Despite a failed attempt at reining in the issue of icy sidewalks across Winnipeg, one city councillor says it’s still an issue he wants to see fixed.
Matt Allard, councillor for St. Boniface neighbourhood, said that he had brought a motion to the city’s standing policy committee on Jan. 30. That motion was rejected as it did not receive enough votes.
As part of the motion, Allard called for contractors to remove snow that is pushed onto sidewalks as a result of their snow clearing operations. If this isn’t followed through, contractors would be subjected to “appropriate levels of enforcement,” including fines. The motion also called for a snow clearing reserve to be established, which would fund snow clearing costs in excess of adopted budgets.
Part of the concern with sidewalks is that freezing conditions at night and above zero temperatures during the day could turn the walkways into pure ice.
“Winnipeg is a winter city, (it’s) a human rights city. Human rights mean you can get around the same as anyone else. Human rights mean you have equal levels of government service,” Allard said.
“If you’re going to leave your house, if you’re going to get to transit, how are you going to do that if there is a foot of snow? You’re either going to have walk on the road that’s been cleared — if it’s one of the priority roads, or you’re going to have to walk through a foot of snow. And for many people that is not a possibility.”
He added that clearing sidewalks would be cheaper than clearing roads, stating that it isn’t a budgeting issue.
“Year over year, the city overspends its snow budget and generally speaking, they’re overspending way more on the roads. They’re actually underspending on sidewalks,” Allard said.
For the councillor, the motivations behind a sidewalk clearing procedure are resident safety and mobility.
“The people I talk to, especially seniors, they don’t feel comfortable. They don’t feel safe. And they choose to not go out,” he said.
In a statement to Global News on Monday, Shared Health said that every year, hundreds of Manitobans get injured from slipping on snow and ice. The incidents occur most commonly in and around parking lots and on sidewalks, and especially when temperatures fluctuate around freezing.
The City of Winnipeg declined a request for an interview to talk about the icy conditions.
In a post on its website, on Monday, the city stated that fluctuating temperatures make it difficult to keep sidewalks passable. It added that sand that’s used to improve traction loses its effectiveness in the freeze-thaw conditions.
— with files from Global’s Teagan Rasche.