Winter Walking and Cycling

[KevinT]

When it comes right down to it, saying bylaw enforcement has a positive effect, I get the impression that staff don't understand statistics, survivor bias, and any kind of user focused thinking whatsoever.

I've already exceeded the number of posts I can rate today, so know that I was going to positively rate this post.

[Section ThirtyOne]

This flyer came in the mail today.

[Canard]

What happens if you want to go on vacation or visit family for a few days?

[Chris]

What happens if you want to go on vacation or visit family for a few days?

Pray it doesn't snow? Pay/ask a friend/neighbour for help?

I'm fortunate that I can ask my brother to do the sidewalk when I go away in the winter but I know not everyone has that luxury.

Throw down a lot of salt in a pre-emptive attack on precipitation? /s

[danbrotherston]

What happens if you want to go on vacation or visit family for a few days?

Pray it doesn't snow? Pay/ask a friend/neighbour for help?

I'm fortunate that I can ask my brother to do the sidewalk when I go away in the winter but I know not everyone has that luxury.

Throw down a lot of salt in a pre-emptive attack on precipitation? /s

"Not everyone has that luxury"...everyone has that luxury, there is no lack of contractors in the city, who will do it for a fee. It is part of your taxes.  Then ask your CoK why they chose the most expensive option possible for snow removal.

[Canard]

So Dan, if I go away for a week, I’m supposed to monitor the weather like a hawk, remotely, and if I think there’s snow, make long-distance arrangements and pay a fortune for someone to scrape the 0.5 cm of snow off the sidewalk so I don’t get a fine?

Do you see how ridiculous this is?

Not everyone has a lovey-dovey relationship with their neighbours. While I’m happy to take 3 seconds and shovel their sidewalks when I happen to see they’re snow-covered I don’t expect the same in return (nor would I feel comfortable asking).

[danbrotherston]

So Dan, if I go away for a week, I’m supposed to monitor the weather like a hawk, remotely, and if I think there’s snow, make long-distance arrangements and pay a fortune for someone to scrape the 0.5 cm of snow off the sidewalk so I don’t get a fine?

Do you see how ridiculous this is?

Not everyone has a lovey-dovey relationship with their neighbours. While I’m happy to take 3 seconds and shovel their sidewalks when I happen to see they’re snow-covered I don’t expect the same in return (nor would I feel comfortable asking).

That's exactly what the City requires you to do (or you can arrange before hand as I usually did).  And yes, I feel it's absurd and unreasonable, and most of the time people simply don't clear their sidewalks and thus, those who walk suffer.

I also think the City Council knows this, yet council still votes against policies that would solve these problems, and then lie to themselves and their constituents by pretending like it isn't a real problem, because councillors and most of their voters are the people who simply don't walk when the sidewalks aren't cleared.

That's why I'm so damn angry right now.

Edit: I realize you're probably in the City of Cambridge, and so things are a little different there I think, this is the situation we have in Kitchener.

[Pheidippides]

The ridiculousness is that the city just doesn't clear it for you and relieve of that concern.

You need to make arrangements or risk the remote possibility of the city billing you for failure to remove in a timely fashion. It is one of the many responsibilities of home ownership.

Ask a neighbour to do it for you ahead of time in return for doing it for them when they are away. Hire a local student to be on call for the week. Hire a service to be on call for the week. Lots of options.

[tomh009]

So Dan, if I go away for a week, I’m supposed to monitor the weather like a hawk, remotely, and if I think there’s snow, make long-distance arrangements and pay a fortune for someone to scrape the 0.5 cm of snow off the sidewalk so I don’t get a fine?

That's exactly what the City requires you to do (or you can arrange before hand as I usually did).  And yes, I feel it's absurd and unreasonable, and most of the time people simply don't clear their sidewalks and thus, those who walk suffer.

I also think the City Council knows this, yet council still votes against policies that would solve these problems, and then lie to themselves and their constituents by pretending like it isn't a real problem, because councillors and most of their voters are the people who simply don't walk when the sidewalks aren't cleared.

That's why I'm so damn angry right now.

Edit: I realize you're probably in the City of Cambridge, and so things are a little different there I think, this is the situation we have in Kitchener.

I believe Canard lives in Kitchener (but works in Cambridge).

[danbrotherston]

That's exactly what the City requires you to do (or you can arrange before hand as I usually did).  And yes, I feel it's absurd and unreasonable, and most of the time people simply don't clear their sidewalks and thus, those who walk suffer.

I also think the City Council knows this, yet council still votes against policies that would solve these problems, and then lie to themselves and their constituents by pretending like it isn't a real problem, because councillors and most of their voters are the people who simply don't walk when the sidewalks aren't cleared.

That's why I'm so damn angry right now.

Edit: I realize you're probably in the City of Cambridge, and so things are a little different there I think, this is the situation we have in Kitchener.

I believe Canard lives in Kitchener (but works in Cambridge).

Ahh, my mistake, I wasn't entirely sure which direction.

[ijmorlan]

This flyer came in the mail today.

“By working together”. I have an idea, how about we all contribute a bit of money, and somebody can organize some people to clear all the sidewalks with plows and other high-efficiency techniques! We can pay the organizers a bit of the money, and the rest goes to the people who do the actual sidewalk clearing. It would also pay for their materials and equipment. Actually, come to think of it, something like this would probably work for all sorts of things that would be nice to have but which are expensive for each household to provide themselves.

[panamaniac]

What happens if you want to go on vacation or visit family for a few days?

Same thing as has always happened - you arrange for someone to do the shovelling in your absence.

[danbrotherston]

This flyer came in the mail today.

“By working together”. I have an idea, how about we all contribute a bit of money, and somebody can organize some people to clear all the sidewalks with plows and other high-efficiency techniques! We can pay the organizers a bit of the money, and the rest goes to the people who do the actual sidewalk clearing. It would also pay for their materials and equipment. Actually, come to think of it, something like this would probably work for all sorts of things that would be nice to have but which are expensive for each household to provide themselves.

This argument, which many CoK Councillors repeated on the evening of shame pisses me off so much.  This "we show our community by caring" argues FOR sidewalk clearing. I care about my community, which is why I want the sidewalks cleared!  Those who would rather have household clearing so they can show their community strength by clearing 9/10s of the sidewalks and thus, leave everyone who walks anywhere in a lurch are more interested in garbage platitudes than they are in actual solutions.

I won't be polite any more.

[Rainrider22]

Realistically- How do you expect a few by law officers to go out and ticket a city the size of Kitchener ?  It will never happen.  It is complete lip service and the city knows it..

[danbrotherston]

Realistically- How do you expect a few by law officers to go out and ticket a city the size of Kitchener ?  It will never happen.  It is complete lip service and the city knows it..

After only a few $400.00 tickets by a few by law officers, you would be surprised how fast the word gets around.

How many is a few?

I called in something like 500 complaints last winter, of course, and bylaw issued something like 2000 tickets.  Yet sidewalks remained 100% uncleared on my walk to work all winter long.