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Walking in Waterloo Region
#61
The best way to get support for municipal snow clearing is actually enforcing the existing by-laws.
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#62
How so?  If you more strictly enforce the bylaws, you'll just end up fining a whole lot of people, who will then get bitter at the Region, and might get some of them to clear the sidewalks more diligently... but then the Region can just say "what's the issue, everyone clears their sidewalks?  Why would we pay to clear them when everybody does it already? You want us to loose money by not fining anymore, and loose even more money by spending money on paying someone else to do it?"

I guess I just don't quite understand your statement above.
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#63
(02-18-2015, 11:11 AM)plam Wrote:
(02-18-2015, 09:35 AM)ookpik Wrote: ? Link, please.

It's just a standard auto-mail-your-representatives page: http://contact.tritag.ca/sidewalks/

BTW TriTAG needs to find a simpler CAPTCHA. I had to try 4 or 5 times to get a valid solution. The objective may be to frustrate spammers and robots but the reality is that it frustrates legitimate commenters, some of whom may give up without sending in their comments.

Also I like that their form software converts my ward number into a list of politicians who represent me. What's puzzling is why regional politicians should care about this initiative. Aren't sidewalks the responsibility of the individual cities?

(02-19-2015, 01:02 PM)Canard Wrote: How so?  

My interpretation is that if there's a good chance you'll get one or more $300 fines each winter, a flat $50 increase in property tax to pay for citywide snow clearing will become highly palatable. I agree however that if bylaw enforcement becomes too diligent (or too petty in the case of clearing down to bare pavement) then political backlash against the city may trump any chance of implementing citywide clearing.
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#64
(02-19-2015, 02:04 PM)ookpik Wrote: BTW TriTAG needs to find a simpler CAPTCHA. I had to try 4 or 5 times to get a valid solution. The objective may be to frustrate spammers and robots but the reality is that it frustrates legitimate commenters, some of whom may give up without sending in their comments.

I'm not certain what browser you're using or what internet-protecting extensions you have installed, but on Chrome/Firefox/IE, I see the new simple Captcha:


[Image: lwuOdpH.jpg]
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#65
(02-19-2015, 02:04 PM)ookpik Wrote: My interpretation is that if there's a good chance you'll get one or more $300 fines each winter, a flat $50 increase in property tax to pay for citywide snow clearing will become highly palatable.

This seems logical.
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#66
(02-19-2015, 02:04 PM)ookpik Wrote: [Also I like that their form software converts my ward number into a list of politicians who represent me. What's puzzling is why regional politicians should care about this initiative. Aren't sidewalks the responsibility of the individual cities?

I think it depends on the nature of the road.  If it's a Regional road (a la Hwy 24/Hespler Rd), the unpopulated sidewalk surface and its shovelling thereof is the responsibility of the Region.
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#67
(02-19-2015, 03:26 PM)Osiris Wrote: I'm not certain what browser you're using or what internet-protecting extensions you have installed, but on Chrome/Firefox/IE, I see the new simple Captcha
Interesting. I'm using the current release of Chrome and get this type of CAPTCHA:

[Image: nq4b2p.jpg]

I just tried the same page on Firefox and IE. They show your CAPTCHA. I do have extensions in Chrome so I agree it's probably one of them.

Thanks for pointing this out.
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#68
(02-19-2015, 06:05 PM)ookpik Wrote:
(02-19-2015, 03:26 PM)Osiris Wrote: I'm not certain what browser you're using or what internet-protecting extensions you have installed, but on Chrome/Firefox/IE, I see the new simple Captcha
Interesting. I'm using the current release of Chrome and get this type of CAPTCHA:

[Image: nq4b2p.jpg]

I just tried the same page on Firefox and IE. They show your CAPTCHA. I do have extensions in Chrome so I agree it's probably one of them.

Thanks for pointing this out.

The deal with this type of captcha is that if it thinks you're legit, then it'll just show you the checkbox. i.e. it presumably has to be able to track your recent history and see that you've done a captcha before. If it doesn't think you're legit, it'll show you the captcha. TriTAG doesn't have a whole lot of options about which captcha plugin to use and that is probably the best one, even if it's hard to read sometimes.
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#69
(02-19-2015, 09:26 PM)plam Wrote: The deal with this type of captcha is that if it thinks you're legit, then it'll just show you the checkbox. i.e. it presumably has to be able to track your recent history and see that you've done a captcha before. If it doesn't think you're legit, it'll show you the captcha. TriTAG doesn't have a whole lot of options about which captcha plugin to use and that is probably the best one, even if it's hard to read sometimes.
That explanation makes perfect sense since I'm using extensions like Disconnect and Referrer Control hide my history, cookies, etc. And yes there's not much TriTAG can or should do about it.
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#70
When the land was initially being settled 125+ years ago, individual landowners were responsible for maintaining Township roads that ran in front of their property. If there was a pothole, the landowner fixed it themselves. Presumably this also covered things like washouts, minor bridges and trees falling across the roadway. Is it possible that property owners clearing sidewalks is a legacy of that? Thankfully, we're not asked to fix the cracks in the concrete.
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#71
I'm amazed that this seems to be an issue. I lived in a small town for twenty plus years, and we cleared the sidewalks. If a neighbour was sick, or elderly, we all chipped in and took care of it, often being a time to chew the fat with others. This was part of being a community. We're talking about, at the most 40-60 feet of sidewalk, a little more if it's a corner lot. Do we really need the city to clear the sidewalks in residential areas? The city has bigger issues regarding maintaining the streets and commercial areas and, as taxes are rising as we speak, I don't want one more thing to add to the bill.
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#72
(02-20-2015, 01:27 PM)schooner77 Wrote: I lived in a small town for twenty plus years, and we cleared the sidewalks.  If a neighbour was sick, or elderly, we all chipped in and took care of it, often being a time to chew the fat with others.  This was part of being a community.  We're talking about, at the most 40-60 feet of sidewalk, a little more if it's a corner lot.  Do we really need the city to clear the sidewalks in residential areas?

That depends on who "we" is. Maybe you don't need the city to clear your sidewalks. But if we walk on city streets, then your responsibility for yourself and your neighbours isn't enough - we need everyone to clear every sidewalk in a timely way. It doesn't really matter if everyone "should" clear their sidewalks.
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#73
And that is why there is bylaw enforcement and standards of snow clearance. The logistics of clearing the kilometres of sidewalk in the area, with machinery and manpower, in a timely manner seems daunting to say the least.
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#74
(02-20-2015, 10:08 PM)schooner77 Wrote: And that is why there is bylaw enforcement and standards of snow clearance.  The logistics of clearing the kilometres of sidewalk in the area, with machinery and manpower, in a timely manner seems daunting to say the least.

Well, sure. But governments actually do amazing things. And it's not like the total amount of work is less if we each do it rather than if one expert organization does it. Not to mention that other cities manage to do it.
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#75
(02-20-2015, 10:08 PM)schooner77 Wrote: And that is why there is bylaw enforcement and standards of snow clearance.  The logistics of clearing the kilometres of sidewalk in the area, with machinery and manpower, in a timely manner seems daunting to say the least.

Less daunting than by-law enforcement (that operates on a complaint basis, with a woefully inadequate standard) somehow resulting in the timely clearing of sidewalks.
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