City’s slowness in clearing snow from downtown parking stalls concerns Luhning
Jason G. Antonio - Moose Jaw Express
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While Luhning understood that two major blizzards KDG KLW 0RRVH -DZ ZLWKLQ WKUHH ZHHNV VKH GLGQ¶W XQGHUVWDQG FLW\ KDOO¶V SURFHVV IRU FOHDULQJ GRZQWRZQ SDUNLQJ stalls. She pointed out that city hall sends yearly letters to EXVLQHVVHV UHPLQGLQJ WKHP WR FOHDU VLGHZDONV IRU SHGHVtrians so they shovel snow into the street.
City council passed a motion years ago that crews had to clear snow from downtown metered spots within a certain time, she said during the Nov. 14 regular council meeting.
“For businesses downtown, the city needs to try and do something about the fact those meters tend to be clogged for quite a bit of time, longer than is appropriDWH IRU WKRVH EXVLQHVVHV DQG WKHLU SDWURQV « ´ VKH UHPDUNHG
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She added that she understood there were priority streets but noted that residents must access businesses GRZQWRZQ VXFK DV GRFWRUV¶ RI¿FHV
The downtown core consists of Main Street and then the side streets that branch off east and west for one EORFN H[SODLQHG 'DUULQ 6WHSKDQVRQ GLUHFWRU RI SXEOLF
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3XEOLF ZRUNV FUHZV GHSRVLW VQRZ RQWR WKH FHQWUH PHdians on Main Street as the main storage solution, while it starts hauling that snow and snow from the side streets around day 3, he continued. Meanwhile, business ownHUV FDQ VKRYHO WKH VQRZ LQWR WKH SDUNLQJ VWDOOV DQG SXEOLF ZRUNV ZLOO UHPRYH LW
Side streets such as High Street, Athabasca and Hochelaga are purely hauling zones because they have limited storage capacity, said Stephanson.
“So, for streets … that are off Main Street that have businesses, we do temporary storage in one-half of the SDUNLQJ PHWHUV ZKLFK LV W\SLFDOO\ RXU VWUDWHJ\ IRU D ODUJH VQRZIDOO ´ KH VWDWHG DGGLQJ FUHZV ZLOO HYHQWXDOO\ KDXO away everything.
The city uses third-party contractors to assist with clearing snow, but most were unavailable because it was DQ HDUO\ VHDVRQ EOL]]DUG DQG WKH\ ZHUH VWLOO ¿QLVKLQJ VXPmer projects — some for the city — and had not switched their vehicles to winter-oriented initiatives, Stephanson said.
That left city crews to handle everything themselves, ZKLFK WRRN ORQJHU EHFDXVH RI WKH OLPLWHG HTXLSPHQW KH DGGHG 0RVW VXSSRUWLQJ FRQWUDFWRUV ZRQ¶W EH DYDLODEOH until December.
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7KH EOL]]DUG GDPDJHG WKH URRIV DW *ROGHQ 7LFNHW Sports Centre and the Pla-Mor Palace because contractors had been upgrading the roofs and the temporary seals failed to hold.
The roof replacement at Pla-Mor concerned Coun. +HDWKHU (E\ ZKR ZRQGHUHG ZK\ WKDW ZRUN ZDVQ¶W ¿Qished during the summer when there was less ice-related programming.
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“We awarded the tender in May and the contractor KDG SOHQW\ RI WLPH WR FRPSOHWH LW LQ WKH VXPPHU ´ KH DGGHG ³:H ZLOO ZRUN ZLWK WKH OHJDO GHSDUWPHQW LQ WKH future on tenders to see if we can hold contractors to a WLPHOLQH ´
Won’t you be my neighbour?
Coun. Crystal Froese commended residents for being good neighbours and helping dig out others nearby. She heard many people lent snowblowers and helped remove tree branches from yards.
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