Keep ice off sidewalks so seniors can get out, activist says
With thousands of snowbirds staying north this winter, a pedestrians' group is calling on the city of Montreal to vastly improve its sidewalk snow-clearing operations.
Pedestrian activist Dan Lambert said he's concerned that icy sidewalks — and the fear of a serious fall — will keep many senior citizens locked in their homes during the colder months, which will take a toll on their physical and mental well-being.
“It doesn't take much to discourage a senior,” he said. “The only exercise that a lot of them can do is go for a walk, and if they can't even go for a walk safely in the winter, it's going to be really hell for them staying inside. And the worst thing they can do is slip and fall.”
There were many icy patches on sidewalks Wednesday after a dusting of snow melted and refroze overnight. Lambert's group, the Coalition mobilité active Montréal, has been regularly monitoring the state of sidewalks and bike paths in several parts of the city, including Notre-dame-de- Grâce, Ville-marie, Plateau-mont-royal and SudOuest. Lambert said he has been sending messages of congratulations to public works directors for good maintenance in high-traffic areas, but he added that crews have not been thoroughly put to the test so far this winter.
“We haven't had anything I would call terrible snow events,” Lambert said. “We haven't had any challenging weather yet. The thaw-freeze cycles are more problematic when you have accumulated snow.”
Lambert is concerned that things will deteriorate if there are major snowfalls or bouts of freezing rain.
“In some cases, city policies aren't good enough, and that goes for hilly areas that can get very slippery with just one centimetre of ice,” he said.
The Coalition mobilité active Montréal and the Conseil régional de l'environnement de Montréal sent a joint letter to Mayor Valérie Plante earlier in the year highlighting their concerns.
The letter asked the city to add more space to allow people to keep safe distances when passing each other on sidewalks. It also asked the city to maintain some pedestrian corridors that were instituted during the spring in order to widen sidewalks into the street, but the administration declined that request, saying it would make snow-clearing operations more difficult.
If there aren't wider areas for pedestrians, Lambert said, he would like crews to do a better job of clearing entire sidewalks; generally ice is pushed to the margins of the sidewalks, which reduces the width where people can walk.
Lionel Perez, interim leader of the opposition Ensemble Montréal, said much of the reason for persistently icy sidewalks is due to a lack of funds. He said the Plante administration has not significantly increased the city's snow-clearing budget since it came into power.
“If the boroughs and city centre don't have sufficient money, they adjust their decisions accordingly,” Perez said. “Public safety of our elderly should not be compromised by budgetary decisions. This year, there are a lot more seniors (in the city) and there are fewer indoor activities for them to do, so it's more important than ever that we have truly excellent sidewalk clearing.”
Perez said the Plante administration is not up to the task, and that icy sidewalks have been a hallmark of the mayor's tenure.
“There's no reason for Montreal to have the challenges we've seen in the last few years, but they always come up with excuses,” he said.
Youssef Amane, a spokesperson for Plante, said the administration is prioritizing sidewalks this year.
“We know that this year, many more Montrealers will stay in the city because of the pandemic,” Amane said. “That's why we are paying particular attention to securing sidewalks, so as to encourage active mobility.