Walking in Waterloo Region

[MidTowner]

<$30 is a steal. I bet most commercial companies would charge that much per month for just the sidewalk. Anyone had a quote lately? Most rates I see on line are for driveway and sidewalk and are about $500 for the season. People really should evaluate what their time is worth and think collectively for a change. Even if you pay the kid down the street five bucks (less than half of minmum wage) every time we get 5cm (which is about 10 times a season on average) you would still come out ahead using a city based system (and there would still be another 50 snowfalls a year of 0.2cm or more to clear yourself).

That last bit is important. I have paid for snow clearing on properties I own- the last time I did, it was $600 for a forty foot frontage of sidewalk, a small driveway and walkway. But they rarely came. I can't remember what the "trigger" was- when it snowed enough to meet it, they went promptly and cleared it well. But when a half inch fell, they didn't, and the property would have been in contravention of the bylaw unless I went to do the sidewalk myself. I had to fairly often.

That's the real reason why rental properties seem to be bad at clearing snow- even if they have a contract with someone, that someone won't come for every dusting or even modest snowfall. Maybe some services can. Tenants can be made responsible, but that is less logical for multi-unit buildings. For multiplexes too big to have tenants do chores like that, but too small for a professional property manager, I don't see the solution.

I think, if put to a referendum, city responsibility for snow clearing would fail. Not because it isn't a great value to property owners (it would be), but because, judging by how most people carry out their obligation now, they don't judge it important. As a typical rate payer, why vote to pay for something you don't see the value in?