City Staff Recommend Doing Absolutely Nothing

Audio version of the post: https://vocaroo.com/embed/191w23bxzbz7
View on Vocaroo >>.

When I first read City Staff’s recommendation on sidewalk snow clearing, I thought I must have misunderstood. I read it again more carefully and realized I had not. They looked at six different options for improving service and then made the recommendation to do absolutely nothing. In their words:

“that Council maintain the status quo. Given future anticipated budget challenges, enhancing the level of service for sidewalks is not recommended. The minimal cost option to produce a noticeable difference to residents is 700k per year which is not budgeted.”

You can see the full document prepared by staff and the details of the options on pp. 15-19 at this link.

In response, Councillor Ian Froude told council that he had heard from people with disabilities and from the Human Rights Commission about people’s experiences in winter and that “those things weigh on me heavily.” He commented that access and accessibility are human rights and also noted that the comparison cities in the KPMG Report (commissioned by the City in 2014) spend more per kilometre, despite less challenging conditions in some cases. He introduced a motion not to follow the staff recommendation but instead to make significant changes based on some of the options staff proposed and then rejected. After discussion, the single motion was broken down into three separate ones, which I summarize here with the vote results in brackets:

The first motion had four bullet points:

• Staff to review priorities/efficiencies and put forward a plan
• Address quality of clearing
• Enforce existing by-laws re not blocking sidewalks, etc. (It was noted that this would be a “quick fix.”)
• Re-prioritize and free up resources and funds from side roads to sidewalks (Carried)

The second motion was that during budgeting for winter 2021/2022, the City would consider implementing Option 6 from the staff recommendations–confusing, I know. They presented six different options for things that could be done, with the sixth one being the most expansive and expensive ($800,000 capital, $450,000 operating) but then recommended not doing any of them. After discussion, this motion was modified to considering all six options during the budget process next summer. (Carried)

The third motion was that for the coming winter, options 2 and 4 would be implemented. These combined options would have cost less than option 6 but still made a significant difference in the quality of sidewalk snow clearing. (Defeated) (Note that, as shown in the screenshot at the beginning of this post, this motion was supported by Councillors Froude and Burton and Deputy Mayor O’Leary.)

To backtrack and give some context, the meeting began with a presentation by Dr. Dan Fuller, Canada Research Chair in Population Physical Activity, about the BEAP Lab research that found fourfold economic returns on $3 million annual investment over ten years, using a model based specifically on St. John’s. He also highlighted health benefits and noted that currently only about 4% of our citizens walk (this includes just walking to the bus stop) and recommended that we set a target. Some cities have 10-12% as a target. (See Asia Holloway’s report on this research at this link.) Council seemed very supportive of the idea that walkability is important. Sample comments:

Creating density and walkability is “good for business development,” “good for the city and good for the population.”

Mayor Breen

“To attract people we have to make the city more walkable and more accessible.”

Councillor Hanlon

In winter, crosswalks, intersections and bus stops “need to be clear with open spaces for access.”

Councillor Hickman

Yet they all voted against increasing the budget, as did Councillor Stapleton, who is Team Lead for Inclusion. Other councillors who voted against also seemed supportive during the discussion. Councillor Lane noted how fundamental mobility is and that “a pedestrian friendly city can help solve a lot of problems.” He recommended that the city “shift funds from mechanized access on side roads to better pedestrian access” (this was one of the bullet points in the first motion, which was carried.) He also emphasized that we should follow the recommendations of the KPMG Report. Councillor Korab asked “Do we need to increase the budget for sidewalk snow clearing?” and answered his own question: “In all likelihood, yes.” He said that he was “open to an increase.” Councillor Collins added, “It would be fairer to do all the sidewalks in the city.” Yes, he did actually say this, though I’m not sure he truly thought that was a realistic option. I think his point was that the downtown gets better clearing than elsewhere in his opinion. However, four of the five comparison cities in the KPMG Report actually do clear all their sidewalks and the fifth does 62%. St. John’s does 23%. All five comparison cities also start clearing sooner and have higher standards in general.

A few other things to note about the discussion and vote: Councillor Burton and Deputy Mayor O’Leary spoke strongly in favour of increasing the budget, with Councillor Burton emphasizing that, “Active transportation is a must have, not a choice or a nice to have.” She also mentioned that people without access to cars currently endure injuries, loss of opportunities and income, and inability to access transit. Clearing snow for pedestrian access has been severely underfunded for many, many years. The City currently has a surplus of $22 million and this was achieved in some part at the expense of pedestrians. Some have lost their lives or become severely disabled because of it. There was also an important exchange between Deputy Mayor O’Leary and Councillor Froude about the need to find ways to work more effectively with the province, since the cost of snow clearing is borne by the city but the savings in health care would come to the province. I plan to write a future post about the role of the province in this. Meanwhile, though, the City does have a mandate for sustainability and healthy communities.

One final quote from the mayor, with reference to the successful motion that some funding for clearing side streets be shifted to sidewalks and the failed motion to increase the budget this year:

“It may end up that that amount gets spent.”

So… we must hold them to their commitments in the first motion and make sure that “that amount of money gets spent.” I also challenge the Mayor and councillors (or anyone else who doesn’t think sidewalks are important) to travel everywhere on foot and public transit for a week after a major storm and then report back to the public on their experiences. Even better, do it with a baby in a stroller and another small child by the hand.