So since weeks since the snow began in December, and most of the residential streets are hummocks and berms of snow that rise above the sidewalks. In many neighborhoods they are impassable. An unusually large accumulation of snow throughout December is to blame, we are told.
But 6 weeks after it began, most of the neighborhood streets have not been cleared, and as fresh snow adds itself to packed slush the streets become increasingly problematic.
The city's response?
Read the article here.
Quote: "The city's 311 service fielded more than 1,000 calls Tuesday and Wednesday from motorists demanding the clogged roads be cleared -- prompting an initial request that residents stop calling".
Think of the city as a service provider, elected officials placed in charge of your tax money to deliver essential services to the community.
Obviously ploughing streets in Canada is not an essential service. Or perhaps the need to plough snow from streets in Canada is not a foreseeable issue.
Or maybe the job of our elected officials is to rebuke citizens for expecting services. That's it, I think....
Quote: "It has been rough weather. But it would be irresponsible to respond to fluctuations in seasonal weather."
Presumably then it would be irresponsible to respond to floods, heat waves or other forces of nature. Your tax money at work.
The solution, in the end? Wait for a chinook to clear it. And when the weather has done it's work the politicians will step forward to grasp at the credit.
**NOTE: A city that put reasonable boundries on growth and expansion, with an emphasis on building up high density urban neighborhoods, would have no problem clearing streets within reasonable time and alloted tax frames. This is obviously not that city.