Alok Mukherjee, The Way I See It

This is a photo of the street in front of our house, taken on February 24, at about 1:15 pm.

Two days before, there had been a heavy snowfall, leaving quite a thick blanket of the stuff all over. As you can see, access to our houses – the driveways – and the sidewalks are clear. We, the residents, took care of it as the city by-laws require.

The street was another matter. No city snowplow touched that surface. Not just this street, but all streets in our neighbourhood were like this. Cars struggled as they negotiated them, with wheels getting stuck or slip sliding. Making turns was hazardous, and street parking was difficult. It was even worse for those on bicycles.

The cars, of course, took care of the roads, as they flattened the snow with their weight or melted it with heat the wheels generated from friction with the road surface.

Two days passed, and there was no sign that the city government was concerned about traffic or public safety.

Oh, but the city government does care!

Recently, we received an “Information Notice” from the city, signed by a Provincial Offences Officer. The notice reminded us of our obligation to keep sidewalks clear. And it cautioned us against putting the snow removed from our property and sidewalk on the street. We were told that a repeat of this offense could result in a fine of up to $5000.

Rather helpfully, the Information Notice gave the name of the person who had signed it and a contact number. Surprised and annoyed by the notice, I called this Provincial Offences Officer at the city and left a voice message. Two days later I did get a call back and was told not to worry about the notice, it was strictly informational. However, when I said that its receipt was puzzling as we did not know why we would get it, the officer disclosed that there had been a complaint by someone who had trouble parking on the street in front of our house because of a snowbank. 

This was upsetting. If it had been a neighbour, I wondered why they did not or could not just knock at the door and talk to us. But that’s another story about “good neighbourliness”! Setting that aside, I explained to the city functionary that the person who did our snow clearing was not in the habit of offloading the snow on to the street. It turned out that the person who had sent us the notice had not actually viewed the situation personally or done an investigation before issuing the caution with the threat of hefty fines.

The fact was that the snow fall had been heavy and large piles of snow had accumulated between parked cars.

So, that was how the city showed its caring – in this case, for the convenience of car owners.

However, if there had been regular and timely snow clearing by the city, this poor driver would not have been inconvenienced and taken out their upset on us!

There was a time in my recent memory when this used to happen. Our residential streets were cleared quite promptly after heavy snow falls. Our motto used to be “The City That Works.”

Well, now, it is us, the residents, who are expected to make the city work on pain of being fined if we didn’t.

We are required to keep the sidewalks clear for the safety and convenience of pedestrians. But we must not put that snow anywhere on the street. We must pile it up on our own yard. What if someone does not have a front yard, or one that is not large enough? There won’t be an issue if the city did its part. Then our neighbour would not complain and all of us could live in amity and harmony.

Apparently, the city cannot afford to clear our streets. It has oodles of money for hiring more police officers, more transit constables and other types of enforcers, like my friendly Provincial Offences Officer. But it has no money to maintain services, like snow clearing.

Perhaps, next time there is a pile up, I will fill the stuff in buckets, carry it indoors and flush it down the toilet. So what if this may involve many trips back and forth? That would be good for staying fit.

See, the city does care, after all.

February 28, 2023