Why Snow Plows May Never Hit Your Street
Posted December 18, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s been two long days since snow fell non-stop on the GTA, leaving as much as 25 centimetres or more behind. Since then, the city’s 600 plows have been toiling tirelessly to clear the streets of all those flakes.
But it turns out they’re not working for everyone. There are some thoroughfares in the downtown core where the plows fear to tread. And that means homeowners unlucky enough to live on them will be forced to fend for themselves. Siavash Shekarian lives on Ross St. in the Spadina and College area. He’s upset there hasn’t been a plow near his pavement in more than 48 hours. “I don’t see them doing this street,” he complains.
“I think it’s a big hassle, yes,” adds Michael Creal. “I would have thought they would have been better than this. It seems pretty bad.”
The city says it’s plowed each of the side streets twice, although with so many kilometres to get to, they admit they could have missed someone. “We’ve got a snow hotline if residents want to register a concern,” outlines Peter Noehammer of Toronto’s Transportation Dept. “They can phone and call about a missed street or blockage.” The numbers to dial are (416) 338-SNOW for an automated service and (416) 338-9999 to speak to a human being.
But be patient. As you can imagine, the lines have been jammed since the weekend.
Even some of those who have seen the plows still complain their streets are filled with slush and snow – and they’d like to get at least one more pass. But with the city’s current budget crunch and the $5 million price tag for this one-day near-record storm, that’s not going to happen.
“The highest priorities for us at the moment are on the main roads, the sidewalks and the transit waiting areas and the crosswalks,” Noehammer explains.
So who’s going to clean the sloppy streets? The answer isn’t an employee of City Hall. It’s Mother Nature. Those in charge have heard forecasters calling for warmer temperatures and rain on the weekend, and they’re planning to let the elements melt away all that excess snow. Whether that works or not is something that those who live on the ignored avenues won’t know until Sunday.
Until then, many are both literally and figuratively stuck until conditions improve. “It’s brutal, it’s absolutely brutal,” one resident gripes. But not everyone feels that way. “I think they’ve done a great job,” Lee Creal contends. “And it’s not easy when you get this dump of snow.”
In the meantime, take heart. Winter finally begins on Saturday – and then it’s only a few short months to spring. But for people on the forgotten side streets, getting there won’t be half the fun.
