Not willing to wait for the City of Edmonton to get to it, the Central McDougall Community League shelled out its own funds to clear away the windrows in front of John A. McDougall School.
“We shovel our walks and clear our windrows from walking up, on the sidewalk areas, and they hand us tickets if they’re not done properly — so why don’t they do their job properly?” questioned Angela Campbell, a member of the community league and parent.
Residents said after the city bladed roads in the area, the windrows left behind on the curbs posed a risk to kids trying to get to school, as well as people with mobility concerns.
The windrow in front of the school, on 107 Street between 109 and 110 avenues, was impeding buses and people trying to get over it were slipping and falling, residents told Global News.
While the city is working to remove windrows in school zones, those who live in the central Edmonton neighbourhood said speed was of the essence.
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“As a community league, it’s really our mandate to be concerned about families and kids,” said league vice-president Warren Champion. “That’s a big deal to us.
“I would have trouble living with myself if a child badly hurt themselves.”
The community league used its own money to hire a private snow removal contractor. They remove the windows in front of the school on Wednesday morning and the contractor came back voluntarily on Thursday to remove more snow.
The city said city crews were scheduled to do just that at John A. McDougall School on Friday.
“Crews are absolutely working towards removing all those windrows — that’s part of our service standards, it’s what people should expect to see in their neighborhoods,” said Ward O-day’min councillor Anne Stevenson.
But she also gets the frustration, after four times the normal amount of snow fell in December.
“I appreciate for some people they just weren’t willing to wait for that to happen.”
The City of Edmonton reminds residents and businesses who hire private contractors to do snow removal on city property that they could be held liable if any damage occurs.
Bianca Millions has more in the video above.
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