Last week, one of our city council members put out another reminder and plea asking citizens to clear a path to fire hydrants around their property. The message was right – if there was a fire close by, we would rather our skilled fire fighters spend precious time to put out the fire and not spend their time shoveling out a hydrant. Makes sense.
It got me thinking though…
If I had an emergency – and had to leave my house in a hurry and my street was just cleaned, who’s coming to shovel the end of my driveway so I can get out.
If I was a senior citizen – and needed to get to an appointment and my street was just cleaned, who’s coming to shovel the end of my driveway so I can get out.
On Sunday, while cleaning up the street in front of my house that had not been plowed yet, I realized that the snow and slush I was moving was starting to further bury the hydrant near my house. It’s not in my yard, or my neighbour’s yard, but about 80 feet from my house in an empty lot. It made me stop and think about the message. That hydrant is barely visible. What if…. ?
So I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, after 4-5 passes of the grader this winter, the snowbank on the street was frozen solid, with about 10-12 feet of snow between the street and the hydrant. It’s a big job, a slow job and took a lot of work. After about 90 minutes – the ice and snow was moved, and the hydrant was cleared and accessible. I did my part.
As i was walking the snowblower back up to the house, it ran out of gas. And, that got me thinking….again.
The idea in principle makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is the message – for us to do our part to help. I’m fortunate that I had the time and equipment to do my part, but how many don’t? How many seniors or disabled citizens struggle and hope for help getting the end of their driveway cleared after their street is cleaned. It’s a real problem – especially for those who have no help at all.
Our tax dollars pay for our streets to be cleaned and maintained. We have a hard working city crew who do their best every time after a storm to make sure we can get to work, to school and to appointments. Those same workers don’t have a lot of options as to where they put the snow, or the equipment to clear a path to hydrants on the way by our homes and still be as efficient as they are. With all of the new technology and inventions available to advance snow removal, why aren’t we looking at different options to help. Have you seen this invention? Incredible! If we don’t look at these kinds of options, it makes it hard to hear ‘do your part to help’.
The hydrant close to my house, but not at my house, is cleared. I’m fortunate. A lot of hydrants are not. We really need to start looking at better ways to do things before we ask citizens to ‘do their part’. Especially those that have no way to help.
I did my part Councillor.
It took me 90 mins, and a tank of gas on my snowblower.
90 mins @ $15.00 / hour = $22.50
1 tank of gas in the snow blower = 2.74 litres X $1.29 = $3.53
Total: $26.03
City Council, where do I send the invoice – or would you prefer to take $26.03 off of my taxes?
Before asking for help, how about looking at some options to help us.
Just my two cents.
