As a winter of record-breaking cold nears its end, it’s hard to blame anyone for getting fed up with shoveling.
Floyd Ertel doesn’t mind the time it takes him to dig out – but at the age of 87, he wouldn’t complain about being relieved of that responsibility either.
“Yes, it would be darn nice if someone would come along and clean my sidewalks for me,” he said Wednesday.
Ertel lives in Kitchener, which – like Waterloo and Cambridge, but unlike Guelph – leaves sidewalk clearing up to individual residents.
While being able to leave sidewalk snow for someone else to take care of might sound tempting, John Vandenakker knows the associated trade-off.
“When I lived in Toronto, they did the sidewalks for you – but you paid higher taxes,” he said.
It’s a debate with no easy answer, and it’s one the City of Kitchener is about to involve itself in once more.
City staff investigated the issue several years ago, and concluded that it would cost about $4 million for the municipality to clear every sidewalk – or about $40 per household.
They’ve been asked to take another look at that figure, and to look at modifying the bylaw requiring snow to be removed all the way down to the pavement.
“I think it’s an idea that’s worth discussing. I understand the issues and the concerns that we’re hearing from residents,” Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said.
“If it’s going to create a worse situation from a mobility point of view, that’s not going to achieve anything.”
Vrbanovic acknowledges that he’s heard concerns the city isn’t able to follow its own rules for the sidewalks it maintains, and says at this point he’s only interested in hearing more information.
Currently, any Kitchener resident whose sidewalk isn’t cleared right to the pavement is at risk of being fined as much as $500.
