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Readers weigh in on snowpocalypse in Vancouver

Some people ‘making a mockery of citizenry’
moresnow
The snowfalls and resulting icy streets have upset a lot of Vancouverites, including some who contacted the Courier in recent weeks. Photo Dan Toulgoet

I should write about snow and ice more often.

My last two entries in this space about how Vancouver is or is not dealing with the snowpocalypse and resulting icemare generated a steady stream of emails into my inbox. 

The common thread was the city’s response to the mess caused some readers’ blood pressure to rise. Not everybody felt this way, however, including a guy named Matt who wrote: “This city, and a growing number of me-me-mes are making a mockery of citizenry. Does that notion even exist anymore? Where are our citizens?”

Another reader named Betty wrote to comment on my tale about shoveling out a parking hole last month for an elderly neighbour’s family visiting from California.

The hole she shovelled out was in the mid-1970s and it was for her 1956 Pontiac. Some guy kept taking her spot. Turns out it was a well-known environmentalist.

“I immediately put a note on his windshield saying, ‘I plow, I park.’ He’s never liked me since then.”

Then I received a letter from Norm Atchison. He had a lot to say and his words kind of summed up some of the emails, online comments, tweets and phone messages I reviewed.

I thought you should read it in its entirety.

But before I cut-and-paste his letter, you should know I made reference to Grampa Simpson in one of my previous entries. You should also know Norm is not a firefighter but was in the East 15th and Nootka Avenue neighbourhood when a house fire erupted Jan. 5.

There, now read on…

“I guess I am Grampa Simpson. I emailed Mayor and Council and ranted about the lack of service received in my neighbourhood.

Given that the first snowflakes fell Dec. 2 (and we didn’t see a sand truck until we were locked in this new ice age) my tolerance for news reports of the city needing to be economic after the rest of the city was attended got my blood boiling.

By the way, we still have those first flakes. Where I live, in Renfrew, is a cold north facing slope and we didn’t experience the melt that other neighbourhoods have. I am sure all of the north slopes are the same.

I called 311 on Jan. 4 and explained, to a very resigned sounding operator, that when Rupert Street is plugged with commuters stuck on the hill between Grandview and 22nd they bypass to Windermere Street and right by my house. I have come to accept this and call it the Rupert Bypass.

But under these circumstances fire trucks and ambulances also use Windermere. I suggested some attention would be useful and that Windermere might be considered a secondary route for emergency vehicles.

Finally, on Jan 5, we saw some sanding done. The sad part of this is, on the afternoon of the same day, there was a house fire at 15th and Nootka, just four blocks away.

I was one of the first on the scene and saw how the fire crews struggled on the steep and icy hillside. There wasn’t any asphalt for the truck to stop on, just icy ruts several inches thick.

Then the fire crews slipped and slid as they deployed the hoses. I witnessed crew members falling on the ice. I thought it ironic that firefighters could be injured and have to be off work, collecting from Work Safe, while the City saved a few dollars on salt and sand.

Surely street work is required to facilitate emergency services in their efforts. To write off citizen complaints may be humorous to some but every street in Vancouver is an emergency route at some time or other.

Also, the laneway houses that are sprouting up everywhere are increasing the many kilometres of roads that need attention.

The City and Province spend untold millions for earthquake preparedness, an event that will occur every 300 to 400 years but are anxious about saving money in winter, an event that happens every year. I hope they will review their winter response plan and support the City Works Yards in their efforts.”

In the meantime, we can all get back to griping about the rain.

mhowell@vancourier.com

@Howellings