Critics vocal on snow clearing effort
Last winter, city graders clearing snow in front of people’s homes would have been a welcome sight.
This year, many people say the plows are doing more harm than good.
“They got three feet of crushed ice packed up against our sidewalks. Me and my wife are out here shovelling our guts out,” said 84-year-old Chuck Van Devoorde between shovel sessions in front his house in River Heights.
Four city graders cleared Van Devoorde’s street Tuesday afternoon. An hour later, he had to shovel away huge chunks of ice and snow, just for a place to park.
“They had four graders out here, and all he needed was two graders and a truck, and they could have snow out of here,” he said.
For the first time ever, city crews are clearing snow from residential streets neighbourhood by neighbourhood — but hauling it away is considered too expensive.
Instead, it’s piling up on the sides of streets, where many residents park their cars.
The move to step up snow clearing efforts is part of a $2 million budget increase approved this year by city council, and is a contributing factor to the 7.26 per cent tax hike — one of the largest in Saskatoon’s history.
The spending boost came after a wild winter when public outrage about snow clearing reached a boiling point with people complaining of lost mufflers and hubcaps because of the ruts and potholes.
“Council heard that loud and clear, and we said we are going to invest in more snow removal this year. We just didn’t want to have what we had last year,” Mayor Don Atchison said in an interview Tuesday.
He said the new “proactive approach” to clearing residential streets will help prevent serious rutting and other dangerous driving conditions people experienced last winter. Crews are expected to start hauling the snow piles away from residential areas if there is no significant snow fall in
“WE SAID WE ARE GOING TO INVEST IN MORE SNOW REMOVAL THIS YEAR. WE JUST DIDN’T WANT TO HAVE WHAT WE HAD LAST YEAR.”
DON ATCHISON
the coming weeks.
For some residents, however, the windrows are causing serious parking issues, and relief can’t come soon enough.
“Three- foot windrows everywhere. If I park my husband’s truck there, I’m in the driving lane,” said Hampton Village resident Jennifer Gelowitz.
Gelowitz said she’s lucky a neighbour is letting her husband park in her driveway for the time being.
Dundonald resident Lindsay Webster lives on the corner of 37th Street and Heggie Street, and doesn’t have a driveway or garage.
The city has posted noparking signs on Heggie Street, where she normally parks, effective today. At the same time, there are snow banks along 37th; she doesn’t want to park there in case her car gets hit. Luckily, she’s able to park in a co-worker’s driveway.
Webster said the city could have cleared parts of neighbourhoods at different times, to give people options for parking.
“Other people that don’t have driveways or regularly park on the street, what do they do?” Webster said.
Atchison said he remains optimistic that clearing the snow is the right thing to do — even it means people struggle to find parking.
“We are only halfway through winter. March and early April can be horrific for snow, and if that’s the case, this will look like a wonderful thing,” he said.