City plows missed 92-year-old’s sidewalk. So I got to digging

Plowing snow-covered sidewalks isn’t all that complicated, but it seems to be a big ask on Albacore Crescent.

The city puts substantial effort into plowing sidewalks in areas outside the downtown core, where plows have enough room to manoeuvre and space on the boulevard where snow can be pushed.

It’s always been a sore point for innercity residents, whose sidewalks aren’t plowed because they’re narrower and there’s no place for the plows to push the snow.

So the plowing problems on Albacore aren’t likely to rub the toffs in Bloor West Village or the Annex the wrong way, but it’s disappointing to suburban dwellers who are accustomed to better service.

Colin Doyle emailed to say his 92-yearold father lives at the corner of Albacore and Brimorton Drive, where plows have abdicated from scraping the sidewalk on the Albacore side this winter.

“For the past three snowstorms the sidewalks on Albacore have not been plowed, including today’s,” said Doyle, after the last dump of snow. “I tried to report it on the 311 snow removal report page, but it said it is not accepting emails as the crews are still out working.

“Are they still working on the snow I tried to report it December 2020? My Dad pays a lot of taxes and he’s not getting the service he is entitled to.”

Doyle said that until this winter, plows have always scraped the sidewalks that border both sides of his father’s house, but the plowing regimen seems to have gone off the rails this year.

I went there Monday and found that the sidewalk on the south side of Albacore, running west from Brimorton, had not been plowed, while both sides of the rest of the street were scraped clean.

Status: A note on Tuesday from Tom Kalogiannis, manager of claims and investigations for transportation services, said the issue was looked into “this afternoon and (staff) plan to work with the local sidewalk clearing contractor to ensure the sidewalk is both safe and passable as soon as possible.

“Staff will also work with the contractor to ensure the route is cleared following future snowfalls when levels of service have been met.”

“All home owners in Toronto have a role to play in clearing the sidewalk adjacent their property for the safety of their neighbours and their community.”

I tossed a shovel into my car, went back late Tuesday afternoon and saw that the sidewalk was still covered by snow. So I shoveled it myself. The guy is 92, so I did him a mitzvah.

Doyle later emailed to thank me and say the city had spread salt over what was left of the packed-down ice.

What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca or follow @TOStarFixer on Twitter