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+--- Thread: Winter Walking and Cycling (/showthread.php?tid=654)
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 03-13-2019
An update on the sidewalk outside the train station:
While the weather has improved the sidewalk, it is still impassable. However, I spoke with bylaw today and it has been sent to a contractor for clearing, which means it might actually get cleared before the end of winter.
I also spoke with the manager at bylaw and asked them about the report that is going to council, and suggested that one of the metrics they include is the amount of time between a complaint and actual clearing (in this case several months), and suggested that this particular performance metric was important, I didn't go so far as to say it was important because it demonstrated that your entire department is pointless, but I hope council will get that message.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - MidTowner - 03-13-2019
Did bylaw tell you the date on which this was inspected and found not to be passable?
Last week, bylaw claimed to be "caught up" on complaints. I assumed that it meant this and a number of other properties I had reported were deemed to be good enough by the City.
I'm hoping that wasn't the case, but if it wasn't, it means that it takes well over a week between the time bylaw sees and a property, and a contractor clears it. And this at the end of the season, weeks after snowfall, when complaint volume would be down.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 03-13-2019
(03-13-2019, 01:23 PM)MidTowner Wrote: Did bylaw tell you the date on which this was inspected and found not to be passable?
Last week, bylaw claimed to be "caught up" on complaints. I assumed that it meant this and a number of other properties I had reported were deemed to be good enough by the City.
I'm hoping that wasn't the case, but if it wasn't, it means that it takes well over a week between the time bylaw sees and a property, and a contractor clears it. And this at the end of the season, weeks after snowfall, when complaint volume would be down.
Bylaw did say their work crews (contractor) was very very delayed due to the ice.
So yes, it could easily be a week apparently.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - KevinL - 03-13-2019
We're expecting +13C and 10mm+ of rain tomorrow, so nature might just save them the trouble.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - MidTowner - 03-13-2019
I think this is a big part of the City's sidewalk clearing strategy: wait until the weather changes, and does it for them.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - jamincan - 03-14-2019
Is their contractor the sun?
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - Acitta - 03-17-2019
The Record published my letter on this subject recently. https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/9209053-let-s-clear-the-snow/
I remember as a child growing up in the Town of Greenfield Park on Montreal's south shore, now a part of the City of Longueuil, that after a snow storm at least one sidewalk on my residential street would be plowed within a day after the storm. What's more, a snowblower truck would eventually come by and blow all of the snow left at the side of the road by the snow plows onto the front lawns of the houses along the street. Do any of the communities in Waterloo Region even own a snowblower? I don't know what the state of snow clearing is in Longueuil these days, but I am sure that my town was not as rich as Waterloo Region when I was growing up.
Gary Walsh
Kitchener
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - jamincan - 03-17-2019
I know we had a snowblower blow banks back on our street last winter, but I don't know if it was a contractor or not.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - jeffster - 03-17-2019
(03-17-2019, 01:11 PM)Acitta Wrote: The Record published my letter on this subject recently. https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/9209053-let-s-clear-the-snow/
I remember as a child growing up in the Town of Greenfield Park on Montreal's south shore, now a part of the City of Longueuil, that after a snow storm at least one sidewalk on my residential street would be plowed within a day after the storm. What's more, a snowblower truck would eventually come by and blow all of the snow left at the side of the road by the snow plows onto the front lawns of the houses along the street. Do any of the communities in Waterloo Region even own a snowblower? I don't know what the state of snow clearing is in Longueuil these days, but I am sure that my town was not as rich as Waterloo Region when I was growing up.
Gary Walsh
Kitchener
We do have the giant snowblowers -- you only see them when the banks get too high, and they usually only work through late hours due to the amount of equipment that is used. You might see them on side roads during the day though, but I haven't seen one lately.
True story; some kids decided to plant some watermelons into a snowbank a while back. Needless to say, scared the crap out of the snowblower operator, as red juicy stuff started flowing everywhere.
Now kids, don't get any bright ideas. This is type of thing is not cool.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - MidTowner - 04-04-2019
A survey has been posted on Engage Kitchener regarding the state of the City's sidewalks the past winter, and whether proactive enforcement had any impact. The results of this survey (along with those conducted mid-winter) will be the only real data that the City has when deciding whether to carry on with the current practice of not clearing its sidewalks.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - Bob_McBob - 05-07-2019
Kitchener taking another look at sidewalk snow clearing
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 05-07-2019
Here is the council agenda with the report...I hope this link works...
https://lf.kitchener.ca/WebLinkExt/0/doc/1753331/Page1.aspx?_ga=2.77168150.2039710673.1557261293-806449938.1511209090
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - Spokes - 05-08-2019
I hope they get it right this time around
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - danbrotherston - 05-08-2019
(05-08-2019, 06:16 AM)Spokes Wrote: I hope they get it right this time around
I hope we can get a large crowd of relatively angry passionate people to force their hands.
RE: Winter Walking and Cycling - MidTowner - 05-08-2019
Staff’s report says that proactive enforcement “appears to have worked” due to reduced orders to clear sidewalks from previous years. What they do not note is that they changed their criteria for issuing those orders sometime during the 2018/19 winter season.
The implication in the report is that, though citizen complaints about sidewalks went up 79% from 2017/18 to 2018/19, those citizens were wrong, because staff didn’t issue orders to clear at the same rate in the past. Nevermind that this is because they changed their criteria for issuing those orders. Nevermind that people walking around obviously weren’t too happy about the sidewalks. The point is, the program worked because sidewalks were better-cleared, because staff said they were better cleared.