01-31-2018, 09:19 AM
From the first letter:
“A possible solution to the current set of property owners that do not shovel would be to give them 24 hours to shovel and after that time frame open the shovelling up to private contractors. The contractors could bill the city and the bill added to the homeowner. That should clear up any delinquency pretty fast.”
From the second: “The best way to solve this problem is to fine the owners who don't clear their walks in 24 hours.”
I think these assertions would fall apart when they ran into political reality. The number of property owners who do not clear their sidewalks is huge, and even a minority of them complaining when fined would constitute a significant backlash in the minds of the councillors receiving those complaints.
If the city had the nerve to do as the first writer suggested, I do think that could work. Theoretically, that’s what’s done now, but the problems are that it’s complaint-driven, and the clock resets after each snowfall. There’s a stigma against complaining and, even if there weren’t, some people won’t know how to; and the way snows fall and the 24-hour-clock resets, there can be periods of weeks during some seasons when property owners are not offside of the bylaw, though their sidewalks are never clear.
“A possible solution to the current set of property owners that do not shovel would be to give them 24 hours to shovel and after that time frame open the shovelling up to private contractors. The contractors could bill the city and the bill added to the homeowner. That should clear up any delinquency pretty fast.”
From the second: “The best way to solve this problem is to fine the owners who don't clear their walks in 24 hours.”
I think these assertions would fall apart when they ran into political reality. The number of property owners who do not clear their sidewalks is huge, and even a minority of them complaining when fined would constitute a significant backlash in the minds of the councillors receiving those complaints.
If the city had the nerve to do as the first writer suggested, I do think that could work. Theoretically, that’s what’s done now, but the problems are that it’s complaint-driven, and the clock resets after each snowfall. There’s a stigma against complaining and, even if there weren’t, some people won’t know how to; and the way snows fall and the 24-hour-clock resets, there can be periods of weeks during some seasons when property owners are not offside of the bylaw, though their sidewalks are never clear.