05-08-2019, 08:47 AM
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.
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.