We want to first thank you and your team for the extraordinary work the City has been doing on behalf of residents after the recent very heavy back-to-back snowfalls.
No one can fail to recognize the challenges this kind of winter storm poses. Crews have been working long shifts around the clock to keep our city moving, and we hope they can soon rest. Neither of us takes their work for granted; it’s incredible that so much clean-up has already been accomplished.
We are writing this morning to ask whether staff can provide us and residents some insight into the prioritization of snow removal. For the past week, we have been the recipients of a high volume of correspondence from residents. Each has a perspective on how prioritization should proceed from their vantage point, according to their own priorities. We know that City staff have a network-wide understanding of how best to accomplish the overall clean-up, but we are not privy to that. We have been unable to provide an explanation to the many notes we’ve received asking why X is proceeding before Y street, and we cannot easily dismiss the concerns expressed.
While snow removal is generally routine, when there is an event like the one we’ve had it has several critical implications. Narrow urban streets make it difficult for transit to serve customers, school pick-up and drop-off become more dangerous, residents lose access to parking space and traffic frustrations can lead to traffic jams and altercations.
When staff are able, we’d be grateful to understand the decisions that prioritize certain streets over others, according to the concerns that we’ve heard.
We recognize that some of these resident concerns may be contradictory. Residents, however, don’t have the overall picture of what the City’s priorities are for snow removal and how operational decisions are made. During an extreme weather event, residents are told that they cannot report snow clearing concerns to 311, so councillors’ offices have been inundated with complaints and questions to which we have no answers. We’d be grateful for as full an understanding as you can convey.
Again, thanks to the work your crews have been doing. No matter the reasons they’re sent to one street versus another, we are thankful for the many hours they’ve put in with more still to come, and we absolutely recognize the importance that good management has played in getting us to this point.
At least we’re not Toronto, right?
Thanks in advance for your reply
Snow clearing is political. This has become even more clear to me since we got absolutely walloped with back-to-back “extreme weather events” in February, leaving city staff to clean up more than 70 centimetres of snow.
That was a lot of snow. Seventy centimetres over four days, in fact. Our city got absolutely walloped with back-to-back “extreme weather events” – an extremely unusual situation.
Environment Canada has issued a winter storm warning for Ottawa, and effective immediately, the City is declaring a significant weather event that will remain in effect until further notice. Below is information and resources related to snow clearing and cold weather resources.