Presentation. Enviormnent and Transportation Committee. London, On. Nov. 29th, By: Nursing students, Post RN program.

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Marianna Nelson
5 years ago
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1 J _--_-Original Message----- From: Manjit Brar Sent: Thursday, November 11, :26 PM To: DeCicco, Anne Marie Subject: Need to meet you Hello Ms Decicco, I am ing to you on behalf of my group. We are a group of nursing (post R.N.'s) students at UWO school of nursing. Part of our learning experience is to identify an issue for Londoners and try to resolve it by following a political process. Our group has identified an issue that deals with clearing of snow on city streets and side walks. Our concern deals with accumulation of significant amounts of snow at street corners and side walks leading to the intersections. We believe that this is as a result of city plowing the roads a lot earlier than plowing the side walks. As per current policy at the city hall, side walks are not even plowed unless the snow fall is greater than 8cm. This results in formation of unsafe snow banks at the side walk corners leading to road intersections. These snow banks are unsafe and restrict pedestrians with special needs such as elderly, blind, people in wheel chairs, young parents with children in strollers etc. We have been working with several stake holders on this issue. This is a major health and accessibility issue for the people mentioned above. We also have been to the meeting of a sub-committee of AAC and they support us on this issue. What we would like to do is to meet with you and possibly with council and present this issue and our proposal. We need only a short time possibly up to 30 minutes to present our issue and answer questions that you may have. We would like to have this opportunity possibly in the next few weeks as we are working under the time line. We understand and appreciate that this is a very busy time for you and the council as you are preparing the budget for next year. We still hope that you will give us some time. Thank you. Manjit S. Brar Post R.N. student UWO

2 Presentation Enviormnent and Transportation Committee London, On. Nov. 29th, By: Nursing students, Post RN program ' U.W.O. School of Nursing. Presenters: Manjit Brar Stephane Brown Holly Fenn Yasmeen Jabbar Lori Sashegyi Jessica Wagner

3 Who are we? We are a group of nursing students (post R s) at UWO school of nursing. Part of our learning experience is to identif) an issue or a problem and try to resolve it by following a political process. What is the problem/issue? Our group has identified an issue that deals with clearing of snow on city streets and side walks in London. Our concern deals with accumulation of significant amounts of snow at side walk comers where sidewalks merge on to streets. Who and what is contributing to the problem? We believe that the problem is as a result of city plowing the roads a lot earlier than plowing the sidewalks. As per current practice, sidewalks are not even plowed unless the snowfall is greater than 8cm. This results in the formation of unsafe snow banks at the sidewalk corners. These snow banks become barriers for pedestrians with special needs. Who are all affected by this probledissue? Pedestrians with special needs such as elderly, blind, people in wheel chairs, and young parents with children in strollers. Also, affected are the people who use city bus service as a means of transportation and people who like to get out and walk for exercise. Facts. There are an estimated 43,000 people in London that are living with some type of disability. About 57, 000 people are of age 65 or older. About 25,000 children are between age 0 to 4. About 56,000 people either walk or use city bus service for their transportation needs.

4 Background information. In the last budget, city had proposed to achieve a $200,000 saving in the winter maintenance budget by reducing sidewalk plowing service levels on city streets along with delay in general post-storm clean up. What is our proposal? We propose to the city to revisit it s practice in regards to clearing of snow fiom the sidewalks. We hrther propose that city should send out the crew to clean sidewalks at the same time they dispatch crew to clean roads.

5 RE: Letter re snow remmal from the side walks Subject: RE: Letter re snow removal &om the side walks From: "Paul Perna" Date: Tue, 19 Oct :45: To: "Manjit Brar" <mb. October 19, 2004 To Whom It May Concern: The following relates to city issues in the CNIB SW District. Many independent pedestrians (peds) often have poor depth perception and distance vision. Then there are the seniors, the ambulatively-limited and wheelchair users. Snow clearing is important to peds who walk as well as peds who drive. Here are three occurences I've observed. They relate to both public and private snow removal, I include three recommendations. One consumer was told by a city staff, they can't prioritize his suburban residential sidewalks over the core areas and commercial streets. The result. He and his dog guide have to walk on the road and around a corner on the road. This is dangerous. A dog will commonly treat a roadway as a wide walkway and walk where where she sees fit. It is unrealistic to expect a dog to stay along the snowbank in the gutter. She will go around cars, and the master is then out in traffic. This dangerous situation must be addressed. The next occurences relate to failure of private snow removers, but its solution requires a government plan of action. A consumer, while walking the sidewalk in front of an Esso service station, had to negotiate a 6 inch-wide path. I heard the manager say, "That's the city's responsibility". Monday Jan. 13/04 at the SE corner of Oxford and Wonderland, the city had done its job, clearing the main street walks. My student was on placement to Hutton House and was returning across the south leg of the crossing, west to east. The service station sidewalk was cleared, but the contracted snowplow operator had left the business' snow over the sidewalks, effectively creating sidewalk barriers. When f approached the two staff at the station, they listened until the superior said the usual: "It's the city's responsibility". I informed them the city would be out after the next snowfall, but not so quickly because there's lots to finish with the previous night's deluge. Meanwhile my student (and wheelchair users) have to clamber over 2-3 foot banks, a few feet from busy Oxford Street. That's a recipe for danger. It appears that businesses are sidestepping their management and tesponsibilities to peds. What should the city do '7 - advertise and enforce snow clearance laws - like the one that gives buses the right-of-way - state to businesses the requirement to have sidewalks barrier free, that owners must demonstrate they are doing everything they can to ensure such - budget for heavy winters, Paul Perna Paul Perna Orientation C Mobility Specialist CNIB SW District 749 Baseline Rd. E. London ON N6C 2R ext nf3

6 Re: snow removal from side walks in london Subject: Re: snow removal fi-om side walks in london From: Manjit Brar Date: Wed, 29 Sep :48: To: "Parsons, John" Thank you for calling me yesterday and providing me with more info. re city's current practice re snow removal fiom the side walks. I can appreciate city's position on this issue in light of fiscal responsibilities and the challenge of meeting budget goals. But, we feel that the side walks leading to the street intersections get buildup of significant amounts of snow as a result of snow plowing of the roads only. This build up of snow makes hard md restricts the pedestrians specially people with disabilities, wheel chairs, and baby strollers to cross over the roads at these intersections. We are a group of six post R.N. students at U.W.O. who have identified this as an important issue for the Londoners with disabilities, young children, seniors, and people who don't have their own way of transportation to work, store, health clinic, library etc. and often use city provided transportation. My group mate Holly Finn has also been in contact with you as well. We are meeting today as a group with our faculty liaison and discuss this issue further. We will probably contact you again for more info. and your input on this issue. We appreciate your time and feedback. Parsons, John wrote: rnanjit The original proposal to achieve a $200,000 saving in the winter maintenance budget was to reduce sidewalk plowing service levels on local streets and delay general post-storm cleanup. In short, our standard indicates that we commence plowing after 8cm of snow has accumulated on the sidewalk. In the past we would plow sidewalks after the road had been plowed which would generally mean that the accumulation was less than 8 em. The cost saving projected in the report to council was based on an average winter. The 2003/2004 winter was not average; however, there were saving during the first couple of storms in January because the accumulation was less than 5cm and the plows where not sent out. As the season progressed we had more that the average number of snowfalls greater than 8cm and those situations strained our budget. We are obligated to continue with the practice of deploying sidewalk units after 8cm of snow accumulation or in icy conditions. I John Parsons I ----Original Message----- From: Manjit Brar [mailto: mb. brar@svm~atico.ca] Sent: Friday, September 24,2004 5:20 PM To: Parsons, John Subjeck Re: snow removal from side walks in london Thank you. I did visit the web site and it is very helpful. But 1 was told that city will clear the side walks only if the snow fall is greater than 8 cm or so or that there was even a proposal that city wil eventually like to stop clearing the side walks all togeth er,.... Can you put some light on that. Again thank you for your time. Manjit Parsons, John wrote: I

7 I 7.L -.. I Mail :: INBOX: Fwd: E: Need to meet you] Page I of3 a 0 B a P? a 4 PNBOX Compose Folders Optans Search Help Address Book LogW e INBOX - Open Folder -. ENBOX: [Fwd: REI: Need to meet you] (7' of 3x1 M O V COPY ~ ~ Thi54essawto --* Wete [ Reply [ Reply to All I Fbward 1 Redirect I Blacklist I Message Sowm 1 Save as I Print Date: Tue, I6 Nov :ITAB From: Manjit Brar emb. brar@sympatico.ca> To: mbrar2@uwo. ca Subject: [Fwd: RE: Need to me& 2 unnamed text/html I 1.47 KlFx Eack to INBOX qp - Original Message - Subject:RE: Need to meet you Date:Tue, 16 Nov From:Bain, Kevin <KBain@LQNaON.CA> To:<m b. brar@sympatico.ce CC:DeCicco, Anne Marie <AereCicco@LONDON.CA>, Caranci, Roger.rrceranci@LONOQN.CA;., Banach, Lynda.=I banach@london.cb Further to your to Mayor DeCicco, I wish to confirm that the deadline for requesting delegation status for the next meeting of the Environment and Transportation Committee (ETC) is Monday, November 22nd at I I :00 a.m. Please contact Lynda Banach, CornmMes Secretary if you wish to appear as a delegation at the November 2gfh ETC meeting. Kevin Bain City Clerk -----Original Message---- From: DeCimr Anne Marie Sent= Tuesday, November 16, O:PfAM To: 'Manjit Bmc' Cc: Carana, Roger; Bain, Kevin; Banach. Lwda Subject: RE: Meed to meet you Dear Manjii Thank you for your . I would that you seek delegation s aikws at the Environment and TransporWha Committee which deals with snaw removal. You may be able to attend Ihaik next meeting which is on Monday, November 29th. I will copy the City Clerk and the C W of the Committee to tentatively bak the slot which is 15 minutes. But, yeru wdii have to follow-up directly Syzw are interested in this option. Them ib a deadline of Thursday, Nuvember 25th, so you will have to make a deckiam shortly. Sincerely,

PROVINCIAL MAINTENANCE STANDARDS FOR MUNICIPAL HIGHWAYS AMENDMENTS 2018 RECOMMENDATION

PROVINCIAL MAINTENANCE STANDARDS FOR MUNICIPAL HIGHWAYS AMENDMENTS 2018 RECOMMENDATION TO: FROM: SUBJECT: CHAIR AND MEMBERS CIVIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING ON AUGUST 13, 2018 KELLY SCHERR, P.ENG, MBA, FEC MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENGINEERING SERVICES AND CITY ENGINEER PROVINCIAL