It took me five tries to get out of my driveway this morning. I was on way to a meeting and I didn’t have time to clear the snow as my driveway is long and steep and usually takes a couple of hours to shovel.
The roads in my neighbourhood hadn’t been plowed at 7:45 a.m., but I didn’t expect them to be. I realize there are much higher priority routes than this one and I know that our tireless District staff will get to them once priority routes have been cleared.
As I got closer to Brackendale, the main roads had been plowed and many people were shovelling their driveways and the sidewalk fronting their homes.
The school parking lot was already clear and Cap Highways crews were shovelling crossings at Highway 99. Great team effort.
While talking to the local media lately, we have chatted about everything snowy and icy.
We talked about how great the business community has been at clearing their sidewalks and how negligent many vacant landowners had been in the same.
We touched on the challenge of addressing and budgeting for winter events in any given year as it is as “unpredictable as the weather”, and how the operations crew focus on “red” listed priority roads, roads that are arterial connectors or hilly.
We discussed the nine vehicles the District utilizes to brine roads and clear snow, and the additional focus on active transportation, bus stops and safe routes to schools in the past two years.
We discussed possible future improvements including the potential for a specialized vehicle for sidewalks, commuter trails and active transportation connections.
At $210,000, it’s an expensive unit but it would deliver significant service improvements for snow and ice removal in the winter and brushing, vegetation and trail maintenance during the remainder of the year.
And we pondered the possibility of putting GPS in our vehicles so people could track snowplows online and plan shovelling and travel around it.
We chatted about our bylaw that requires all property owners to “promptly” clear snow and ice from the sidewalks fronting their property, the need for clear communications and bylaw enforcement and how it is important that citizens collectively play an active roll in helping keep our sidewalks passable and safe.
And above all, we impressed the value of being neighbourly and helping those who cannot do it themselves.
Thanks to everyone, especially our tireless District crews, for doing your part in keeping our community safer.
- Mayor Patricia Heintzman
