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IanO said:
I've sent a note to my Councillor, the City Manager, Explore Edmonton and Edmonton Global.
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Like I’ve said before, any one of us can plan and execute a better street cleaning program than our hired “professionals” can……even with ZERO.ZERO experience and/or education. Even 1 single maintenance worker who stares at a monitor all day or “the guy that drives a one of 2000 fleet vehicles” all day seemingly doing NOTHING would make such a difference.
 
I was downtown yesterday along with scores of others with a major convention and the first playoff game of the year at hand and have to admit that as much as I love/promote this city as much as I can, it's getting harder and harder to do that.

From the street banners promoting an event that was over last December to the dirt on the streets and sidewalks to the dust blowing in the face of all of our out of town guests, to the potholes that are obviously getting worse and worse because we take the cheap way out every year so they don't really get fixed but come back with a vengeance to the missing and crumbling curbs and paving stones on those decorative sidewalks that should have been eliminated years ago...

We might as well have signs that say "we talk a good story but at the end of the day we don't really give a sh!t or things wouldn't look like this"... :(

It's not rocket science, it's simply a matter of looking around and not saying "we need to fix this" but actually getting out and fixing it. And by that I don't mean those posting here (I'm pretty sure most of us do our bit) but our mayor, our councillors, and our administration from top to bottom.
 
It really feels like there is no care given to how objectively worse the tons of gravel used on sidewalks/SUPs make the experience for people using mobility devices, wheelchairs, etc., not to mention active transport users.

In past years I've just gotten fed up with almost sliding out on some of the paths around me and just swept some of the worst areas myself, because the city map/webpage offers no info at all on sweeping of shared-use paths.
 
Golly gee! Too bad we didn’t have a pool 🏊‍♀️ of free labour that were housed in a tax payer paid haven for the criminal and degenerate🧐. And if we could somehow harness this free labour pool and put them in orange jumpsuits, leg shackles and a garbage picker……and place them along major roadways to pick litter all summer?! If there was only such a system……

Btw, I jest, but when I was a kid my grandparents in the 70’s and early early 80’s would often point out to me as we drove that the litter pickers in the ditches were in fact criminal scumbags….
 
^
I struggle with the free and the shackles - also joking :) - but if it was paid and optional…

ntt1 said:
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In past years I've just gotten fed up with almost sliding out on some of the paths around me and just swept some of the worst areas myself, because the city map/webpage offers no info at all on sweeping of shared-use paths.
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My neighbours think I might be crazy - and they well be right! - but in addition to cleaning my driveway and sidewalks, I’ve already used a “dandelion rake” to clean the sand and gravel out of the boulevard grass and a steel bristle push broom to clean the street in front of my house…
 
Heritage Trail between Downtown and the Leg untouched and yet partially swept, which means that either that stays on the sidewalk all year or it's swept into the street post-street cleaning.

Also, this is a stretch with a lot of pedestrians which are most impacted by dust/dirt and sees no priority.

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Well at least all the garbage will be picked up today on Earth Day DT….thanks in part to Westrich doing their part…..got your garbage picking boots and PPE ready to go Ian?
 
It's pretty sad when you think about it: a winter city of more than a million people, that's experienced winter since forever, with city council after city council talking about the need to be more urban and walkable etc etc and the city STILL can't get street sweeping and litter clean-up right?! My goodness, how utterly shameful.

Doesn't anyone who is a politician at city hall actually think about this? Or how about anyone who works for the city?! Don't they see how grimy the city looks as they make their way to the office for two to three days of the week between downtown and the MUCH cleaner St. Albert's and Sherwood Parks where they live?!

And this isn't about the need for more resources, but instead a better allocation and a winter-city design that SHOULD take into account our unique challenges.

As soon the the snow melts, the sweepers have to be out in key areas: the Gateway and Calgary trail to and from the airport. The litter should be picked up ASAP in that corridor as well. Also on the priority list: Jasper and Whyte, Alberta Ave, 124 street, 107 Ave, Little Italy. Get the sand off the sidewalks, onto the streets, clean up the streets. All the main promenades and trails/ walkways, the DT Valley line stops/ LRT entrances and exists, etc etc.

But, na... year after year, the same BS, the same complaints. It's getting quite exhausting to see a lack of direction and, bluntly, the hypocrisy on city halls word vs their actions.
 
City Council doesn't direct administration directly. It's up to the City Manager to do that. If something's not getting done, Councillors can follow up but probably not their fault. Very much feels like front line staff sometimes just don't priortize it or some excuse not to do it earlier (infrastructure operations).

Agreed, should be picked up immediately. There should also be early sweeping Feb/March if its a dry year to start picking up the gravel, especially when we have major events. No excuses. City core has $3m extra for cleaning, same delay every spring getting it done until someone complains. Had to remind them last year to get it done cause playoffs where imminent...same thing this year.
 
whattheheck said:
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Doesn't anyone who is a politician at city hall actually think about this? Or how about anyone who works for the city?! Don't they see how grimy the city looks as they make their way to the office for two to three days of the week between downtown and the MUCH cleaner St. Albert's and Sherwood Parks where they live?!
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I think you need to make an allowance for how much different the weather and the soils conditions and the traffic are in St. Alberta and Sherwood Park than they are in Edmonton... :)
 
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