Look down. Look way down.
If you’ve walked the streets of downtown Sidney lately, you may have noticed a slight discoloration in the usually brightly coloured bricks.
It’s an accumulation of bird droppings — be it by gull or by pigeon (likely mostly gull). News Review reader Pamela Jackson pointed it out recently.
“The planters are gorgeous but the sidewalks look as if there was an explosion in the white paint factory,” she stated in the email to the PNR. “The streets are covered in gull poop and feathers and have been for some time.”
“Did we plant the planter boxes in time for Canada Day, then forget about the rest of the picture?”
Tim Tanton, the director of engineering, works and parks for the Town of Sidney is aware of the matter. He says a combination of hot, dry weather and no rain at all, has added to the problem.
“Most of the year there is enough rain that this sort of thing isn’t a problem,” he said in an email to the PNR. “Another consequence the prolonged drought I guess.”
Tanton said Sidney cleans all the brick sidewalks in the downtown core once per year using a pressure washer with brushes — usually in spring just before the busy tourist season.
“Other than that, we do respond to special requests when there is an unusually large mess (bird droppings, spills or other messes).”
Jackson said she hopes the Town’s maintenance crews and help clean up the sidewalks, “so many of our visitors can go home remembering only the most attractive features of our community, not the splatted sidewalks.”
