(02-17-2019, 10:46 PM)the_councillor Wrote: Surely it's impractical to ask residents cut grass in our parks, or shovel snow on our roads due to the amount of work but it's not impractical to ask them to do their part for their city in clearing their sidewalk. In most cases people are clearing the driveway anyway, it takes little time to do your sidewalk as well. It's quite literally the only service we ask of those physically able.
There's no bylaw against leaving your driveway snow-covered if you feel like, and if you leave the car(s) close to the sidewalk you don't have a whole that needs to get shoveled to get out. If you go on holiday it doesn't impact anyone else if the driveway is snow-covered and you don't get fined if the driveway isn't cleared to bare pavement. It is impractical to find someone for a week to shovel your sidewalk if you go on a cruise or have to work out of town for a few weeks. If someone lives on a corner lot they probably shovel more sidewalk than they do driveway.
I would pay more taxes for consistently clear sidewalks. I know streets aren't perfectly cleared and that side streets take longer to get plowed... dunno why that would be any different for sidewalks. I know it won't be perfect but growing up in Guelph with the cleared they did I was able to walk to school and had to so even when they cancelled buses. Walking to school for my last 3 years in Kitchener wasn't as easy, even though in spots sidewalks were done well, especially if it was a big commercial place that paid for good service. In other spots there weren't even sidewalks (Ottawa street near Concordia club back in the 90s) so yeah... seems like walkers just don't matter enough to merit municipally provided services.