I love halifax, I even love Halifax enough that I decided to make my roots more permanent and buy a house (a huge privilege that I appreciate). But it seems that a little too often I am reminded of the pettiness of our By-Law Services. It’s a lot of work to remove snow… but I am a willing participant. I did spend 3 hours shovelling happily. However because my side walk was not completely bare it’s ok to ticket? This is bullshit. I have been putting salt out this winter but as a pedestrian and cyclist I am sick and tired of it. It’s toxic to the soil, people, animals, water systems, and city infrastructure. So I thought I should cut back since apparently the city’s answer to removing snow is not to at all… just dump a ton of salt on it and hope it will melt away. Never mind the health and environmental implications of your actions. HRM why don’t you stop pissing of your residents and focus on your own shitty job of snow clearing? —Are you ever going to see the bigger picture?
This article appears in Feb 3-9, 2011.
sand? gravel? what are the rules on those?
If you don’t like salt then use sand. Or better yet move to the backwoods and live with nature and let the bears and coyotes get you.
I just posted this in the “Plow the fucking sidewalks” bitch.
Halifax needs to do what Dartmouth has done for years – add the cost of sidewalk clearing to the property tax bill. Usually within a day or two of a large snowfall they come around with a sidewalk-sized snowplow/snow blower.
Last time I checked the extra levy for sidewalk clearing was around $80/year. I think it’s tax money well-spent. If I could get my driveway done for $80/year I’d pay that, too.
I have never been able to figure out why property owners in Halifax prefer to shovel the public sidewalk themselves or risk of paying a large fine.
I agree with you, commandante. I would MUCH rather have someone do it for me. I was very nostalgic for home (where they do the sidewalks) yesterday when I returned to my apartment to see that nothing had been done by my neighbour. So now I have to get the axe out tonight to see if I can fix it up enough in prep for the snow/rain that is forecasted for tomorrow.
funny thing is o.p., that they used to shove the snow and shit in the water of the harbors. but not now, why? they say, get this now, that there is too much salt and/or sand in it. wtf is up with that kind of crazy shit talk. fuck sake, what did they think was in the fucking oceans, caviar or champayne. jesus, if that is the case, then why the fuck are they putting this shit in our foods, and saying it’s okay to have x number parts per whatever?
i haven’t heard the ocean bitch yet about anything else being dropped in either, i refer to sewage, chemicals, and any other ammount of garbage you can mention.
it isn’t the ocean that bitches, it the cry baby fucking assholes, that think they know better than ma earth. give her what she needs, not what you want to.
ROFL LS, I agree. You can:
1) buy some leaf cut up and crammed in a tube that can kill when you light and inhale it,
2) buy compounds that have not been tested by independent studies and use them to lose weight, or make something sweet without sugar,
but you can’t dump snow in the harbor.
I bet these guys are sitting in a room saying “Hahaaa Peter, here is your $40, you win you sick bastard, they sucked it up and didn’t bat an eye!”
Where do you live? Or alternatively, what’s your name? I want to make sure I spell it right when I sue your ass because I can’t limp across the sheet of ice your stupid hippie self won’t salt so I can get around the city you supposedly love. Dick.
Go ahead and sue. The defence will claim that the walkway was salted and merely froze over (again) and you attempted crossing at the wrong time – and on your own merit.
Yeah I used to wonder why the ocean was salty – and then I moved to Halifax.
I call it the ‘Nova Scotia Snow-shovel’. Basically you measure how many inches of snow there is, double it, and that is how much salt you put on your sidewalk.
Why sweep away the dusting of snow when you could dump a ten kilo bag of SALT on it instead? Save yourself five minutes of work and keep your lawn looking awful all summer…..