Yesterday’s snowfall, our first major storm for the winter, caught many officials off guard. Those who will likely hear - or have heard the biggest complaints - are school board officials of the Eastern School District. It includes the Avalon Peninsula, which bore the brunt of the storm with some places receiving over 30 centimetres of snow. Yet schools were not closed. Adding to that mistake was the fact that many school parking lots were not cleared. Many cars got stuck on school property. Combine these two mistakes and you have a recipe for disaster – and some irate parents. Me included.
Other officials bound to hear a litany of complaints are town and city officials, specifically here in Paradise, but I suspect elsewhere. Roads in town were not cleared. For example, the road leading to the school was not plowed and many cars couldn’t make in up the slightest grades. It was a dangerous situation really.
To be honest, this is par for the course since the town started contracting out snow clearing services several years ago in an attempt to save money. Council likes to take about fiscal responsibility, but at what cost? And just where does all the tax revenue go that is generated by all the houses crammed onto 50 by 100 lots you may ask? To service debt. One in five tax dollars goes to pay down debt. In his Christmas newsletter, the mayor proudly proclaimed that the town spend $525,000 on street lighting last year. He neglected to mention the millions spend on debt reduction. But hey, if they can get away with decisions that may endanger people’s lives, what’s a few bucks? Incompetence knows no bound.
I was pretty shocked. I normally brag to my St. John's family members that Paradise has the best snowclearing anyplace. Then yesterday I came home from work around 7 and nothing in the area had been touched in hours. If not for my 4x4 I would have been camping at the Topsail Rd Tims. As it was I had to park in the street for an hour while I cleared out a space to park in.
ReplyDeleteThen about 830 a plow came through, and visited twice more during the night as it got caught up.
I have never had a problem with snowclearing in Paradise...until yesterday. I am hoping it was a one-off mishap and next storm will be a return to the tip top plowing we have had in the past.
I have found that the snow clearing has lapsed in the past number of years. I, too, had to park and walk home. It was almost twelve hours between trips by the plow. While I understand the main drags have to be cleared first, they weren't yesterday. And secondary streets were a slippery nightmare. A couple of school buses got stuck for brief periods of time. It wasn’t until almost 9:00 last night that we saw a plow and it buried a fire hydrant. The last thing we need in Paradise.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned contracting out. I see plows driving around with the town crest on the side... and some not. Just curious as to what is contracted out and what is done by town staff?
ReplyDeleteGood question. I see also see plows with and without the town crests. Those without - well most - are contractors. Sometimes our street is cleared by a town plow, sometimes by a contractor. Last night, it was a contractor that buried the hydrant - one that works by the way :)
ReplyDeleteI live in a cul de sac, we never have that problem..in the loop part anyway. Snow is scooped away from hydrants and driveways and piled up in the center. But that's a whole 'nother debate :)
ReplyDeleteI live in cul de sac as well, but lo and behold, the hydrant was covered. And it's not located in the centre of the cul de sac!
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I have to contact Councillor English on a question I posed to him about the rezoning of land a few years ago that was a contentious issue to say the least. I'll update an earlier post afterwards.