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Sidewalk snow clearing: follow-up for winter 2019/2020

From the Dufferin Grove Park newsletter, Nov.2019:

Getting to the farmers’ market this winter when the sidewalks aren’t cleared Last winter, and for many winters before, farmers’ market shoppers lamented the difficulty of getting to the market during the many Thursdays when the sidewalks were a mess. Skaters joked that they had to put on their skates at home so that they could skate to the rink. But it wasn’t funny. There was lots of talk about how to change that wintertime trapped-in-the-house feeling that’s not uncommon for people living in central Toronto, and there were said to be over 2000 letters to the mayor on the subject, from all over the city. Most of the letters said that the central city should get the same sidewalk plowing that’s done in Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough.

In March, Mayor Tory asked Transportation Services management for a report on the problem. Management hired two consulting companies to look at the problem – HDR Inc., an Omaha (Nebraska) international engineering firm, and IPSOS, a market research firm based in Paris (France, not the Paris that’s in Ontario) – to investigate. (Yes, really.)

On October 17, their findings were presented to a committee of council.

The HDR engineering report summary begins by saying that service standards for Toronto “generally exceed other municipalities’ levels of service on the lower volume roadways such as local and residential streets, and sidewalks.” The IPSOS survey found that “a majority (57 percent) of residents are satisfied with the winter maintenance services provided by the City of Toronto.”


the city already clears sidewalks beside downtown parks

A few week earlier, we had tracked down Michael Black, a member of Walk Toronto (walktoronto.ca, founded in 2013), a grassroots pedestrian advocacy group. We asked Michael what was planned for the sidewalk clearing this winter. He put us in touch with Transportation Services’ program manager of Emergency and Winter Services, Dominic Guthrie Dominic.guthrie@toronto.ca to find the answer.

Mr. Guthrie had good news and bad news. Good: the official snow amount for sidewalk snow plowing has been reduced to 2 cm from 8 cm. Bad: the downtown plowing is only for seniors. Good: the city has purchased 8 smaller sidewalk plows. Bad: they’ll only be used in front of the seniors’ houses (those who apply). Good: the sidewalk staff will test out what obstacles they run into on the sidewalks (hydro poles, street signs, fences etc.) -- practical testing. Bad: back to the consultant, for mapping every downtown fence and hydro pole on a central map. Idea: why not just ask residents to submit reports block by block, and then get down to clearing the sidewalks! Post script: the Ipsos market research report, saying that 57% of Torontonians are satisfied with the sidewalk service in winter, was just a random survey of people in any part of the city, all lumped together. The winter services manager admitted that the study gives no breakdown for areas where there’s no plowing. Our educated guess for unplowed sidewalks: 100% dissatisfied.

Sidewalk plowing comments from the dufferingrovefriends listserv

Erin George: I encourage everyone to visit clearoursidewalks.ca to send a message to Mayor Tory that we will no longer stand for the discriminatory practice of failing to clear ice and snow from residential streets in the downtown core. It would cost $7.6 million dollars to provide this service annually. Slip and fall claims pay-outs alone are $6.7 million annually and are concentrated in the downtown core (coincidence? I think not.)
….City staff try to blame the discrepancy on the narrow width of the sidewalks and the placement of hydro poles, but the sidewalks are literally no different south of the Danforth versus two blocks north of the Danforth and yet the former East York residential streets get their sidewalks cleared of snow and ice and the former City of Toronto does not. The argument is flawed and they know it. Someone needs to take this to the Human Rights Tribunal.

Judy Archer: For 35 yrs, I worked as a Public Health Nurse in all of the former municipalities except for the Cities of York & North York. I remember commenting on the lovely cleared sidewalks in Etobicoke & Scarborough…The former City of Toronto’s side streets often were like skating rinks. My concerns have exponentially increased since I’ve retired and had orthopedic surgery. It’s over 20 yrs since amalgamation, this disparity between the former municipalities has got to end.
Tracy Frances: My children are grown up now, but when they were small there were days when it was virtually impossible to push their stroller on sidewalks that had not been shovelled. I had just moved from Ottawa where the sidewalks are cleared and everyone can move around on foot in the winter.
Marte Misiek: It is past time to address this issue…I rely on walking and the TTC as my primary means of getting around the city. I broke my wrist 5 years ago because I fell on an uncleared sidewalk in our neighbourhood. I never thought to approach the city for compensation; I was too busy trying to heal and get by day-to-day. Now I fear walking outside [in winter]; it can be dangerous just to get to the TTC. Luckily I am otherwise in good health; I am not person with small children in a stroller or a person using a mobility device.


 
Nov.20, 2019 Freedom of Information request from CELOS

FOI request for contracts re snow clearing Please send me electronic copies of the following two contracts issued by city staff sometime after March 2019: (1) HDR, Inc. to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing winter maintenance services and (2) Ipsos Public Affairs to solicit feedback from Toronto residents and road users on their opinion of the City's winter services. These contracts are referenced in the Oct.17, 2019 report to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2019.IE8.6 Please include the value (cost) of each of these contracts.

Dec.20, 2019, reply from FOI

Disclosure of those records affects the interests of a third party. Therefore, in accordance with Section 21 of the Act, the third parties are being given an opportunity to make representations concerning disclosure of the records. A decision on whether the records will be disclosed will be made after January 17, 2020.

Dec.28, 2019: reply to FOI-

Dear Ms.Sween, I got your Dec.18 letter about the delay in answering my request for an electronic record of the sidewalk snow clearing issue consultant contracts. The letter references my request of July 17, 2019, but the delay has not been that long. I submitted my request on Nov. 20, 2019.

However, there may be a misunderstanding. I'm seeking only the same level of disclosure that is normally found in every Bid Award Panel report: a short summary of what the contract is for, and the total amount, with and without HST. I searched the BAP minutes but found no reference, and I also asked the manager of winter maintenance, but he did not respond.

I assume that this level of information is public by definition. If not, your January 17 response will be interesting. But if your letter is based on a misunderstanding of the level of detail I wanted, I apologize for making my request insufficiently clear, and I hope that I can get the information sooner.


 

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Content last modified on December 28, 2019, at 05:38 PM EST