Winter Walking and Cycling

[MidTowner]

With the weather that we have had over the past 6 weeks or so, it's doubtful that there could be any concrete solution. But I do agree that the city going from A to Z within a short period of time wasn't the correct way of doing things.

You do have to wonder whether (pardon the pun) staff was going through this forum as a sounding ground.

Moving forward, I don't envy either bylaw or council, as this issue is going to be impossible to fix, at least without a lot of money. However, they could extend the snowblower program, to see how that works. Though I really think everyone is out of ideas, as it seems that the city doing it won't move forward (and if it did, same level of complaints).

I agree that there was probably no solution under the existing framework that would have resulted in sidewalks that were as clear as the roads have been. But, weeks after the last snowfall, what state should we expect the sidewalks to be in?

I've commented here and elsewhere that the "bare concrete" standard was not reasonable. It's a very positive thing that bylaw decided to use discretion in handing out notices, especially if that means they can spend more time inspecting and getting more sidewalks cleared. But I'm very curious what logic exactly was being used to pass sidewalks that property owners had not cleared for weeks, even when they were adjacent to sidewalks that were cleared completely.

No one is expecting sidewalks to be cleared to the same standard as roadways all winter. That's sad, but it's true: no one has that expectation. This morning, when walking, many sidewalks I passed had slippery ice because of the freeze last night. That's not nice, but it has to be accepted. It's going to happen sometimes.

Yesterday, however, we were walking on the street in many places, not because of a sudden thaw, but because of a minority of property owners who have not cleared their sidewalks. A light rain yesterday froze on the hard-packed snow, and made it impassable. And I now know that the city inspected many of these properties and thought they were good enough. I don't think that should be tolerated.