It is clear to me that we could manage to clear sidewalks and bike lanes/trails if we chose to. We manage to do it for roads; there is not anything fundamentally different about sidewalks, trails and bike lanes that make them impossible to clear. Furthermore, there are many examples of northern cities in much snowier climates than ours that haven't chosen to abandon active transportation in the winter and where cycling and walking thrive year-round. The status quo isn't inevitable; we can do better; our city council chooses not to.
Kitchener declared a climate emergency last year. I therefore expect a clear road map from the city on how we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions here. Surely, reducing car dependence in winter is a key element of that. Right now, we massively subsidize car transportation by plowing roads to everyone's driveways. I'm not saying we should stop this, but by not providing better snow clearing for active transportation, we are creating an incentive to drive over walking, riding, or taking transit. This is basic economics and contrary to what I'd expect from a city actively trying to fight climate change.
I think last year clearly showed proactive enforcement was a complete failure at keeping sidewalks passable. You don't need a staff report to understand this, as simply trying to walk on many of the sidewalks that were supposedly covered by the policy clearly showed that they were not passable and never were at any point in the enforcement period. Let's call a spade a spade - proactive enforcement is a way to cheaply pretend that we're doing something about a problem while continuing on with the status quo.
Sadly, I think you'll probably end up finding the status quo works. In 10 years, we'll probably have pushed solving the problem off long enough that it won't be a problem any more thanks to climate change.
Kitchener declared a climate emergency last year. I therefore expect a clear road map from the city on how we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions here. Surely, reducing car dependence in winter is a key element of that. Right now, we massively subsidize car transportation by plowing roads to everyone's driveways. I'm not saying we should stop this, but by not providing better snow clearing for active transportation, we are creating an incentive to drive over walking, riding, or taking transit. This is basic economics and contrary to what I'd expect from a city actively trying to fight climate change.
I think last year clearly showed proactive enforcement was a complete failure at keeping sidewalks passable. You don't need a staff report to understand this, as simply trying to walk on many of the sidewalks that were supposedly covered by the policy clearly showed that they were not passable and never were at any point in the enforcement period. Let's call a spade a spade - proactive enforcement is a way to cheaply pretend that we're doing something about a problem while continuing on with the status quo.
Sadly, I think you'll probably end up finding the status quo works. In 10 years, we'll probably have pushed solving the problem off long enough that it won't be a problem any more thanks to climate change.