Ward 11 Alderman Brian Pincott | City of Calgary Office of the Aldermen

Well, almost two weeks of a Chinook, and we are still dealing with snow issues on our streets. My office is still getting calls and emails from people looking for answers to getting their streets cleared. And winter isn’t anywhere near finished with us yet!

In response to the volume of calls that we have been getting, Andre Chabot and I crafted a notice of motion to get administration to have a look at our Snow Clearing policy and bring forward some updates and revisions. (to see that Notice of motion please visit the Issues page on this website).

Our current policy is that we do not clear residential streets. This was set with the input from Calgarians through polling and surveys over the years, where they clearly indicated that residential snow clearing was not a priority. That said, it is time that we once again have a look, and consider whether we should change the policy and what would be the associated cost.

Something else I saw throughout the ward was the lack of clearing of our bus stops. We seem to have a disconnect between some of our policies, and we need to ensure they are complementary. We work hard to encourage people to use transit and we are investing to make transit a primary transportation choice for you, no matter where you live. And yet, when it snows, bus stops are nearly the last thing that gets cleared, if they do at all.

One other aspect this Notice of Motion addresses is dealing with unusual snow events, such as we had in December. Our snowfall and accumulation through the month was 5 times higher than average, with no Chinooks to help us out. How are we going to plan for these in the future? As I was quoted in the paper, we have a plan for the 50 year event when it comes in liquid form, but we have no plan in place when the precipitation is in a more solid form.

Roads is still working on the backlog and working to get some of the more challenging side streets cleared. But, they are working within the parameters and budget that we have given them. I believe we need to look at those to ensure that we are meeting your expectations.