Winter Madness and Snow Removal Policy Sadness
Two weeks ago on my commute to the Manulife Centre, clad in winterized boots with heavy duty treads, I slipped on the sidewalk, falling into the thick snow below me. Embarrassed, but thankfully not hurt, I picked myself up and carried on to my local grocery store. As I shopped, I thought more about my fall, and how I was lucky to be wearing a long coat so that I was not soaked by the wet snow, and that I was wearing gloves so that my hands were not frozen. On my way back, treading more carefully, I looked at others who opt for travelling on foot, arms out to maintain balance. I noticed that I saw no parents pushing strollers, no one travelling in a wheelchair or another assistive device, and those who use grocery carts with wheels were having some difficulty. The sidewalks that are usually full of city-dwellers walking so fast they may as well be running were now full of cautious travellers, just looking to arrive safely. And less of them, at that.
Welcome to the City of Toronto, where the average yearly snowfall hovers around 121.5 centimetres and temperatures are known to drop to a bone chilling -18 degrees Celsius. Toronto’s sprawling urban landscape offers an abundance of amenities within walking distance, with one’s feet becoming the optimal mode of transportation for most. But, that combined with suboptimal winters, navigating Toronto’s streets and sidewalks lends itself to inconvenience, nuisance, and blatant danger. And thus, the municipally-provided snow removal service comes to save the day… or, tries to, at least.
The City’s website boasts a page dedicated to snow removal, stating that they “have a comprehensive and highly coordinated snow and ice clearing plan that prioritizes the safety and movement of everyone above all else.” Annually, the City of Toronto spends $90 million to deliver their winter operations program, which includes five levels of service that they claim “exceed those set by the Province of Ontario for municipalities and road authorities.” The five levels of service include salting, plowing, sidewalks, snow removal, and cycling, all of which have accompanying tables that illustrate net snow accumulation for removal, type of operation, and time to complete removal. As cycling and sidewalks have their own category, one would assume that those modes of transportation would be as valued as travelling by car or public transit. But, as the winter storms (such as the historic blizzard that hit the city hard on January 18th, leaving upwards of 500 TTC buses stuck in the snow) continue to bare their teeth, Torontonians who favour walking or cycling are often left in the dust (or, snow?) of these policies.
While the City claims to prioritize the safety and movement of everyone “above all else”, residents who walk or cycle as means of transportation would beg to differ. Following one of the top five worst blizzards in Toronto’s history, some disgruntled inhabitants took to Twitter to share photos and comments about the City’s poorly cared for sidewalks.
In response to hundreds of complaints, Mayor John Tory tweeted on January 19th that 360 sidewalk plows were clearing up the storm’s mess. However, just one hour after Mayor Tory’s tweet, CBC News released an article stating that 32 percent of the City’s newly purchased sidewalk plows were inoperable. Despite the July 2021 city council approval of an expansion to sidewalk clearing that, until then, left 1,300 kilometres of downtown core sidewalks unplowed, the City still is not doing enough. A week after the blizzard, many sidewalks were still left unplowed and unable to maneuver. City councillor Josh Matlow agreed, calling Toronto’s handling of a difficult situation “not good enough.”
Sometimes navigating your communities sidewalks is left up to the good citizenship of your neighbours (see Carter Trozzolo’s interview with CBC News below). But, not all neighbours want to — or are able to — shovel their section of the sidewalk, and even one or two un-shovelled sections make it difficult, or impossible, to walk, wheel, or cycle. Per the Snow and Ice Clearing Bylaw, home, property, and business owners have 12 hours to clear snow and ice on sidewalks adjacent to their property. The fine for failing to do so is a total of $135, and seniors or those who have disabilities can apply for the City to clear their sidewalks. However, knowing that the City fails to promptly clear sidewalks in the first place, one would be enticed to question how quickly seniors have their sidewalks cleared through this program?
At the end of the day, those who suffer the most from immobile pathways are seniors, those who use accessibility devices, and parents with children in strollers. But, even if you are an able-bodied adult, does the City expect you to be snowsuit-clad each time you leave the house in order to hurdle massive snowbanks?! Toronto needs to provide better snow removal service quality for their people.
