Letter to City Hall

I sent this letter (slightly edited here and with photos and links added) to Councillors Maggie Burton and Sandy Hickman (Lead for Transportation) this morning in response to a letter from another concerned resident that I was copied on. I’ll post responses to my questions when I receive them:

Yesterday I walked along Queen’s Rd, Military Rd. and Bonaventure Ave. and later took the bus for an errand on Kenmount Rd. They were doing the sidewalk on Queen’s Rd as I went out, just after 1:00. The sidewalks on Military and Bonaventure had probably had one pass from the sidewalk plows but sections had been plowed back in again. Most of Kenmount had also had one pass from the sidewalk plow but the last part of our walk to the bus stop at 297 Kenmount had no sidewalk at all. It was getting dark and it was rush hour so walking in the street was nerve wracking to say the least. There was no space cleared at the bus stop either so we had to continue to stand in traffic until the bus came. All of these are Priority 1 sidewalks and three of them are bus routes.

These streets were cleared down to bare pavement during the night and were ready for people to drive to work and school in the morning. People who walk or take the bus (including many with disabilities and many seniors and children) had to commute in the traffic lanes or stay home.

I know there have been significant improvements in the past few years. The problem is that we started at such an abysmal place that the service is still utterly inadequate. After my experiences yesterday I have some questions about the City’s plans for continuing to improve this fundamental part of the urban transportation system:

1. The sidewalk beside the old BIS building on Queen’s Rd. had a mountain of snow on it because the owners cleared its entrance and left the snow blocking the sidewalk (see the photo at the top of this post). This is just one example among many. As you know, this is illegal but in the past the by-law has not been enforced as an ATIPP revealed. Does the city have any intention to enforce this by-law in future?
2. Most crosswalks still had piles of snow blocking access late yesterday afternoon (see photos below). Sandy, during the last election you stated that, in winter, crosswalks, intersections and bus stops “need to be clear with open spaces for access.” There has been some progress on this, which is to say where nothing was done before sometimes they are cleared now, but pedestrians need to be able to rely on safe routes all the time, just as drivers do. Does the City have a plan to make this happen?
3. The City’s website states in relation to sidewalk snowclearing, “our standards are like other cities with weather conditions comparable to ours.” This is not true. We are an outlier. What our own consultation found in 2014 was that we have higher standards for streets and lower standards for sidewalks compared to other cities. And our sidewalk standards are not just a little lower, they are exponentially lower. Of the five comparison cities in the consultation, four aim to clear all or nearly all their sidewalks within hours—not days—of a snowfall and the fifth has a goal of 62%. In 2021 former councillor Hope Jamieson stated that St. John’s was still clearing only 10% of its sidewalks. How much has been added since then and when will the timelines be shortened?
4. The province should also have a role to play in this. We are the capital city. Half the population of the province lives in or near St. John’s and the rest come here at times to visit or avail of services. The recent Health Accord showed that this province has the worst health in the country and it is well documented that there are significant correlations between walkability and health. Research done right here by Asia Holloway, Brianne Chafe and Daniel Fuller (which was presented to Council several years ago) showed that investing in walkability would bring four-fold economic returns over ten years. The problem is that the City has to do the investing but the Province would receive most of the returns since they are largely in health care savings. Has the City discussed this issue with the Province?

Thank you,

Elizabeth Yeoman