Danger on the sidewalks

(Update) Icy sidewalks have been a big problem across Southern Ontario this year, and Hamilton’s Public Works Committee debated what to do about them Monday morning after another layer of snow this past weekend turned to thick ice by morning, jeopardizing pedestrians across the city.

City councillors are getting a lot of complaints about sidewalks, especially from seniors and people with mobility issues. Brian McHattie brought a motion asking for information about a snow clearing program to find out what other cities do, and how many people slip and fall because of ice and snow-packed sidewalks. McHattie is out of town and wasn’t there Monday morning, but his motion still got some traction.

The sidewalks are so perilous in parts of the city, some people are afraid to leave home as these people trying to navigate can attest to:

“Bad. for old chicks like me. really bad. You can’t go out. You’re stuck inside. When you want to eat, you have to go.”

“I just have to make sure I go very carefully in case I fall.”

“They’re so icy. They’re not cleaned off or salted. And the bus stops are really bad. I’m sorry I come out.”

In the Public Works Committee meeting, councillors were told it would cost millions for the city to start clearing sidewalks, the way some other cities do.

Gerry Davis is the General Manager of Hamilton Public Works: “You’d have to hire labour, more material, machinery, and you have to provide the same service level as roads. (Those are) resources we don’t have.”

“They look after the roads, but the sidewalks for people to walk is a different thing. Seems like they’re more interested in getting the cars around.”

Councillor Sam Merulla says this weather is an anomaly, and he wants data from at least five winters to know whether a sidewalk clearing investment would be worthwhile: “Also, in consulting social media, the notion of increasing taxes for sidewalk snow removal was flatly rejected.”

In Ancaster, the city does clear sidewalks. It’s a service that was grandfathered during amalgamation. But you can see that even with the proper equipment, with this kind of weather it’s hard to keep the sidewalks clear. And Ancaster homeowners do get that cost tacked onto their tax bill.

Hamilton has a policy that owners have to clear snow and ice from sidewalks around their property within 24 hours. But it’s not a heavily enforced policy. Generally it takes a complaint, after which a bylaw officer would ask the owner to comply within a certain time. But even councillors are having a hard time getting ice out of their own driveways. The city still owns the sidewalks. So if someone falls, the city is liable. However, it can only be found legally liable if the sidewalk is in such disrepair you can prove gross negligence. Not even the courts would expect a city to have all sidewalks clear in this weather.