‘I’ve never seen a plow’: Forgotten Evans Street residents wait weeks for snowstorm cleanup
Residents say a forgotten" stretch of Evans Street was only just cleared of snow for the first time since a record January blizzard three weeks ago.
That also happens to be the first city cleanup Danny St. Amour can recall seeing on the beleaguered backstreet in years.
I've never seen a plow come in here. I'm the plow," said a laughing St. Amour, who celebrated Wednesday the arrival of city crews with a small front-end loader, trucks and salt. St. Amour has lived four years on the orphaned offshoot of Evans, which connects to Emerald Street North in the lower city's Lansdale neighbourhood.
In each of those years, St. Amour said he has complained to the city about unplowed snow - but mostly ended up shovelling out the street himself. This year, illness kept him out of commission when a Jan. 17 snowstorm dumped 40-plus centimetres on the city.
That left Yolande Jaskiw essentially housebound" for more than two weeks, although helpful neighbours eventually cleared a partial path. I couldn't (drive) out for 16 days," said the 71-year-old, who has lower-back problems and is leery of walking on icy ground.
I'm so happy they finally came. I've called before, and they always say, OK, we'll look into it.' But they never came," said Jaskiw, who has lived on the dead-end street since 1971. She called snow-clearing efforts spotty since amalgamation - but in more recent years, she said the street seemed forgotten."
We used to all get together, the neighbours, and shovel it out ourselves ... Then we'd have hot chocolate," she recalled. But I can't do that anymore."
Jaskiw theorized some plow operators mistake the narrow, eastern end of Evans for part of an alley linked to the dead-end street.
After hearing resident concerns through The Spectator, city transportation operations head Mike Field sent a crew to check out the ice-packed street. He confirmed the street did not meet the required level of service," but suggested it appeared to have had at least some maintenance."
Residents argued any cleanup was done by helpful neighbours with snowblowers. Regardless, city crews finished clearing and salting the street by noon Wednesday.
Field could not immediately confirm or refute resident recollections about the history of snow-clearing on the street before this year. Hamilton remotely tracks the progress of large snowplows and trucks via GPS - but a narrow street with no turnaround space like Evans requires specialized equipment that is not always electronically tracked.
I am disappointed if they feel it has been historically missed," Field said, pledging to review route planning to ensure the street stub stays on the radar."
Clearing both roads and sidewalks took longer than normal after the latest storm, which the city declared a significant weather event" in order to extend standard cleanup deadlines. As of early February, bylaw had ticketed close to 100 residents or businesses for not shovelling sidewalks.
Field said it is possible plowing crews could mistake narrow, stubby Evans for an unmaintained alley or private lane, which the city is not required to clear. Sometimes we can get mixed up on that," he said.
But he also noted the city sometimes clears residential streets only to see blowing snow undo all the initial work. Parked cars can also prevent timely snow-clearing in a narrow space - an acknowledged problem at times on Evans.
Regardless, Field urged any residents with concerns about uncleared streets to call the city contact centre at 905-546-2489.
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com