Winter Walking and Cycling

[Acitta]

Google often asks me to review places I just happened to walk by or was waiting for a bus in front of.

[MidTowner]

Walking this morning, it's pretty obvious that the City of Kitchener's tweaking to its enforcement of clear sidewalks has not worked. Not because most sidewalks are impassable- most are clear, as of Sunday, even after a significant snowfall. But the few that are not are the same ones that were not earlier this season (and never were, but rather left to the weather to address), and the same ones as last winter and the winter before.

[Acitta]

I am happy that my street is part of the sidewalk clearing pilot. It is a lot different than last year.

[Rainrider22]

And how is the clearing going ?

[panamaniac]

I see that there's a letter in the Record complaining, for environmental reasons, about the City clearing. You can't please all the people all the time, I guess...

[ijmorlan]

I see that there's a letter in the Record complaining, for environmental reasons, about the City clearing.  You can't please all the people all the time, I guess...

Insincere. If they really cared about the environment they would complain about the enormous resources devoted to street clearing.

OK, I guess I should really read the letter before I accuse them of insincerity, but really, complaining about the environmental impact of making walking practical without complaining more about the corresponding work for motor vehicles? It’s pretty hard to credit that as a good faith argument.

[MidTowner]

More than likely, it's just not well thought-out. That person drives on the roads, so of course they need to be cleared. He doesn't walk on the sidewalks, so of course using salt on them is a waste.

I'm not bothering with calling the city too much this season, honestly, but I personally loaded up on salt a few months' back and am dumping it liberally on my kids' route to school where I know that property owners will not clear. I've cleared a few windrows that I know never otherwise will be, but I'm not usually the one walking them to school and not usually able to take my shovel with me.

I've always tried to use salt pretty judiciously on my own sidewalk, and usually find that it's only infrequently. But I figure if I do wind up dumping 150 kilos of salt on other people's sidewalks this season, it's not even a rounding error compared to the thousands of tonnes the City uses making sure the roads are clear and dry.

[danbrotherston]

More than likely, it's just not well thought-out. That person drives on the roads, so of course they need to be cleared. He doesn't walk on the sidewalks, so of course using salt on them is a waste.

I'm not bothering with calling the city too much this season, honestly, but I personally loaded up on salt a few months' back and am dumping it liberally on my kids' route to school where I know that property owners will not clear. I've cleared a few windrows that I know never otherwise will be, but I'm not usually the one walking them to school and not usually able to take my shovel with me.

I've always tried to use salt pretty judiciously on my own sidewalk, and usually find that it's only infrequently. But I figure if I do wind up dumping 150 kilos of salt on other people's sidewalks this season, it's not even a rounding error compared to the thousands of tonnes the City uses making sure the roads are clear and dry.

Please write your councillors, they need to hear this again and again.

Some of those "insincere" people (and I do agree that is the right word, if they've deluded themselves into believing a lie to justify their belief, that's still on them) are sitting on Kitchener City Council.

[MidTowner]

Please write your councillors, they need to hear this again and again.

Some of those "insincere" people (and I do agree that is the right word, if they've deluded themselves into believing a lie to justify their belief, that's still on them) are sitting on Kitchener City Council.

I've written my own councillor (including this season). I can't pretend to know how she really feels about this issue. She's voted for the city to do more to maintain its sidewalks in the past.

I agree that we need to keep the pressure on the politicians. I also do think we should be calling in and making reports to staff- even if there is little short-term action taken- but I've just grown a bit exhausted with it this year after it became obvious at the end of last winter that nothing at all was being done.

[danbrotherston]

Please write your councillors, they need to hear this again and again.

Some of those "insincere" people (and I do agree that is the right word, if they've deluded themselves into believing a lie to justify their belief, that's still on them) are sitting on Kitchener City Council.

I've written my own councillor (including this season). I can't pretend to know how she really feels about this issue. She's voted for the city to do more to maintain its sidewalks in the past.

I agree that we need to keep the pressure on the politicians. I also do think we should be calling in and making reports to staff- even if there is little short-term action taken- but I've just grown a bit exhausted with it this year after it became obvious at the end of last winter that nothing at all was being done.

Indeed. This is one of the most surprising things about bylaw enforcement, is that sidewalks that are habitually not cleared don't actually get cleared ever. I'm not sure why this is the case, but the sidewalk on Weber at Victoria that I use frequently has never been cleared, not once, in the past two winters that I've lived here.  I've called it in probably a hundred times, but it has never achieved anything. It's still uncleared yesterday, and I've asked the bylaw officers to call me back, but I've still not heard anything.

It is amazing the level of disconnect between what some city councillors believe about sidewalks and the reality faced by people using sidewalks.

[timc]

Indeed. This is one of the most surprising things about bylaw enforcement, is that sidewalks that are habitually not cleared don't actually get cleared ever. I'm not sure why this is the case, but the sidewalk on Weber at Victoria that I use frequently has never been cleared, not once, in the past two winters that I've lived here.  I've called it in probably a hundred times, but it has never achieved anything. It's still uncleared yesterday, and I've asked the bylaw officers to call me back, but I've still not heard anything.

I know the sidewalk you mean, and I can't believe that it went the entire winter last year without clearing, let alone this year.

[danbrotherston]

https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/news-st...-waterloo/

"If you have a neighbourhood issue, where do you go? City or to your neighbour? According to the City of Waterloo, more and more are relying on the municipality."

This byline is the worst, but the article perpetuates a fundamental failure to understand the problems with sidewalk clearing.

I have called in literally thousands of uncleared sidewalk complaints. Not one has ever been for a neighbour. I am happy to clear my neighbours walk the odd time.

However, I am unable to clear the hundreds of uncleared sidewalks I walk on, on my way to my destination. How do I have a conversation with that person, who isn't my neighbour, who I don't know, and only intend to spend a few seconds in front of their house, and who in many cases lives in a different country.

I wish they would perpetuating this falsehood that sidewalks are only about the one in front of your house.

[timc]

Isn't it true that the city has in the past used a lack of complaints as a justification to continue with the current sidewalk clearing policy? If the number of complaints has gone up dramatically, maybe it's time to rethink things.

[danbrotherston]

Isn't it true that the city has in the past used a lack of complaints as a justification to continue with the current sidewalk clearing policy? If the number of complaints has gone up dramatically, maybe it's time to rethink things.

I think they believed there would be more complaints if they did sidewalk clearing.

Of course the complaints would be more of the matter of "oh my god, your plow destroyed my grass, I'm a wealthy homeowner, I WANT SATISFACTION", and less of the "I'm a vulnerable person in the region, and I'm trapped in my house, because I don't drive an the sidewalk is unclear" and "I'm going to die now, because I'm a senior and I fell and broke my hip on the uncleared sidewalk"....of course, one of those complaints seem to matter more than the other, and frankly, I don't think the priority is in the right direction. But regardless, they didn't actually consider the type and nature of the complaint in the report which claimed complaints would increase.

Regardless, I don't think they'd actually care, complaints aren't the thing. Some councillors would like to do city clearing, but don't know how to make it happen in the face of the costs. Others oppose it because they have convinced themselves that city clearing would be worse, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

[ijmorlan]

Others oppose it because they have convinced themselves that city clearing would be worse, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

There is no “would” or evidence about it — city clearing is better, period. It already exists, just not for everybody.

Not entirely unlike Medicare in the USA.