NOTRE-DAME-DE-GRACE – Plows were hard at work clearing the mountains of snow on Hingston Avenue in NDG Wednesday morning.
It’s a relief for Debbie James.
On Monday, when plows were clearing the opposite side of the street, she said crews left a three foot wall of snow in front of her driveway, leaving her trapped inside.
“It was very frustrating. I think I felt all the emotions there were to feel,” she said.
“Angry, sad, I was very frustrated because I could not get in and out of my house. I felt like a prisoner in my own home.”
James said she repeatedly called the city’s 311 hotline to alert snow removal teams of the problem.
Finally, when she couldn’t get her car out, she walked to work from lower NDG to Côte-Saint-Luc Road.
“I was even crying on the phone with the lady,” she said.
“The upsetting thing about it? They showed no concern.”
It’s a familiar story on Hingston Avenue.
James’ neighbour Frank Sauro told Global News that complaints from residents in the area fall on deaf ears in the borough.
“We’ve always complained. To be honest, they don’t care,” he said.
“They’re going to follow their own schedule and their own timeline. We called, spoke to city councillors, send emails and they don’t respond. At the end of the day they’ll do whatever they want.”
According to the Côte-Des-Neiges-NDG borough, there are no special procedures for dealing with those types of complaints.
They refer any residents who have a problem with snow removal to the city’s 311 hotline.
Resident Carlos Zapata said he feels NDG is treating its residents unfairly.
“It’s slower this year,” he said.
“We suffer. The neighbourhood suffers.”
Almost 24 hours after James’s initial call to the city, the snow was removed.
With Montreal already behind schedule on its cleanup, she’s just happy that she can move again.
“I said thank you Lord it’s finally gone,” she said.
“Then I looked at the sign and I noticed they were also coming to clean that same night.”
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