(02-16-2019, 09:35 PM)the_councillor Wrote: [ -> ] (02-16-2019, 08:08 PM)jeffster Wrote: [ -> ]Found this from Mr. Davey interesting: "or punish the good stewards of our city with higher taxation for the sake of the uncompassionate few who fail to do their civic duty."
1) Many people in this city are OLD! When we have rain, snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, etc, falling on our sidewalks, making these area's passable in a timely and regular fashion, is very difficult. It's hard enough for the able bodied to keep on top of this -- especially without the help of -- gasp -- salt, let alone those with disabilities, or the aged. Calling them "uncompassionate" is just wrong. Or perhaps Mr. Davey doesn't know what the definition of compassion is. Perhaps he needs to do research on what compassion is. I get that he did mention this in his editorial, but he's not understanding how widespread the problem is with people who simply are unable to handle this issue.
2) We're not 'punishing' 'good stewards' of 'our city' with 'high taxation' for the sake of those that are apparently 'uncompassionate'. What we're trying to do is create a safe passage for anyone that walks, cycles (I am fine with this), parents with strollers, and those on mobility scooters to travel safely and consistently.
3) No matter where you go in this city, there are huge chucks of sidewalks that haven't been cleared. This alleged 'few who fail to do their civic duty', is actually a huge number of people that either don't, or can't, do that 'civic duty'. What happens when we have out-of-town landlords that simply can't make it into the city safely due to the weather? Leave it up to the tenants to clear the ice and snow?
The only person I see here that is devoid of compassion is Mr. Davey.
What I do see is the city not wanting this responsibility, not because of a 3.5% hike in property taxes (and city portion only, excludes regional portion), but because of the concern of any lawsuits that might come about for failing to do this job in a timely fashion.
For what it's worth, I live in a section of Kitchener across from a forest. We're totally in-town, but no sidewalks. I don't use sidewalks as I drive everywhere, especially since they took away our GRT route away when the LRT was approved. But I am still okay with the property tax hike because it will help out a lot of people.
However, Mr. Davey is right at one point -- there is no 100% perfect solution. No matter how hard the city tries, no matter how hard home owners try, and no matter how hard they try to help each other, there are always going to be times where sidewalks are not walkable, just like the roads are not clear of snow.
Yeah so not sure how to respond except to say I wrote the below paragraph literally just before the cherry-picked quote above that questions my compassion. Sigh... c'mon man.
"I am not ignorant of the challenges of those who have trouble getting around our city. I fully agree that we must work toward better support services for those otherwise unable to clear their sidewalk, like many seniors and people with disabilities, but for the rest of us, cleaning sidewalks is a duty of home ownership."
Proof:
https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/...-bad-idea/
Thanks for the response, Mr. Davey. My suggestion is calling anyone uncompassionate is straight up wrong. How do we define "old"? How do we define "disability"?
According to research, those (men) 55 and older are a greatest risk. The greatest risk also happens between 6 am and 10 am, when our circadian rhythm is not at its greatest, yet, this is when most people will shovel. Reports that I have read seem to suggest the risk mainly falls on men. Really, anyone with a heart condition is at risk -- but they may not fall under the term "senior" or "disabled". Neither would most consider those around 55 as a senior and unable to shovel.
Disabilities mean a lot of different things. But many have health issues that aren't noticeably 'disabled', but in no way could they ever go and shovel layers of ice off of their sidewalks.
All in all, how many households are actually
able to do a good job at clearing the sidewalk? My main biggest issue with your opinion piece was that you are dividing people, the good vs the bad, or as you put it 'the stewards vs the uncompassionate few'. Calling out these people that way is no different than the bullshit politics that the USA ends up in Washington -- and it has no place in Kitchener. Perhaps saying that 'we need to protect the stewards tax bill and work on educating those that don't clean their sidewalks in a timely matter'.
To that end, it still ignores other problems -- single parents working to support themselves and their kids, perhaps with two jobs, taking care of the kids, appointments, and perhaps taking care of an aged parent, etc. People that are down with a serious illness, and simply can't get out. Those people are not uncompassionate.
Then we have the biggest problem -- if everybody that is able bodied and healthy to shovel safely, you can still bet your parking pass at city hall that at least 35% of the sidewalks won't be cleared. Plus some boulevards have short widths in which the plows throw the snow back onto the sidewalks after clearing -- especially corner lots. And the city does ZERO about that. I used to be a superintendent when I was much younger, and I hated the plows, as I could bank on having to use another hour after all my work was done to redo the work the city left behind.
Really, what just about everyone HERE wants, is for the city to at least try. If it's a failure, then so be it.
OR -- the city could have a winter jobs program for teens, much like your summer programs. 1/2 pay, 1/2 community hours.
![[Image: VzTMNED.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/VzTMNED.jpg)