Snow Removal in Calgary

I'm sure a lot of you folks are not too pleased with the poor job the city has done in regards to plowing snow and keeping the roads and highways clean in Calgary. Record numbers of auto accidents because of icy roads have prompted angry calls to the municipal government, but the Aldermen and Alderwomen are not taking action the way the citizens want them to.

I, myself, sent an email to my ward's alderman and here's the reply I recieved from his office;

(Note: text in Violet are my comments)


Mr. McCoy,

Thank you for your email sent to Alderman Stevenson's office.

I have forwarded your email to our Roads department. All areas in Calgary are experiencing the same difficulties and we are requesting that citizens be patient. We received the following information from our Roads department on Wednesday and I hope you find it helpful. These stats are before the snow received Wednesday.

(that's what they do.....send you a bunch of stats..)

Our SNIC material usage in all of 2008 was approximately 40,000 tonnes of salt and 48,000 tonnes of pickle.(pickle...??!)

Since December 20 we have removed 2,600 truckloads of snow from the downtown core and surrounding areas. Our SNIC Priority One and Priority Two Route Maps identify over 7,600 lane km of road network to maintain. Our sander trucks have travelled over 163,000 km maintaining the SNIC routes - the equivalent of driving around the equator four times. (jeez....must be a huge accomplishment eh)

Our sander drivers have logged over 11,000 hours of driving time behind the wheel. Our grader operators have logged over 1,700 hours of operating time.

Priority One: Major roadways with traffic volumes exceeding 20,000 vehicle per day
Central Business District streets which carry 8,000 vehicles per day
Designated routes on high-traffic-volume arterial roads

Priority Two: Roads which carry 5,000 t- 19,000 vehicles per day
Traffic lights and controlled crosswalks
Designated emergency routes (hospital, police and fire stations)

Priority Three: Designated feeders collector routes (too important to give it priority 3, IMHO)
Bus routes
School and playground zones
Designated hills
Stop.yield signs and bus stops

Priority Four: Designated hills


Sanding and Salting

Our crews are continuing to respond to snow conditions according to the Council Policy for Snow and Ice Control. During periods of snow like we experienced Wednesday, our sander drivers shift their focus back to conditions on the Priority One and Two Routes. When winter driving conditions are stabilized on the major roads, the crews shift their focus to the Priority Three and Four Routes. This entails spot sanding at designated feeders, collectors and bus routes as well as spot sanding at identified trouble spots. (ookaay....what priority are McKnight and John Laurine Blvds then....?)


Plowing

Plows are continuing work on Priority Two and Three Routes. Some work is necessary to continue to move snow further off the roads where initial plowing occurred but the road width is narrow because of the buildup of snow. Crews are also attending to windrows of snow at bus stops. (windrows is a misnomer, they should call it plowrows, as it is the plowing trucks who create these barriers in the first place)

Our crews have investigated a number of residential road plowing requests recently. In cases where our crews responded to alleviate conditions on a complaint basis, they continued to monitor the effects of our efforts. Our observations, and the public response, are similar to what we experienced when we conducted a trial of residential snow plowing a number of years ago. When our trucks and equipment respond, they often break through the existing hard pack due to their weight. Often that results in worse conditions that if we stayed away.(have to agree with that...you guys make matters worse).

Also, since we cannot remove snow from the residential roads, the windrows we create from plowing often cause a new set of problems. If temperatures drop, the windrows freeze and become harder to deal with. Cars cannot climb over the windrows to get into the travel lane. (unless one is driving a Land Cruiser).

The windrows also hamper the flow of water to the catch basins during warm weather, resulting in flooding problems.


Snow Removal and Storage

The snow removal crews are working on Priority One and Priority Two Routes. Crews are focusing their efforts on the structures and bridges. Where there are school and playground zones on the Priority One and Priority Two routes, they are also being evaluated.


Sidewalk Snow Removal

Hand crews are working on Priority Two and Priority Three locations with shovels and small equipment. Roads Maintenance Crews are contracted by Calgary Transit to clear bus stops, and this is occurring within the Priority Three work lists. (I drive quite a bit; haven't seen any...)

The Snow and Ice Control unit has been working around the clock to alleviate the problems. Again, thank you for your email and if you have any further questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

Lynne Banning
Community Assistant,
Ward 3 Office of Alderman Stevenson,
City of Calgary
Phone (403) 268-4854
Fax (403) 268-8091
PO Box 2100. Stn M Calgary, AB T2P 3M5
Ward03@calgary.ca
www.ward3calgary.ca
Proudly Serving a Great City


Hmmm.....same old response. Winter ain't over yet. Let's see what we have in store for the rest of the season...

International Hotel Suites Calgary

Smile (and wave).....you're being watched!

With the recent increase in crime and gang activity in Calgary, the police department has decided to install over twenty video surveillance cameras in the downtown area to keep an "eye" on suspicious activity.

The folks at Calgary Police Services are inclined to believe that more cameras will translate into less crime. To say that this thinking is flawed would be an understatement. There is no credible evidence that criminal activity slows down due to surveillance cameras. They install cameras in the downtown core and the gang members will move somewhere else.

The recent triple murder on new year's day - in broad daylight at a restaurant- is proof that gang members do not limit their activities to downtown Calgary. We cannot put up cameras everywhere and the taxpayers money could be better spent on something useful - like snow removal to prevent auto accidents!

Another component that concerns me is the invasion of privacy. Is there any guarantee that the video footage collected from these cameras would not be misused? There is growing evidence that the police in the U.S and Britain have used the surveillance systems to send out tickets for traffic or by-law violations. In fact, I was told by one British visitor that after tourism, cameras are the second largest source of revenue for the London city government. So this apparatus is more like a cash cow for city councils than a detterent for crime.

Gangsters and drug dealers will eventually find a way to avoid these cameras, and the general public won't fee any safer. The best way to combat crime in this city is to change the criminal justice system and enact tougher laws to punish the crooks, instead of creating a totalitarian police state where big brother watches everything you do.

Extreme Cold Weather and Heavy Snowfall in Calgary

Calgarians are enjoying their first heavy snowfall of the season (pardon the facetiousness) and bracing themselves for extremely cold temperatures. The weekend started with temperatures of around -25 degrees (celsius that is) which will further drop down to -30 C (around -22 F). With the wind chill being factored in, it will be around -45 Celsius. Yep.....it's gonna be fun :-#

Finally, some excitement in Canadian politics!

For a long time, politics in Canada has been dull and frequently overshadowed by American politics. More people tuned into the US presidential campaign of 2008 than the election of last October. But that has changed. Since the possibility of a "coup d'etat" in Ottawa has been on the horizon, the tension on parliament hill has increased and there has been passionate debate among Canadians on both sides of the political spectrum on who is more capable to lead.

I'm not going to go into much detail here as other bloggers are doing a good job of "analyzing" the situation and making predictions about the future government of Canada. I just want to gleefully showcase the entertainment that is being provided to us by our politicians.

Watch and enjoy the mud-slinging (also known as a debate, or question period) that was going on in the House of Commons on December 2nd 2008. Don't forget to comment!

Colorado Avalanche vs Calgary Flames NOV 18 2008

A very good game between the Flames and the Avalanche. In the end, Colorado got their asses whooped by Iginla and company.

The Global Recession and the Future of Alberta Oil Sands

Okay....so the world is going through a man-made economic recession, that's old news. But the effects of the credit crunch are being felt here in Alberta as well, which a lot of folks thought would remain immune to the problems created by the U.S fed. Our Premier, Ed Stelmach is running around Europe trying to convince investors there that the oil sands projects are a great investment in these tough economic times.

While rest of Canada (Ontario and Quebec in particular) is hardest hit, "Wildrose Country" is faring much better. But effects are being felt here as well. Less people will be employed in the oil sands this winter and the labour markets in Calgary and Edmonton have become competitive. And with the price of oil much lower than it was last year, the royalty money that the province will get won't be as huge as previous years.

But this is the right time for Alberta to diversify it's economy and invest in it's public infrastructure. Not only will help people stay employed, but it could prepare us for the future by investing in new technologies and industries. Trying to persuade the tree hugging Europeans to invest in the oil patch is like inviting the pope to a stag party. Instead, the premier should sit down with PM Stephen Harper and discuss a way forward for Alberta as it is the driving engine of the Canadian economy.

Stelmach also missed the regional meeting of the Canadian Premiers, in which there was an agreement about infrastructure investment where Ontario and Quebec were pushing for a high speed rail service between Toronto and Quebec city. I believe that Alberta should also go ahead with it's own plan for a bullet train corridor between Calgary and Edmonton.

The downturn in the economy is a blessing in disguise for Alberta's tar sands and we should use this opportunity to initiate creative plans for the future economic stability of Alberta. Let's not put all our eggs in one basket and consider alternative energy sources such as nuclear power. The government doesn't have to be in a rush to sell the oil, and sell it cheaply. Time for the politicians to get smart and get to work.