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(09-13-2017, 01:04 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I spoke at council to that item. I am glad it is actually going in. By the sounds of the residents it is the end of a decades long fight to keep the road dangerous for pedestrians.
One of the things they complained about is how close to the road the sidewalk will be. To which the only proper response is “great, we’ll move it 5m towards your house”.
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The complaint seems to be that it's so close to the road that road plows will throw snow onto the sidewalk, and it's THAT snow they refuse to shovel.
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(09-13-2017, 03:14 PM)KevinL Wrote: The complaint seems to be that it's so close to the road that road plows will throw snow onto the sidewalk, and it's THAT snow they refuse to shovel.
I hate to be unsympathetic, but they are not the only people in the region with this problem.
Snow is snow, it has to be removed!
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I wasn't sympathising, I was parsing the argument. It's still a poor argument.
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If the road plows push snow and ice onto your sidewalk you're supposed to be able to contact the city and have them come out and clear the mess they created. I haven't done it myself but I've seen others reach out to the city on Twitter when this happens and they seem fairly responsive.
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(09-13-2017, 03:53 PM)KevinL Wrote: I wasn't sympathising, I was parsing the argument. It's still a poor argument.
Did not mean to imply that you were sympathizing. Apologies.
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Of note is that the aforementioned sidewalks have now been poured along Westmount.
They are not as close to the road as the residents make them sound.
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(09-18-2017, 11:30 AM)Section ThirtyOne Wrote: Of note is that the aforementioned sidewalks have now been poured along Westmount.
They are not as close to the road as the residents make them sound.
Lol, that's the worst part, they weren't even bad as far as regional sidewalks go. They were not curb faced.
In other news, are WRPS officers actually allowed to be texting on their cell phones. I heard they were permitted to use their computers when the need arises, but at lunch I walked past one who was very plainly using a cell phone at the light.
So frustrating, they should be setting a good example for the people around them.
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(09-18-2017, 11:30 AM)Section ThirtyOne Wrote: Of note is that the aforementioned sidewalks have now been poured along Westmount.
They are not as close to the road as the residents make them sound.
So they've kept a boulevard between the road and the new sidewalk?
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The municipality should plant trees there post haste. If I recall correctly, damage to trees was part of the neighbours' stated concerns.
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(09-18-2017, 01:35 PM)MidTowner Wrote: The municipality should plant trees there post haste. If I recall correctly, damage to trees was part of the neighbours' stated concerns.
If I recall, it was damage to "mature trees", but I take it as nothing more than an excuse. The municipality should plant trees there according to their standard policies, these residents aren't owed special treatment of any kind.
That being said, I think it might be a moot point, the boulevard wasn't planned to be overly wide.
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Mature trees -- near the end of their natural lifespan.
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If I recall correctly, there was one ailing tree that needed to come down anyway, but that was all.
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Yes- the staff report said one diseased tree would be removed, and a few other (presumably healthy) trees trimmed.
I was being glib. The City of Kitchener unfortunately is not very good at planning boulevards wide enough to accommodate trees. And they are (I would say a little excessively) wary to plant in narrow boulevards.
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Boulevard trees do have the tendency, upon maturing, to buckle sidewalks with thick roots. My street (with 40+years-old trees) certianly stands as testament. But the shading they bring is probably worth the hassle - again on my street, diseased Ashes that were taken down were immediately replaced with saplings of new species.
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