town landlords that simply can't make it into the city safely due to the weather? Leave it up to the tenants to clear the ice and snow?
The only person I see here that is devoid of compassion is Mr. Davey.
What I do see is the city not wanting this responsibility, not because of a 3.5% hike in property taxes (and city portion only, excludes regional portion), but because of the concern of any lawsuits that might come about for failing to do this job in a timely fashion.
For what it's worth, I live in a section of Kitchener across from a forest. We're totally in-town, but no sidewalks. I don't use sidewalks as I drive everywhere, especially since they took away our GRT route away when the LRT was approved. But I am still okay with the property tax hike because it will help out a lot of people.
However, Mr. Davey is right at one point -- there is no 100% perfect solution. No matter how hard the city tries, no matter how hard home owners try, and no matter how hard they try to help each other, there are always going to be times where sidewalks are not walkable, just like the roads are not clear of snow.