Have no fear, Halifax is ready for snow says new head of winter operations

HALIFAX – It’s pretty hard, if not impossible, for most of us to forget last winter, and one thing in particular that came along with it.

“The snow, all of the snow,” Kevin Charlebois said Monday, remembering last winter. “It was just mountains of snow.”

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“A whole lot of snow and not a lot of removal of it,” added Kayleigh Angrove.

Many Haligonians started many a winter day last year in the same way, digging out.

“We had the snow and then we had the deep freeze and then we had the snow and it just got out of control,” said Gloria Holloway.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We had the snow and then we had the deep freeze and then we had the snow and it just got out of control," said Gloria Holloway.

One storm after another left snow piled up high along city streets and the sidewalks packed with ice. Many people blamed the municipality for its snow clearing efforts, or lack there of.

“It just got to be so much volume, there was no place for people to drive or people to park,” said Mike Greek.

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This winter, the municipality is working to make things a little smoother. There’s a new man in charge of winter operations who says the city has re-invented their model for snow removal.

“One of our mottoes going into this year, is attention to detail, that’s sidewalks and streets, but sidewalks especially and pedestrian ramps and accessibility issues,” said Trevor Harvie, acting Superintendent of Winter Operations.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "One of our mottoes going into this year, is attention to detail, that's sidewalks and streets, but sidewalks especially and pedestrian ramps and accessibility issues," said Trevor Harvie, acting Superintendent of Winter Operations.

The city says more equipment will be ready to go in severe weather and there will be increased parking enforcement during snow falls. The city’s 311-service will also be ramped up to respond to resident complaints quicker.

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“I think that the new boss gets it,” said Matt Whitman, Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Halifax.

“Besides that, I think its going to be a friendlier winter so that’s part of the solution, but I think that we’ve learned from last year.”

Councillors will be reviewing snow clearing plans Tuesday at city council. The budget for the 2015/16 winter is pegged at $20 million dollars.