I compliment Tim Kalsbeck and Joan Schleich for their straight-forward letters of Nov. 1.
I answered the city's invitation "to have my say" by giving my comments online. However, I am not sure who in city hall will read what I said. So I chose my response to the most troublesome suggestion, Scenario 3, and I hope that you will print it as an open letter to the people we elected: members of council.
"This is absolutely taboo. And it is insulting to suggest this option. As you say: this is a winter city. And I say: The clearing of driveway entrances is basic to mobility and civilized living in a winter city of 75,000 residents in 2010. And don't forget, we are not talking about snow from my driveway, we are dealing with dense snow and ice from a public property, the street. Your suggested option would take us back 20 years. Until then, residents going to work or driving to the airport - or mothers ready to take children back to school after lunch break at home - faced a wall of heavy material, often over a metre high, when the grader had gone by. Those who arrived here in the 1950s/60s advocated the clearing of driveways as essential for all residents, but in particular for the physically challenged and the elderly. It took too long until the current system was finally introduced in the early 1990s. If you reverse this practice, my wife and I will be gone from this city, even after more than 50 years of residency."
It was a specially-formed committee of council, with Anne Martin as a key player, that studied the snow issues and recommended the policy to remove windrows from driveways. Council approved it, and it has been a practice ever since - enhancing the quality of life for our citizens. Let's not mess around with a sensible practice that works
Horst Sander
Prince George
