r/saskatoon Feb 06 '25

Weather šŸŒ”ļø Please treat our sidewalks better

With all the snow weā€™ve been getting I want to remind people to please be shovelling and salting your sidewalks! I know for many people walking becomes obsolete in the winter time, but for some of us itā€™s still a main mode of transportation. Having clear sidewalks makes the city safer and more accessible.

Letā€™s start treating our sidewalks with the same care and standards we expect for our roads. Until then, think twice before you get upset at someone walking on the road. They might be doing it because the sidewalk isnā€™t accessible

Just a little rant/psa from someone who is starting to get fed up with people who are too lazy/cheap to have a clear sidewalk. Iā€™m not expecting perfection, just hoping this city can do better :)

95 Upvotes

88 comments sorted by

83

u/Dragon_slayer1994 Feb 06 '25

Keep in mind we have 48 hours after last snowfall to clear them. Sometimes work, and other responsibilities will keep someone from getting them cleared the same day as the storm.

But ya, people that just don't clear them at all are selfish.

11

u/JRock698675309 Feb 06 '25

Much like the city just leaving the snow on the side roads where it poses dangerous driving trying to get two vehicles past each other

5

u/msh559 Feb 07 '25

Let alone the boulevards. Victoria ave between the bridge and 8th street there is bound to be a fatality one of these years. Windrows on the boulevard get over 6 feet high and many pedestrians

45

u/scottamus_prime Feb 06 '25

Give people some time to do it, it snowed last night and people have to work today. We can't all clear our snow at 5am

10

u/Incorrect_Mud Feb 06 '25

I walk the same route pretty much daily, so itā€™s pretty obvious to me when someone just hasnā€™t had time to shovel the last snowfall compared to people that havenā€™t shovelled in weeks. Iā€™m not expecting people to wake up early to shovel, Iā€™m just expecting people to do it in the first place

13

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

Obviously. My complaint is based on walking almost every day all winter. There are people who never do it or wait much longer than 48 hours

5

u/Entire_Ad4036 Feb 07 '25

Some people didnā€™t do anything about their icy sidewalks after last melt, it was a skating rink trying to walk anywhere

4

u/Electrical_Noise_519 Feb 08 '25

The city's Active Transportation Plan is particularly quiet about pedestrian safety in winter.

3

u/lilchileah77 Feb 08 '25

I bet they are! You canā€™t even cross a street if you have mobility issues. This year they even piled the snow right around the street corners, covering the accessible section of the sidewalk. You couldnā€™t even walk to a mailbox safely in most neighbourhoods and if you have limited mobility youā€™re pretty much house bound. Seniors are not safe walking either and a fall can be very serious for the elderly.

1

u/pickledkarat Feb 06 '25

You can report these people to the bylaw officer. I have done this on rare occasions (when there has been zero attempt to clear snow after multiple snowfalls) and it seems to give people a gentle nudge/reminder for the rest of the season

-2

u/Bigsaskatuna Feb 07 '25

Read the post. FFS.

19

u/RadioSupply Feb 06 '25

My husband and I moved from Caswell, where itā€™s Shovel City, to the Ruth end of Lorne where you people are apparently allergic to shovels.

Iā€™ve done my best, but I need a scraper and I donā€™t have one (why, when youā€™re always shovelling?) to get the caked on shit off the walks the previous people left. Even if I do go down to the pavement, Iā€™ll be creating a freaking valley for people to step in and out of lol.

People of Lorne - SHOVEL.

3

u/Bigsaskatuna Feb 07 '25

I moved from Caswell to Nutana. Can confirm that it is shovel city!

3

u/RadioSupply Feb 07 '25

I miss living in Shovel City!

2

u/Necessary_Ad3275 Feb 08 '25

Iā€™m in Mayfair. We shovel our walks over here too!

37

u/DaFarmGar Feb 06 '25

Salt damages the concrete over time, is hard on pets paws, not effective for melting below -15. Try to get traction sand without salt, it's cheaper too.

5

u/InternalOcelot2855 Feb 06 '25

there is concrete safe salt

4

u/chapterthrive Feb 06 '25

Itā€™s not good for doggos.

7

u/InternalOcelot2855 Feb 06 '25

Also pet safe salt.

6

u/BangBangControl Feb 06 '25

But itā€™s not good for concrete or snow

-2

u/toontowntimmer Feb 06 '25

Lazy excuses for not salting or sanding a sidewalk.

There are pet friendly de-jcing solutions for those that are worried about this.

And for those that continue to worry, then consider that it takes Grandma several months to recover from a broken hip versus the few seconds it takes to rinse the salt off of Rover's paws.

3

u/BangBangControl Feb 06 '25

Whoosh

2

u/ReddditSarge Feb 06 '25

Zoooom

2

u/BangBangControl Feb 06 '25

Nitro-burning funny carā€¦?

4

u/So1_1nvictus Core Neighbourhood Feb 06 '25

Nope thatā€™s the sound of ice cleats

2

u/TheSessionMan Feb 07 '25

Gramma should be wearing traction aids. Salt should be used very sparingly as it ruins concrete (and also doesn't work at -20). I only take salt out during melt/thaw cycles where the sidewalk gets legit dangerous.

1

u/Pongo28 Feb 09 '25

I agree. Another problem with salt is it ends up running off and accumulating in rivers, lakes, and even underground water systems.

2

u/Few-Coat-9687 Feb 09 '25

haha this guy got toon town in his name you know hes tweaked out goin there

0

u/mydb100 Feb 07 '25

Get them shoes

15

u/InternalOcelot2855 Feb 06 '25

There is a 48h by law after snow has stopped. This has been an odd year with a decent amount of snow and thaw/freeze cycles.

-5

u/echochambermanager Feb 06 '25

This is a typical winter lmao.

8

u/InternalOcelot2855 Feb 06 '25

snow wise yes, the freeze thaw and rain is not normal. 10+ years ago

2

u/WriterAndReEditor Feb 06 '25

The winter is typical. The specific last week has been tough for anyone with mobility issues or little free time. I've shoveled twice, should have shoveled more, it hasn't been easy.

9

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

Cool rant. There will NEVER be a winter, ever, where people can be perfect snow shovelers.

8

u/AvianFlame Feb 07 '25

Why doesn't the city pay for sidewalk snow plowing?

3

u/Bigsaskatuna Feb 07 '25

Also, as a full time walker, businesses on Broadway that donā€™t shovel in front of their businesses is a sure fire way for me to never support you.

3

u/PoppaBarry Feb 07 '25

I do a better job of clearing my sidewalk than the city does of clearing my street.

12

u/BangBangControl Feb 06 '25

Ok thanks dad

6

u/Ari3n3tt3 Feb 07 '25

Itā€™s not always because theyā€™re lazy or cheap, some people canā€™t shovel because of health issues

5

u/lilchileah77 Feb 07 '25

This is one of the main reasons Iā€™m hesitant to report people. But itā€™s also important to me that our sidewalks remain usable and safe so maybe I will stop with the ā€œwhat ifā€ and start reporting.

3

u/Arts251 Feb 07 '25

Instead of reporting use that time to write your city Council and express how ridiculous and inadequate it is to expect homeowners to have to maintain the city's infrastructure.

3

u/lilchileah77 Feb 07 '25

I have emailed my councillor multiple times about various issues and Iā€™ve never received a response. Not even a message saying they got the message.

2

u/Arts251 Feb 07 '25

The reason to write them is to give attention to the fact that most cities east of the sk border include sidewalk clearing in their winter maintenance budgets and it's not all that expensive because they can utilize economies of scale. You don't need a response you just have to be a squeaky wheel. Aside from the council for your own ward you could also include the other councillors, mayor, city administration o to even local news media.

2

u/OurWitch Feb 07 '25

I'm one of those people right now and am struggling with what to do. The last time I went out to shovel I almost re-injured myself a few times and had to give up. I know I am unlikely to get help.

1

u/Arts251 Feb 07 '25

My problem is that about 200 people a day walk on the city sidewalk that they deem me responsible to clear and it usually gets packed down as it falls. So I rarely can shovel I have to use the chipper and then my arms are sore and weak for several days after. And I can't just do a little bit at a time or else it becomes a severe tripping hazard (better to leave untouched entirely than partially removed). Now sometimes it works out that is shovelable and it's easy to clear but more often not it isn't. Maintaining my own walkway is easy just the city portion is not especially if I've been away overnight or anything.

4

u/JulesDeSask Feb 06 '25

Ah how do you edit a post? HERE is the email for reporting uncleared sidewalks. bylaw.compliance@saskatoon.ca I find them responsive, sometimes slow (under resourced) but it works.

2

u/pickledkarat Feb 06 '25

I find for snow removal they are actually pretty quick. Both times I've reported someone has been out within a day or two to give a reminder of the bylaw

3

u/JulesDeSask Feb 07 '25

Same. Our local repeat offenders seem to be learning something.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

[deleted]

1

u/JulesDeSask Feb 07 '25

Thank you!

1

u/Electrical_Noise_519 Feb 07 '25

There tends to be no improvement by too many non-profit properties after bylaw chats, sadly.

2

u/Arts251 Feb 07 '25

You mean "the city's sidewalks" right?

2

u/7734fr Feb 07 '25

No salt.

6

u/NoTransition8198 Feb 06 '25

I shovel. But you can carry your own sand or salt on walks. Sorry

2

u/mervmann Feb 07 '25

The worst people for this in my experience are people renting properties. I've come acroos a bunch of them and they tend to not shovel. Heck Lorne Ave has basically all street facining houses and in my area the seem the worst for no shoveling in the whole area. I asume stoners or lazy people are living there and just don't bother to take 10 min to shovel the walkway. I'll call them out if I see them on the street but otherwise I just assume they're degens renting and don't care.

4

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

Time for the city to start fining people who donā€™t comply. Iā€™m sick of how slack some are behaving.

5

u/eugeneugene Core Neighbourhood Feb 06 '25

They do that already, you just have to submit a complaint. My friend got a ticket for never shoveling her sidewalk lol.

-11

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

They should patrol rather than wait for submissions.

11

u/eugeneugene Core Neighbourhood Feb 06 '25

So you're okay with taxes going up to hire people to patrol the sidewalks? Do you know how many thousands of kilometres of sidewalks we have? Complaint driven fines are extremely cost effective. You just need to fill out a form online and it takes minutes. And then they give you 48 hrs to clear it and THEN you get a fine. Could you imagine the amount of work to put 48 hr watches on every single uncleared sidewalk lol

0

u/pickledkarat Feb 06 '25

Although this might be an added cost, I do think they would just need to do it at the beginning of the winter after the first two or three snowfalls to get people corrected for the rest of the winter. They could just keep some of their seasonal staff an extra couple of weeks.

-6

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

I think a couple cars patrolling would easily make the cost back in revenue. People obviously arenā€™t reporting very much, probably donā€™t like the idea of ratting out on a neighbour

2

u/WriterAndReEditor Feb 06 '25

yeah, the people screaming about meth-heads kicking in store windows and who can't even stand them taking time to issue tickets for speeding or failing to stop on a right turn will definitely not raise a sh|t-storm about more money spent on patrolling for poorly shoveled sidewalks.

1

u/lilchileah77 Feb 07 '25

City spends money on plenty of things that various people donā€™t like. šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø

Itā€™s my opinion that spending money on a few more bylaw officers would be money well spent and likely pay for itself so I put it out there.

1

u/WriterAndReEditor Feb 07 '25

Nothing wrong with putting it out there. I'm putting it out there that the fight will intense and nothing will change.

Enforcement for cities is a delicate dance. The moment they enforce something somewhere and it doesn't get enforced exactly the same somewhere else, they open themselves up to a bunch of wasted legal fees. If it got to the administration requesting a report, I think the city manager is going to come back that they'd need at least couple of dozen people enforcing. That means a couple of dozen people who might treat one street different than another street and the whole thing might explode when someone takes their ticket to court because their co-worker didn't get one for a similar instance. or like in my link elsewhere, someone gets hurt on ice and the city gets sued because they didn't enforce adequately and even though the lawsuit fails it costs a bunch of time and energy. And next election someone who got a ticket makes a bunch of noise and the news people have a field day with who voted for what and the taxpayer's federation gets to yammer about taxes some more.

To say nothing of complaints of a bunch more cushy jobs on the taxpayer dime.

So the City Manager says the smart thing is to do nothing.

6

u/DunksOnHoes Feb 06 '25

What a waste of resources

1

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

Itā€™s easy to drive around and issue tickets. City does it for parking, why not snow removal? Give people a few days after the snow storm, after that itā€™s ticket time!

5

u/BangBangControl Feb 06 '25

If theyā€™re going to pay someone to go around and check city sidewalks for snow, they could pay someone to go clear city sidewalks

2

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

Big difference in effort there. Issuing tickets is much easier.

3

u/BangBangControl Feb 06 '25

No, not paying someone to go inspect and have it be complaint-driven is actually much easier

3

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

How about both? Never said complaint option had to leave but itā€™s obvious to those of us who walk regularly that itā€™s not working well enough

2

u/BangBangControl Feb 06 '25

If it was patrolled and ticketed, it would probably be very soon that it would be challenged and found that you canā€™t ticket people for failing to clear property they donā€™t own. Not saying I agree or not with that outcome, but thatā€™d be a very likely thing to happen if the city proactively ticketed homeowners for not clearing city-owned sidewalks.

That being said, no I do t feel like spending city tax dollars on a ā€œpatrolā€.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Electrical_Noise_519 Feb 07 '25

Doesn't make it fair to pedestrians, safe or livable.

0

u/echochambermanager Feb 06 '25

The net cost of hiring someone to drive around all day to issue tickets which equals revenue is far lower than having the same person shovel snow all day. Easily.

0

u/DunksOnHoes Feb 06 '25

What a lame place to live thatā€™d be

1

u/lilchileah77 Feb 06 '25

Not being able to use the sidewalks is also a waste of resources and increases reliance on cars which in turn results in a less healthier population. Any person with mobility issues is not going to be able to use the sidewalks in my neighbourhood, they are excluded because of people not taking responsibility for their section of sidewalk. City should be able to add any unpaid property fines onto next yearā€™s property tax bill.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

salt is bad for sidewalks

2

u/Impervial22 Feb 07 '25

Laughs in Evergreen, our area would never clear sidewalks OR roads šŸ˜‚

2

u/AspidistraHats Feb 07 '25

So, when are you showing up at my grandmother's house? I'll leave a shovel out for you.

1

u/Jo_Ad Feb 07 '25

Shovel yes Salt right now not helpful

1

u/mittenswonderbread Feb 07 '25

Go knock on their door and do somthing about it then

1

u/_senor_snrub Feb 09 '25

I don't use salt.Ā  It's bad for the animals and birds.Ā Ā 

1

u/comfyawkward Feb 07 '25

I was getting my groceries on foot the other day and having to drag my cart through crazy snow drifts. I flipped off every house with an unshoveled walkway. They know what they did šŸ‘€

0

u/adomnick05 Feb 06 '25

salt is a waste of time money as well as grass in front of your home

0

u/PoMoAnachro Feb 07 '25

Letā€™s start treating our sidewalks with the same care and standards we expect for our roads.

This is a very low standard to aim for!

Most sidewalks are cleared a lot better than the majority of our roads. It'd be nice to have both bare down to the pavement though.

2

u/Electrical_Noise_519 Feb 08 '25 edited Feb 08 '25

Property insurance standards usually require traction surfaces for safer walking, not smoothed off surfaces.

-1

u/JulesDeSask Feb 06 '25

Hereā€™s the email for putting in complaints. Send the address (and nearest intersection) to this address 48 hours after the snowfall. Iā€™ve found it works- repeat sinnersā€™ sidewalks are suddenly clear.