I lived in a town that did clear all sidewalks, and it is by no means a perfect solution and comes with a whole host of new complaints. I don't support it within residential neighborhoods, unsure in mixed use areas like downtown, but I would support the city clearing access to crosswalks on major streets.
I also admit to being salty about the possibility of tax-funded city-wide service because the most consistent offender in my area is a non-community oriented church, which has a massive stretch of sidewalk right beside an elementary school.
Qualifying note on sidewalk clearing as a public service: I fully support this, but implemented in stages, starting with streets and neighbourhoods that were originally built for walking to and from work, shops, banks, restaurants, cafes, bars, church, school, clubs, parks, city hall, farmers market etc., before suburban building patterns centred around the automobile became the norm. These also happen to be areas that are relatively dense, which will help make the service both more affordable and practically useful. I would prefer that snow and ice clearing work be done as much as possible by hand, by people who live within walking distance, organized by some kind of non-governmental body dedicated to the purpose of neighbourhood service, not for the benefit of owners and managers.
I think building out a network overtime has some benefits. The one thing I wondered about though, is would those not in the neighbourhoods still pay through their taxes for the service? I could see some pushback on that, even though lots of our taxes go to things that perhaps we don't personally benefit from, but our community as a whole does. Just curious about your thoughts on that.
That's why I would tie it to a certain level of density and make it part of a staged implementation of a 20-minute city plan. Taxes generated per square kilometre increase with density, and so does pressure on existing vehicular transportation infrastructure. Investing in support services for walking and active transportation is not only green, it's also healthy, fair and fiscally prudent. Any city precinct would be entitled to the same service once certain density and 20 minute city targets are reached. I'd go even farther and lower taxes in areas where intensification takes place, but that can get tricky. It would be prudent and fair, though, to gradually move away from a situation where taxes raised in dense inner city precincts end up subsidizing more spacious areas of a city where the per square kilometre cost of maintaining basic infrastructure is much higher.
Snow on sidewalks: in theory, I think the city should clear all sidewalks. But there are a number of issues with this that need to be addressed. 1. Cost. It doesn't make sense to go from zero to speed of sound with nothing in between. And I know that if the city started performing this action, it would take 2 or 3 years to get the equipment, training, staff etc. And I also know that many people would *still* complain about the poor job the city was doing. 2. We should start with a "minimum grid" which would include downtown areas, high pedestrian traffic areas and approaches to all transit stops. This would 'pave the way' for eventually expanding the service. 3. Proper reporting and bylaw enforcement. The current laws are ridiculous. The snow has to stop falling for over 24 hours before you can report someone's sidewalk and then it will take ByLaw another day or two to get to it, and then the snow could be falling again. Meanwhile. some sidewalks have ice on them because they've rarely been shoveled and ByLaw ignore them because they were not reported. The city has ignored all these particulars which means the problems remain, year after year....
I can't argue with much here, Ted :) I think your point about people will still complain, is worth mentioning. Because I'd hate to think that some on council would see a reduction in complaints as the main indicator of whether this is a valued service or not. For me, it's about accessibility and active transportation. If we can create a city where people can get around in all seasons easily without a vehicle, that feels like a success to me!
I lived in a town that did clear all sidewalks, and it is by no means a perfect solution and comes with a whole host of new complaints. I don't support it within residential neighborhoods, unsure in mixed use areas like downtown, but I would support the city clearing access to crosswalks on major streets.
I also admit to being salty about the possibility of tax-funded city-wide service because the most consistent offender in my area is a non-community oriented church, which has a massive stretch of sidewalk right beside an elementary school.
Sidewalk snow clearing: fully support. Moving from somewhere that does this to KW was a rude awakening and it's hard to understand the case against it
Qualifying note on sidewalk clearing as a public service: I fully support this, but implemented in stages, starting with streets and neighbourhoods that were originally built for walking to and from work, shops, banks, restaurants, cafes, bars, church, school, clubs, parks, city hall, farmers market etc., before suburban building patterns centred around the automobile became the norm. These also happen to be areas that are relatively dense, which will help make the service both more affordable and practically useful. I would prefer that snow and ice clearing work be done as much as possible by hand, by people who live within walking distance, organized by some kind of non-governmental body dedicated to the purpose of neighbourhood service, not for the benefit of owners and managers.
I think building out a network overtime has some benefits. The one thing I wondered about though, is would those not in the neighbourhoods still pay through their taxes for the service? I could see some pushback on that, even though lots of our taxes go to things that perhaps we don't personally benefit from, but our community as a whole does. Just curious about your thoughts on that.
That's why I would tie it to a certain level of density and make it part of a staged implementation of a 20-minute city plan. Taxes generated per square kilometre increase with density, and so does pressure on existing vehicular transportation infrastructure. Investing in support services for walking and active transportation is not only green, it's also healthy, fair and fiscally prudent. Any city precinct would be entitled to the same service once certain density and 20 minute city targets are reached. I'd go even farther and lower taxes in areas where intensification takes place, but that can get tricky. It would be prudent and fair, though, to gradually move away from a situation where taxes raised in dense inner city precincts end up subsidizing more spacious areas of a city where the per square kilometre cost of maintaining basic infrastructure is much higher.
Snow on sidewalks: in theory, I think the city should clear all sidewalks. But there are a number of issues with this that need to be addressed. 1. Cost. It doesn't make sense to go from zero to speed of sound with nothing in between. And I know that if the city started performing this action, it would take 2 or 3 years to get the equipment, training, staff etc. And I also know that many people would *still* complain about the poor job the city was doing. 2. We should start with a "minimum grid" which would include downtown areas, high pedestrian traffic areas and approaches to all transit stops. This would 'pave the way' for eventually expanding the service. 3. Proper reporting and bylaw enforcement. The current laws are ridiculous. The snow has to stop falling for over 24 hours before you can report someone's sidewalk and then it will take ByLaw another day or two to get to it, and then the snow could be falling again. Meanwhile. some sidewalks have ice on them because they've rarely been shoveled and ByLaw ignore them because they were not reported. The city has ignored all these particulars which means the problems remain, year after year....
I can't argue with much here, Ted :) I think your point about people will still complain, is worth mentioning. Because I'd hate to think that some on council would see a reduction in complaints as the main indicator of whether this is a valued service or not. For me, it's about accessibility and active transportation. If we can create a city where people can get around in all seasons easily without a vehicle, that feels like a success to me!