City may reverse policy that exceeds provincial mandate for sidewalk snow removal
Two years ago the City of London adopted a higher standard for sidewalk snow clearing, exceeding provincial requirements.
City staff are now recommending going back to the previous benchmark in order to save costs.
"Anytime we're talking about reducing service or scaling back service, that's obviously a sign of concern,” said Jeff Preston.
Preston is a Kings University College professor specializing in disability issues. Born with a rare neuromuscular myopathy, he uses an electric mobility chair. He said for himself and many others, winter mobility continues to be an enormous challenge.
"I'm pretty much inside for the winter because I’m not able to access services. With the lack of accessible transportation, with paratransit...struggling, it means that there are many of us that get trapped,” he explained.
According to the provincial mandate, sidewalks must be cleared after eight centimeters of accumulation, but in the fall of 2021 the city went beyond that requirement, moving to a five-centimetre trigger for snow clearing.
Staff have proposed reversing that decision in an effort to cut costs.
"It would be a savings of $740,000,” said Doug MacRae, the city’s director of transportation and mobility. “That combines both the sidewalk snowplowing and also the clearing of transit bus stops."
As an example, MacRae said on 13 occasions last winter there was a full deployment of equipment in order to meet sidewalk snow-clearing requirements. An eight-centimetre standard would have triggered only six full deployments.
"I genuinely thought it would make a difference,” said Ward Two Coun. Shawn Lewis.
Lewis championed the more ambitious snow clearing targets but now said, based on the number of complaints registered with the city, the new standard hasn’t reduced concerns.
"There just hasn't been a big enough improvement to say, for folks who struggle getting around in the winter, we're getting our money's worth,” he said.
Both Lewis and MacRae said the effort is continuing to improve winter mobility, including the potential for better transit options or requiring property owners to clean sidewalks to a required standard.
Preston said he's prepared to listen to what comes forward, and told CTV News London, “If the plan here is, let's scale back, let's find a different way forward, let's find a way that's actually going to result in better clearing for more people, in more parts of the city — I'm in favour of that."
MacRae said Mobility Master Plan consultations are currently underway and they're looking for input. The next budget meeting for the city is Thursday evening.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
DEVELOPING Alberta's request for federal assistance approved after fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
BREAKING Loblaw, George Weston to settle class action over bread price-fixing for $500 million
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have agreed to pay $500-million to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding their involvement in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme.
EXCLUSIVE One address, 76 foreign currency dealers: Inside Canada's money service business 'clusters'
An IJF and CTV News investigation has found dozens of cases across Canada where multiple money services businesses (MSBs) are incorporated at the same address, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the location's actual occupant. One money laundering expert calls it an 'abuse of the system.'
U.K. police officer suspended after video appears to show a man being kicked in head
A British police officer was suspended from all duties Thursday after a video was posted on social media that appeared to show an officer kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the floor of a terminal at Manchester Airport.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jasper mayor says alert system to be reviewed after message 'glitch'
More than 25,000 people have been displaced from Jasper National Park since wildfires started to threaten the picturesque corner of Alberta Rockies on Monday, but the mayor of its namesake municipality says not everyone received an evacuation alert when it was sent out.
Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames the government
A funeral director in St. John's says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn't get enough government help to pay for a funeral.