To the Editor,
Once again we have snow and no workable plan to handle it.
The city has a bylaw that requires homeowners to clear their sidewalks. This is to save money and at the same time absolve the city of any liability if someone slips on a sidewalk. However, the city seldom enforces this bylaw since it would never stand up in court. That’s because city plows pile snow from the road onto the sidewalks. What is the homeowner supposed to do with this mountain of snow?
If you enact a bylaw you should not turn around and make it impossible for homeowners to comply with it.
Let us come up with a workable solution, that does not involve impossible bylaws, before somebody gets seriously hurt. The only honest interpretation of Nanaimo’s current policy is they just want to ignore the problem and wait for spring.
S.I. PetersenNanaimo
To the Editor,
Well, the city has to do some thinking on this one. The graders do a wonderful job of keeping the roads clear for auto traffic, but what about the foot traffic in Nanaimo?
Children use the sidewalk to get to and from school, as well as pedestrians using it to get to the mall. With so much traffic on this street and the sidewalk being so unusable it is sad to see people walking on the road, and cars are having to go around the them, making it very dangerous for people walking, and cars coming in the opposite direction. Some people walk on the opposite side of the road, on the narrow shoulder, which also makes it hard for drivers to get around them.
The city planners have to sit down and make a drastic change in our emergency programs before someone gets killed. I stand at my window and watch the close calls every day in this weather.
Dave NobleNanaimo
