GUESS WHAT, IT SNOWS
After a blizzard of complaints over storms, we should take time to remember the winters of yore,
The snow that has buried us lately reveals an uncomfortable truth: City folk are easily inconvenienced by an old-fashioned winter.
Our Saturday column about plowing complaints whipped up a blizzard of colourful email from readers, many with legitimate grievances, considering the high standard of snow clearing expected from the city.
But here’s the thing: In Canada, in February, it snows. It is not unusual or a catastrophe, even if it seems like it around here, where we just don’t get the long, snowy winters that were normal 30 or 40 years ago.
We’re softer because of it, surprised that running shoes are no good in slush, indignant about weather that barely raises an eyebrow even a couple hours north of the city.
So when a long spell of snow and cold stretches the city’s snow removal resources, it also tests the tolerance of people who just want the job done right, and the sooner the better. Carmela Mandarano said sidewalks in Mississauga “are a mess. I go walking every day and in a lot of places they do the sidewalks, but not at the end. Then I have to walk back and come out at the front of a house. It’s horrible!”
Keith Nash said the sidewalk in front of an elderly neighbour’s house on Landfair Cr., is never properly plowed, and that phone calls to 311 “have fallen on deaf ears.”
Erika Lloyd can only dream of sidewalk plowing, saying “I live in one of those neighbourhoods that doesn’t get any snow plowing. The city does the sidewalk across from us as it borders a park, but not our side.
“All local stores have run out of salt, so the sidewalks are dangerous and covered with thick ice that is impossible to chip away.”
Michael Goran said recent freeze-and-thaw weather “has transformed the giant piles of snow on my street (Seymour Ave.) into hardened, icy piles of frozen car-killers.”
“The street is so narrow there’s no longer room for twoway traffic,” Goran said. “You need the skill of a rally car driver and pray that your undercarriage can take the punishing, uneven ice treachery that has become the new roadbed.”
Clearly, a lot of people are discomforted by the weather and think the city has dropped the ball, but a note from Brian Furlong, who lives in Coldwater, about 150 kilometres north of Toronto, puts it in perspective.
“I was reading the complaints and got a little giggle from some of them, especially the picture of Donmac Dr.,” he said.
In Coldwater, “we usually don’t see the pavement, other than on (Hwy.) 400, till the spring. Most people up north would love to see a sidewalk like the one on Donmac at this time of year.
“The town of Midland just got 70 cm. The streets and sidewalks aren’t plowed down to the pavement. We have snow tires and wear proper footwear for walking in winter.
“Unfortunately, in this part of the world, snow is part of winter and we just have to accept that. But getting upset about it to the point of raising your voice is just not worth it.
“Just get out and enjoy the snow and keep your stress levels down.” Amen.