Winter Walking and Cycling

[MidTowner]

Walking this morning, it's pretty obvious that the City of Kitchener's tweaking to its enforcement of clear sidewalks has not worked. Not because most sidewalks are impassable- most are clear, as of Sunday, even after a significant snowfall. But the few that are not are the same ones that were not earlier this season (and never were, but rather left to the weather to address), and the same ones as last winter and the winter before.

To be clear... the move to proactive enforcement was applied to a small area in 2018 and did work according to staff's report.  Council decided to go with sidewalk snow-clearing pilot before making any final decisions.

Thanks for that clarification; I was under the impression that proactive enforcement was city-wide last winter.

I recognize that Bylaw's report after last winter showed that it did work, but they measured success based on how many sidewalks had to be sent to contractors, didn't they? Staff changed the criteria they used mid-season, from "clear" to "passable," and that's a subjective one.

To my mind, the same basic bylaw regime that has existed, still does, and is not working. I say that as someone who walks around, often pushing a stroller, and still encounters sidewalks that force me on to the street, even many days after a snowfall.

I'm not entirely sure what is preventing the City from issuing orders to clear and following up on them, but my experience (again, as a mere citizen just trying to get around) is that they are generally not doing that, whether proactively or reactively to resident complaints.