Kudos to wheelchair amputee urban hero for shaming and embarrassing HRM with his one-man li’l ice pick removal of an ice barrier! You have proven it’s not that winter maintenance guys CAN’T clear it–it’s that they WON’T. I live in a street off South Park, and my street and sidewalks are a glacier: 100% ice. 2 days ago a li’l Bobcat rode over the surface of the slimy, bumpy sidewalk (coated with useless black gravel), slicing an 8″ wide low ledge into the concrete snowbank bordering its edge. Every morning and every afternoon, I creep sideways along this narrow, minimal-but-better-than-nothing snow ledge: sidestep … sidestep … along about 75 feet of lethal sidewalk, clinging at times to the snowbank edge or a tree. Every day as I remove my boots upon arriving at work or later on back home, I offer a silent prayer of thanks: “One more day without broken bones.” What is infuriating is the sight of South Park and Inglis Streets, their full lengths and almost full widths consisting of BARE, DRY ASPHALT. My neighbourhood is where most of the universities and K’s College are, so there is a huge pedestrian population of students and university employees. There is also a seniors apt building, with persons using wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, etc. a common sight 3 seasons of the year–they have now disappeared. Surely denying disabled taxpayers their mobility is a violation of their human rights and/or Constitutional rights and therefore illegal?? And surely leaving fire hydrants and curbside storm sewers exposed and usable should be part of ROUTINE winter maintenance?? As my old Mum says, “Whatever happened to common sense?” I’ve phoned 311 weekly for 4-5 weeks now to complain about the glacial state of my street and sidewalks and am told: “Oh, but you’re a SIDE street.” Uh no, I’m a taxpayer, and I resent being blown off because I choose NOT to drive/congest/pollute. Whoever is in charge of sidewalk clearing in the side streets off South Park and Inglis, PLEASE GET OFF THE POT, get out your pickaxes and GET ON WITH IT–enough is enough. —Pedestrians Pay Taxes Too
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2015.
The guy in the chair – he’s one of my urban heroes too.
Something tells me that Mayor McCheese has been manning that 311 line; asking irate callers “Do you have Robin Hood by the bag?”
Now, now… it’s not the pot’s fault – my driveway and sidewalk are clear… thanks to the pot.
According to Halifax, it’s not their fault. The contractors deny any fault. That leaves us, the citizens. It is all OUR fault.
So, to that end, I’ve asked the local Ladies Lynch MoBBery to step in. All Halifax citizens must report to Parade Square for lynching.
If you’re a JW, you’re off the hook (see-you chose correctly). No, no time for joining or conversion….
See you all at 5pm today! I’ll bring some pot…
Those bobcat drivers aren’t allowed to get out of their ‘cats and use shovels for some reason.
Bobcat driver to neighbor when neighbor mentioned that the drain was still covered in snow :”Thats as good as its going to get”,
Neighbor: “Why don’t you get out and shovel it then?”
Bobcat driver: *vrooom vroom* *putt putt putt…down the street*
that guy in the wheelchair is a ROAD WARRIOR. just a guy trying to get to work, pay his bills like anyone else and they tell him he should stay inside and have friends bring him food????? and now his wheelchair is all crapped because of the salt and ice, wrecked it.
people who live in houses should be clearing the sidewalk and drains in front of their places. business owners should clean their patch. apt owners should hire someone to clean their area. the city can concentrate on common areas like interchanges and on all the intersections.
AH, THE SOUTH END!
“What is infuriating is the sight of South Park and Inglis Streets. their full length and almost full width consisting of BARE, DRY ASPHALT.”
What does that tell you? How about Young Avenue? What does THAT tell you?
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
You’ve heard of the war on drugs? It’s time for a war on ice!
Getting hard to name a single thing this fucking city got right.
I’m just waiting for them to fuck up the decking and knock the whole god damn bridge down.
I know that urban hero in a wheelchair who goes out and does a better job than any worker the city could hire, something he shouldn’t have to do to get to appts., job, or socializing. Maybe they should all attend and learn in his classroom to see how it’s done properly so people with mobility issues can have some semblance of reasonable life back.
This city gets a big FAIL this winter.
We are locked into a 3 year contract, so expect more of the same in the coming years…
Silver lining, we get to re-evaluate our choice of councilor the year before the contract expires. Do we rehire the same, oops, sorry, do we re-elect the same bozos? Of course it seems like only bozos apply for the job (with a few exceptions) so we’re pretty much fucked. Sorry, no silver lining.
Halifax is in denial,
I’ve been to two cities in the past 2 weeks with a lot more snow – and guess what? Their streets were cleared within days of the fall/freeze/fall.
It’s not about how many hours you spend plowing weeks after the damage is done. It’s about removing the snow within 24 hours. This means owning your own plows, and lots of them.
Just look at Moncton. They get twice the snow, yet they manage to clear the streets efficiently and promptly, preventing the ice mess we have here.
Yes, it’s going to cost more. But it’s the only way to avoid this mess, which is costing people with parking bans, delayed work schedules, extra time driving, etc.
Get your shit together Halifax. This is simple. We need more plowing power immediately after a snow fall to prevent the ice. Othere cities can do it, so can we!
J
I don’t want to look at Moncton.
Because you will see how snow removal should be done?
I don’t like Moncton, just saying. They know how to plow.
Don’t look at Moncton then. Doesn’t Montreal have a good snow removal system in place?
Do live in the same area. Ever sense the first snow storm our street has been enclosed in an ice covering several inches thick.One day the small loader guy blocked a drive way for 20 minutes while he was texting to someone,it wasn’t break time.Another day a tenant had the sidewalk cleared but later that night a bobcat guy flew by in a blurr & covered it in. Think he was trying to set a speed record in a bobcat. In my 30 years in Halifax this has been the worst road & sidewalk maintenance I have seen.The city is doing a horrible job at street maintenance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd_NS4hBkR…
*professional wrestler.
Make no mistake. This is an abject failure of leadership in your city. If this was a good business, solutions would have been found. Obstacles would have been cleared. Money would have been found and changes put in place to prevent it from happening again. Leaders need to be problem solvers, and Halifax has a big problem and no one is trying to solve it except an asshole with a shovel.