Winter Walking and Cycling

[tomh009]

Here is the usual scenario …

Lots of snow available for pedestrians to walk on …
   

   

But cars do have a lovely clean parking lot:
   

And, no, this is not just an April issue.

[danbrotherston]

Something I had heard from other cities was that their snow contracts typically run until early April, and some have gone decades without a non-melting snow this late. When the contracts end, the snow clearing gear becomes converted to construction kit. In order to get plowing back, you need to buy the time of the already-booked construction vehicles, and convert them from construction to snow and back again. So there's a bit of sympathy there.

I don't share your sympathy.  For one, this largely isn't a city snow clearing issue...city cleared sections of sidewalks are clear, they were mostly clear Monday (Waterloo seems to be having more difficulty with this than Kitchener, perhaps they rent more equipment).  But the point here is that city streets are clear, and sidewalks aren't.  Peds will have to wait till the snow melts, as they've had too all winter.

This is an existential issue for me.  Next winter, barring some political miracle...I will do something different...whether that's work out an arrangement with my employer to work from home most days, or buying a car, or moving to another country, I don't know yet, but I won't tolerate this treatment.  I have the flexibility to not subject myself to this situation, but many other's do not have the freedom.

[MidTowner]

The thing that irked me the most this week was the City of Kitchener's declared snow event. My neighbour received a ticket at 9:00am yesterday, and it wasn't because our street needed to be cleared- it already had been. In fact, folks are still walking in the street because the sidewalks still haven't been reliably cleared.

And they won't be: mother nature will take care of it..eventually. When I called bylaw this morning about two addresses where the owners won't clear (because they haven't all winter), I was helpfully informed that the forecast is calling for warmer temperatures. Not very useful.

[danbrotherston]

The thing that irked me the most this week was the City of Kitchener's declared snow event. My neighbour received a ticket at 9:00am yesterday, and it wasn't because our street needed to be cleared- it already had been. In fact, folks are still walking in the street because the sidewalks still haven't been reliably cleared.

And they won't be: mother nature will take care of it..eventually. When I called bylaw this morning about two addresses where the owners won't clear (because they haven't all winter), I was helpfully informed that the forecast is calling for warmer temperatures. Not very useful.

The bylaw enforcement is nothing more than theater.  It doesn't exist to clear sidewalks, it exists to give you a number to call to complain, to feel like something is being done, without actually doing anything ever.  I'm not saying that a sidewalk will never be cleared, but the intent is not to effectively keep sidewalks clear.  If that were the intent, then whoever designed it should be utterly ashamed.

Waterloo's bylaw is even more theater.  Like I said, I'm not entirely convinced it is anything more than an answering machine which just get's a new tape every morning.  In fact, I'm fairly sure that's what's there today.  

How should one feel when the city treats them this way.

[Canard]

I’ve given up calling about parking in the UpTown bike lanes - I can never get through, they’re always closed and it just says to call the police.

[tomh009]

The bylaw enforcement is nothing more than theater.  It doesn't exist to clear sidewalks, it exists to give you a number to call to complain, to feel like something is being done, without actually doing anything ever.  I'm not saying that a sidewalk will never be cleared, but the intent is not to effectively keep sidewalks clear.  If that were the intent, then whoever designed it should be utterly ashamed.

So do they actually ticket property owners if you complain?

[danbrotherston]

The bylaw enforcement is nothing more than theater.  It doesn't exist to clear sidewalks, it exists to give you a number to call to complain, to feel like something is being done, without actually doing anything ever.  I'm not saying that a sidewalk will never be cleared, but the intent is not to effectively keep sidewalks clear.  If that were the intent, then whoever designed it should be utterly ashamed.

So do they actually ticket property owners if you complain?

It's remotely possible that it could happen...if the stars align...but only to make the theater more realistic. I've never seen it happen before.

[Section ThirtyOne]

So do they actually ticket property owners if you complain?

It's remotely possible that it could happen...if the stars align...but only to make the theater more realistic.  I've never seen it happen before.

It certainly isn't happening on my street, where easily 50% ++ of the sidewalks remain uncleared after the weekend storm. Frustrating.

[MidTowner]

It's remotely possible that it could happen...if the stars align...but only to make the theater more realistic.  I've never seen it happen before.

We know it's happened from statistics on previous winters. But the numbers of actual fines* are extremely low compared to what anyone who actually walks could report about the number of properties that go uncleared.

"Theatre" is a good word for it. There's actual activity being performed on the part of call centre and admin staff, and bylaw enforcement officers, and it all comes at a cost to the City budget, but little of it is actually directed at the problem. In effect (as you've laid out), property owners are given 72 or 96 hours (or more, when the clock is reset by additional snowfall, which isn't exactly unheard-of in winter) to get their snow cleared.

That doesn't make any sense, and particularly not when it comes to properties where owners habitually do not clear. They are given the same warnings and timelines, each and every time. Even though most of us can readily think of any number of properties that just don't clear their sidewalks, nearly ever, only two properties in the whole city were identified for proactive enforcement last year.

*Property owners are not exactly fined. They are given a bill for the cost for the City's contractor to clear the sidewalk, if that eventually happens.

[highlander]

That doesn't make any sense, and particularly not when it comes to properties where owners habitually do not clear. They are given the same warnings and timelines, each and every time. Even though most of us can readily think of any number of properties that just don't clear their sidewalks, nearly ever, only two properties in the whole city were identified for proactive enforcement last year.

Based on my experience, I absolutely believe this - but can you share a source?

[MidTowner]

That doesn't make any sense, and particularly not when it comes to properties where owners habitually do not clear. They are given the same warnings and timelines, each and every time. Even though most of us can readily think of any number of properties that just don't clear their sidewalks, nearly ever, only two properties in the whole city were identified for proactive enforcement last year.

Based on my experience, I absolutely believe this - but can you share a source?

I remember a Record article which identified two properties- the one being the Electrohome building on Shanley, and the other somewhere in the west end- but I couldn't quickly find it. If that rings a bell to anyone else, I would be obliged.

This article about the Electrohome building makes a reference to that, saying that "It's one of only two properties that bylaw enforcement officials consider a chronic offender for consistently failing to mow grass or shovel sidewalks." I consider more than two properties on my block to be chronic offenders in terms of sidewalk clearing.

[danbrotherston]

Based on my experience, I absolutely believe this - but can you share a source?

I remember a Record article which identified two properties- the one being the Electrohome building on Shanley, and the other somewhere in the west end- but I couldn't quickly find it. If that rings a bell to anyone else, I would be obliged.

This article about the Electrohome building makes a reference to that, saying that "It's one of only two properties that bylaw enforcement officials consider a chronic offender for consistently failing to mow grass or shovel sidewalks." I consider more than two properties on my block to be chronic offenders in terms of sidewalk clearing.

Yeah, I remember that as well.  Ironic given that there are a dozen or so chronic offenders on my walk to work alone.  

That being said their definition of "chronic offender" is probably "the never ever not even once, clear the walk" as opposed to "it usually takes them more than 24 hours, but they'll sometimes occasionally, way too late, clear the walk.

Remember, in addition to being essentially unenforced the bylaw is also entirely inadequate.  You can abide by the bylaw with very very little work.

[Bob_McBob]

There is a huge post in the Waterloo subreddit claiming motorized snow removal doesn't produce acceptable results and the only solution is a huge bylaw crackdown on homeowners. I don't think any of the cities actually have the labour to enforce the bylaws in a meaningful way. It's obvious individual citizen complaints don't work, so they would have to have huge teams of bylaw officers patrolling every street throughout the winter and issuing tens of thousands of warnings and fines after every snowfall. Homeowners just won't take it seriously unless they are confident they will face consequences every time they fail to clear their sidewalk. The snow removal bylaws just seem like token efforts designed to fail from the beginning.

[tomh009]

Based on my experience, I absolutely believe this - but can you share a source?

I remember a Record article which identified two properties- the one being the Electrohome building on Shanley, and the other somewhere in the west end- but I couldn't quickly find it. If that rings a bell to anyone else, I would be obliged.

This article about the Electrohome building makes a reference to that, saying that "It's one of only two properties that bylaw enforcement officials consider a chronic offender for consistently failing to mow grass or shovel sidewalks." I consider more than two properties on my block to be chronic offenders in terms of sidewalk clearing.

You can add Benton Street Baptist Church to the list. I doubt they cleared snow even once during the winter.

[ijmorlan]

That being said their definition of "chronic offender" is probably "the never ever not even once, clear the walk" as opposed to "it usually takes them more than 24 hours, but they'll sometimes occasionally, way too late, clear the walk.

Remember, in addition to being essentially unenforced the bylaw is also entirely inadequate.  You can abide by the bylaw with very very little work.

By any reasonable definition of “chronic offender” the number is probably best measured as a percentage of the total, rather than as a small integer count of offenders.

And of course you’re right about the bylaw. I’m not sure what the bylaw should say, but conceptually every snowflake should be required to be cleared from the sidewalk within 24 hours of falling. So if it has snowed 5cm in the last day, most sidewalks will be in bad shape, but any sidewalk with more than 5cm on it would be in violation. Actually maybe that is the definition: the amount of snow on each segment of sidewalk must be less than the total snowfall in the last 24 hours. That’s a bit too inflexible because the snow will be stomped down, but it’s at least heading in the direction of a reasonable definition.