While I understand the need to keep the highways clear, I often walk when it is safely possible. I am very particular about keeping the public sidewalk cleared in front of my home on Nelson Ave. During the pre-Christmas snowfall it was best to shovel regularly before the snow became too deep and heavy.
Boxing Day morning with a light snow cover along with a light rain, the sidewalk was again cleared along with the stairs going to the street where I had marked that opening with flagging on two poles. After lunch sometime the plow came by again, getting closer to the curb. That snow, in random sized chunks, was deposited on the clear sidewalk to depths of 15-to-20 centimetres.
I felt beaten. With arthritic hands still aching from the last week of shovelling I managed to clear a path of one shovel blade width along the 22 metres of public sidewalk. For those who don’t shovel their walks there is a 30-cm cover of jumbled snow on top of what had not been shovelled to further challenge pedestrians including our great letter carriers.
With sidewalk clearing now a low priority and no apparent enforcement of the snow clearing bylaw, what can be done?
Ron Robinson
Nelson