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Winter Walking and Cycling
More than five days after the only real snowfall we have had this winter, and sidewalks generally are pretty terrible this afternoon.

Granted, it was a lot of snow, but every street is bare. Whereas sidewalks are often blocked from the street by windrows a foot or higher, and many sidewalks are just paths trodden down by people walking through.

Whatever the municipalities might think they're doing, it isn't working...again.
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(01-22-2022, 03:25 PM)MidTowner Wrote: More than five days after the only real snowfall we have had this winter, and sidewalks generally are pretty terrible this afternoon.

Granted, it was a lot of snow, but every street is bare. Whereas sidewalks are often blocked from the street by windrows a foot or higher, and many sidewalks are just paths trodden down by people walking through.

Whatever the municipalities might think they're doing, it isn't working...again.

Yeah, this happens every year and our pols do not care. They had an opportunity to make a change and didn’t. 

In winter I really have nothing polite to say. This played a significant role in our decision to leave the city. It’s just an intolerable situation. 

FWIW the small town of Picton where I am right now has municipal sidewalk clearing. The main road sidewalks were cleared continuously through the storm and almost every other sidewalk was cleared and every windrow was cleared 24 hours after the end of the storm. 

The only thing I had to worry about walking to the grocery store today is the driver in a pickup making a left turn without looking.
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I worked a winter at the Picton cement plant and loved how easy it was to waddle from the hotel to the metro. Nice little town but I don't miss that cement plant.
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Photo 
Came across this waist high beauty at lunch today.

I don't get the thought process on the plow driver.


Attached Files Image(s)
   
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"I am done my section...it's not my fault the system is broken".

And I cannot fault them for thinking that.
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I can fault them, this example is mid-block and not on a property line.
Even if it were on a property line, who piles snow onto their neighbours lot with the thought "I did my job, now you deal with my snow"
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(01-25-2022, 01:53 PM)Chris Wrote: Came across this waist high beauty at lunch today.

I don't get the thought process on the plow driver.

I was going to ask you if you reported it using the Pingstreet app, but I looked at mine, and it no longer lists the City of Kitchener, though Waterloo, Cambridge and the Region are still on it.
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(01-25-2022, 01:53 PM)Chris Wrote: Came across this waist high beauty at lunch today.

I don't get the thought process on the plow driver.

This is basically my experience with half the city/region sidewalks. They do the worst job of clearing them and not give a shit, but they'll be happy to ticket the 80 year old lady who wasn't able to clear her sidewalk because her hip is hurting.
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(01-25-2022, 05:02 PM)Acitta Wrote: I was going to ask you if you reported it using the Pingstreet app, but I looked at mine, and it no longer lists the City of Kitchener, though Waterloo, Cambridge and the Region are still on it.

No more complaints on Pingstreet for Kitchener. I have asked why, received no answer, and gave up. You have to call in. I have done that a few times this past week, but I'm pretty sure the only purpose is to waste my time and the operators'.
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(01-25-2022, 01:53 PM)Chris Wrote: Came across this waist high beauty at lunch today.

I don't get the thought process on the plow driver.

I have done plowing before, though not on city streets, but I can tell you that blaming the operator isn't right. They literally have no control over the snow. You can either clear the streets properly and get snow banks on sidewalks and get complaints, or don't clear the streets properly and get snow banks on the road instead and get complaints.

The snow has to go somewhere. Not sure what all you can do when you get a huge snowfall, other than be patient and wait till they get the proper equipment out there to clear it.

It's also a reminder why people should never buy a corner property. They suck.
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(01-25-2022, 02:34 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: "I am done my section...it's not my fault the system is broken".

And I cannot fault them for thinking that.

This is the correct answer.

The system that Kitchener (and many cities in Ontario) aren't correct, and in fact, are broken. Richmond Hill, for example, has a Windrow removal program, usually 13 hours after the last of the snowfall.

This whole region has a mentality of keeping tax increases at or below inflation, emphasis on below. Proper snow removal would get expensive, but wouldn't add a hell of a lot to a property bill.
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" Literally no control over the snow"? They're moving the snow.

I understand what you mean, it has to go somewhere. That's not snow from the street. An operator can't believe that he is clearing the sidewalk by pushing a pile of snow onto the next property owner's length of sidewalk.
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(01-25-2022, 07:47 PM)MidTowner Wrote: " Literally no control over the snow"? They're moving the snow.

I understand what you mean, it has to go somewhere. That's not snow from the street. An operator can't believe that he is clearing the sidewalk by pushing a pile of snow onto the next property owner's length of sidewalk.

AH...Ok, I thought this was from the street, not pushed from a sidewalk plow.
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(01-25-2022, 05:02 PM)Acitta Wrote:
(01-25-2022, 01:53 PM)Chris Wrote: Came across this waist high beauty at lunch today.

I don't get the thought process on the plow driver.

I was going to ask you if you reported it using the Pingstreet app, but I looked at mine, and it no longer lists the City of Kitchener, though Waterloo, Cambridge and the Region are still on it.

I emailed Debbie Chapman and Berry. Debbie's reponse was 

"Hi Cory, I’ve never heard of the PingStreet app. What I would recommend is that you report issues and concerns to the contact centre at 519-741-2345.  I hope that helps."

🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦
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Kitchener got rid of Pingstreet last year. You're supposed to use the "My Kitchener" site now. It doesn't have any way to explicitly report a sidewalk snow removal issue, but you could try "sidewalk trip hazard" or "other". I suspect this is related to a 2019 survey where most respondents rated it as a very low priority when reporting various issues compared to the City of Kitchener website, phone and email. Of course in practice it just makes it more difficult to report issues that just require a quick location and photo, because almost nobody is going to go around calling in sidewalk clearing complaints.

https://mykitchener.kitchener.ca/
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