Sidewalk Clearing Lives Another Day in Orangeville
Love it or hate it, sidewalk clearing will continue in the Town of Orangeville. The chair of the Snow Clearing Committee, Councillor Kidd, presented council with a report from the Committee along with a recommendation that no changes be made to the current sidewalk clearing program. There were a number of concerns brought forward that no alternate recommendations had been brought to council, but regardless of those concerns, the motion carried.
As most taxpayers are aware, this program costs residents approximately $380,000 per year in sidewalk clearing plus an additional $35k per year to repair property that have been damaged by the sidewalk plows.
This motion passed almost unanimously with only Mayor Williams voting against.
I have to side with Mayor Williams on this one…in my humble opinion, that is almost half a million dollars being frivolously spent every single year. I am a firm believer that the Town should be maintaining the sidewalks on the necessary streets (First St, Broadway, etc), but in my mind, there is no reason that residents can’t maintain their own sidewalks. If for health or other concerns some residents are unable to clear their sidewalk, that should be their responsibility….not the responsibility of every taxpayer in Town.
Curious on your opinions….
So, Council was a pretty short agenda…and really sidewalk snow clearing was the only hot topic. However, as some of you on Facebook know, the Orangeville Q & A groups are always an interesting read. A recent post from Sandy Brown, who ran for Deputy Mayor last election, caught my eye. I wanted to share it with you and get your humble opinions on this controversial topic…
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The comments on the post, as you can imagine, included many differing opinions (to put it nicely) and those opinions ranged from thinking the Way-Finding project is a waste of money to being brilliant and everything in between.
I realize that you will NEVER please everyone…however, at the low end, this is costing taxpayers a quarter of a million dollars……for SIGNS. I am in support of way finding signs, but this cost seems excessive.
What are your thoughts?