[spider]

Windrows

Discontinuing snowplow windrow clearance service has been suggested as a money saver for the City, I wonder how, not why. Having watched snow plow operators leave my driveway clear of snow for decades with no more effort than pushing a button .

For those who have never seen these plows in action visualise a plow running down the street plowing snow from the road to the curb, when the operator comes to a driveway he drops a barrier board from a vertical position beside the cab to a position on the road surface parallel to the curb. The board prevents the snow coming off the plow blade from being deposited at the curb for the width of the driveway. At the end of the driveway the blade is raised and the snow is once more dumped at the curb.

The plow doesn’t slow down during this operation, no extra people or machinery are required, none, nada, bupkis. where is the $3.7 million to be cut?

This process should be referred to as windrow prevention, not windrow removal.

 

[Voltz]

Windrows

Discontinuing snowplow windrow clearance service has been suggested as a money saver for the City, I wonder how, not why. Having watched snow plow operators leave my driveway clear of snow for decades with no more effort than pushing a button .

For those who have never seen these plows in action visualise a plow running down the street plowing snow from the road to the curb, when the operator comes to a driveway he drops a barrier board from a vertical position beside the cab to a position on the road surface parallel to the curb. The board prevents the snow coming off the plow blade from being deposited at the curb for the width of the driveway. At the end of the driveway the blade is raised and the snow is once more dumped at the curb.

The plow doesn’t slow down during this operation, no extra people or machinery are required, none, nada, bupkis. where is the $3.7 million to be cut?

This process should be referred to as windrow prevention, not windrow removal.

Actually, most of the time on my street the widrows are cleared by another machine that follows behind the snowplow. But the street is wide enough that it needs a snowplow with an extra blade attached to the side to clear the street in one pass each direction, presumably the extra blade can't have a extra board attached to it that prevents the snow from being deposited on driveways. The few times I've seen the windrows cleared in the way you described, the snow plow had to make an extra pass in each direction.

 

[nfitz]

... when the operator comes to a driveway

What is this thing that you call a driveway?

At my house, the snowplow dumps the snow on the city sidewalk I've already shovelled ... and yet in my area, it's my responsibility to reshovel the city sidewalk!

I didn't see sidewalk clearing discussed in the report ... did I miss something?

 

[jje1000]

I think you may find that street sweeping along with blacksmiths should have been discontinued for the same reason when horses disappeared from city streets.

People like you who want to cut back on little things like these will be, in a year, the same people who will bemoan the dirty state of our streets and blame government inefficiency.

 

[tkip]

People like you who want to cut back on little things like these will be, in a year, the same people who will bemoan the dirty state of our streets and blame government inefficiency.

Yup. If it weren't street sweepers, could you imagine the mountain of garbage that would pile up? Especially since so many people throw their garbage onto the streets..

 

[EnviroTO]

So funny that a survey which seemed so rigged to produce the cut and slash results that it seems were desired ends in the conclusion that people will pay more to keep things the same, and a study to find the fat found no fat beyond streets that could be cleaned less (which doesn't fit into a Toronto is already a hell hole agenda) and reduced protection against cavities. I wonder if any of the people who have aligned them with a "cut the fat" agenda are reading the results wondering if they made a wrong turn somewhere. Now that Ford has gotten rid of the streetside LRTs, vehicle tax, and perks like office coffee, zoo passes, and ward office budgets there is nothing left. Let me do the math on how improved the budget is now.... Oops, it is worse and two streets are now unlikely to see transit improvements that would have.

 

[EnviroTO]

People like you who want to cut back on little things like these will be, in a year, the same people who will bemoan the dirty state of our streets and blame government inefficiency.

Much like the people who complain that Miller is a union pushover and at the same time blame Miller that the strike went on so long.

 

[tkip]

Someone said Ford failed to deliver on cleaner streets including graffiti and I have to disagree about the graffiti part. I've seen a substantial amount of graffiti and sides of building cleaned up since the city starting issue tickets to owners. That or it's my imagination.

 

[EnviroTO]

That might be although I haven't noticed it. I have noticed that bus shelters seem to be in worse shape though.

 

[cdr108]

Someone said Ford failed to deliver on cleaner streets including graffiti and I have to disagree about the graffiti part. I've seen a substantial amount of graffiti and sides of building cleaned up since the city starting issue tickets to owners. That or it's my imagination.

sure but the city is going after the wrong people, the owners.

the graffiti 'artists' have a signature and the police know who they are.
instead of cracking down on the issue and addressing the source + symptoms, RF's plan is to penalize the property owners who have no control on the damage done.

hell, where is RF's company?
let's put a notice to all graffitiers to tag his building (as long as he owns it) and have by-law officiers charge him to get it cleaned.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Someone said Ford failed to deliver on cleaner streets including graffiti and I have to disagree about the graffiti part. I've seen a substantial amount of graffiti and sides of building cleaned up since the city starting issue tickets to owners. That or it's my imagination.

Where? In areas I frequent with graffiti problems there has been absolutely no improvement. Nada.

I didn't see sidewalk clearing discussed in the report ... did I miss something?

There's much more gravy to potentially cut, today was a preview. Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam's tweet on Sunday called the full report, "Apocalyptic"

I think you may find that street sweeping along with blacksmiths should have been discontinued for the same reason when horses disappeared from city streets.

Just wait if it's cut when budget talks begin in September. If it's rolled out, in two short weeks people will be screaming.

 

[spider]

How often is your street swept or washed, where do you live?

Here in my part of town (former North York) they are rare enough that people stop and stare as they would at a parade. If they only service a street once or twice a year as it seems why bother at all?

FWIW plow wise, our street is the standard 28`width and the street is plowed in 1 pass in each direction complete with windrows interrupted at driveways unless the snowfall is unusually heavy in which case 2 passes are required in each direction with the windrow interruption feature used on the 2nd pass only.

 

[Armbruster]

That might be although I haven't noticed it. I have noticed that bus shelters seem to be in worse shape though.

The City would actually have to spend money to clean its own property, which is why the bus shelters remain covered in graffiti. It's cheap and easy to write tickets and threaten fines to private property owners. If there has been any improvement in graffiti, thank the property owners who paid for it, not Ford.

 

[nfitz]

There's much more gravy to potentially cut, today was a preview.

I didn't think it was a preview. I thought it was the entire chapter on public works ... and as it includes plowing of streets and driveways, presumably sidewalk plowing would fall in this chapter.

This is probably the dullest chapter of all ... pretty much anything the roads department does is essential. Things get greyer when you get to things some might argue the city could dispense with ... such as pools, parks, and libraries.

 

[Ak2809]

I think we need the anti-graffiti wall from the Naked Gun movie