The snow in Squamish is slowly melting although it has left at least one citizen wondering if the district will again forget clearing the streets of a newer subdivision across from Brennan Park Recreation Centre when the snow returns.
“On one occasion I was unable to get to work, despite my winter tires and four-wheel drive because of the lack of clearing done on our street. I had to take unpaid time off because I literally could not get out of my driveway. We have a young child and it was important to us to be able to leave our home for a variety of reasons,”
The citizen who lives in the new Ravenswood neighbourhood says her street was missed twice for snow removal in 2016 as well as last year. In 2016, the plows came only after she repeatedly called and rather begged the district to remove the snow.
She even had to take unpaid time off simply because she couldn’t get out of her driveway. “On one occasion I was unable to get to work, despite my winter tires and four-wheel drive because of the lack of clearing done on our street. I had to take unpaid time off because I literally could not get out of my driveway. We made numerous calls to the District begging for a plow to come to our street and clear it. We have a young child and it was important to us to be able to leave our home for a variety of reasons,” she wrote.
It was déjà vu all over again this winter, she wrote.
“The streets surrounding ours were cleared on more than one occasion, yet ours was missed. Again, numerous frustrated calls, Facebook messages and emails were sent to the District to beg for a plow to come through soon as, once again, families weren’t able to get out of their own driveways and down the street. My husband worked tirelessly on our ATV that has a plow on it and was keeping sidewalks cleared and tried to run a path down the street so vehicles could get out. It wasn’t working. Eventually a neighbour on our street who runs his own construction company, actually hauled in his own backhoe onto our street and took his own personal time to clear a path for his neighbours,” she wrote of her experience.
“If one of our many pregnant neighbours went into labour and needed to get to the hospital, they would not have been able to get out of their driveway”
The district plows finally came—a day later and after a lot of pleading and begging. She says the family could easily have been trapped on the street for days if it wasn’t for her husband and her neighbour’s help.
“As residents of the town, we are expected to keep our sidewalks free and clear of snow and ice, but when it comes to the District keeping our street clear, that is where the failure happened. Had there been a fire or a medical emergency, first responders would not have been able to get down our street. If one of our many pregnant neighbours went into labour and needed to get to the hospital, they would not have been able to get out of their driveway,” she wrote.
She said the district should ensure this doesn’t happen and there is more staff and equipment for snow removal next year. “I can appreciate why main routes and streets on hills are taken care of first, but when those of us on flat streets are left for days with no clearing and use our own money, equipment and time, on top of our tax paying dollars, to clear the snow ourselves, that’s when it becomes the District’s problem to be looking into to relieve this issue. The snow isn’t going to stop and it is almost guaranteed that we are going to get hit like this again next winter and I’m really not looking forward to having to be continuously asking when our street is going to get plowed,” she said.
Dave Colwell says
Just the cost of one fancy arty new directional sign would have easily paid for one man and the employment of one tractor with a blade to do the job for her and then some.
Joy & Rick Boulier says
The streets should take priority over bike lanes and paths etc. We all pay the same taxes so our streets should be plowed and we should not have to beg for snow removal. I agree the major routes need to come first, but I have also seen myself where they are clearing sidewalks and still have not plowed streets. I think the DOS need to get their priorities straight. What happened to this lady and her street is totally unacceptable.
David Lassmann says
Yes, the District really dropped the ball this year when it came to snow removal. Other years the snow removal has been awesome, but this year they were very late getting around to the side streets.
G. Benoit says
If you ask me, I worked with some of these idiots…One is the now administrator, who doesn’t have a clue…How she got up the ladder….Totally clueless…..You have to love snow and know snow to plow the stuff…If you don’t and just go out there to have fun, with the plow, you’re not gonna plow snow properly….You will move snow; but not remove it properly…Let the old timers show you how, it’s in their blood….
Gord Gunner says
The District needs to stop wasting money on maintaining bike trails and spend it on maintaining our roads 12 months of the year.