Barry gets it: Mayor wants Kitchener to revisit sidewalk shovelling policy
Et tu, Dave?
BTW the numbers above are consistent with BuildingScout's Waterloo estimates. So the cost of city-wide clearing is quite reasonable. What's lacking is the political spine to get the job done.
P.S. Winnipeg's population is 700,000. I don't know how the annual snowfall amounts compare.
P.
Quote:Vrbanovic introduced a motion this week, which was unanimously supported by council, asking for a review of how the sidewalk clearing policy is enforced, and for consultation with the community about whether the policy should be changed. He's also asked for an update on which other cities plow sidewalks and what it might cost Kitchener to do so...
The mayor admits that in many cases, the city itself, as Purvis unhappily points out, hasn't met its own standard...
Vrbanovic has also staff to revisit how much it would cost to have city staff clear Kitchener's 1,000 or so kilometres of sidewalk, something that London, Ont., Guelph, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Fredericton, Montreal and Quebec City do. Toronto does it, except in downtown areas where it's hard for plows to get through...
The city looked at the feasibility of clearing sidewalks a few years ago, Vrbanovic said, and estimated it would cost $4 to $5 million a winter to have city staff do the job.
Guelph clears 660 kilometres of sidewalks but gives itself up to five days to clear them after a big storm. It cost about $900 per kilometre in 2014 to carry out the job, a cost that would work out to about $1 million in Kitchener. Toronto spends about 20 per cent of its snow removal budget, or $17 million, to plow 7,000 kilometres of sidewalk, which works out to $2,500 per kilometre.
Winnipeg spent about $2.2 million in 2008 to clear a cumulative total of 36,500 kilometres of sidewalk. Fredericton doesn't separate out the costs of clearing sidewalks, but an operations official there guessed it might cost $600,000 to $700,000 to clear its 220 kilometres of walks.
Et tu, Dave?
BTW the numbers above are consistent with BuildingScout's Waterloo estimates. So the cost of city-wide clearing is quite reasonable. What's lacking is the political spine to get the job done.
P.S. Winnipeg's population is 700,000. I don't know how the annual snowfall amounts compare.
P.