The streets have indeed been basically fine, and that makes sense because the City’s evident priority is to clear and maintain roadways. Sidewalks are a mess, but this isn’t new, and it’s the outcome of the City’s snow clearing procedures. Bad, inflexible bike lane design hasn’t helped. - ThreadSky

joshuahind.bsky.social • 5 days ago

The streets have indeed been basically fine, and that makes sense because the City’s evident priority is to clear and maintain roadways. Sidewalks are a mess, but this isn’t new, and it’s the outcome of the City’s snow clearing procedures. Bad, inflexible bike lane design hasn’t helped.

Reposted from Alex Bozikovic

Toronto streets have looked basically fine the last few days. Seven days after an exceptional storm, things are clear.

Is there any evidence that this snowstorm was badly handled? Or was this simply a case of limited resources being swamped by a massive storm?

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joshuahind.bsky.social•5 days ago

For pedestrians, this snowstorm has been badly handled, but no more so than any other. Sidewalk plows provide poor service, corners get filled in and are never cleared, and TTC stops are a disaster. Then comes the inevitable melt and puddle jumping or wading, depending on one’s ability.

joshuahind.bsky.social•5 days ago

Toronto’s snow clearing shortfalls have the same root as so much of its service provision: inadequate resources and lack of care. A “get it done fast” attitude that can be seen at every step of the process, from design to execution.

joshuahind.bsky.social•5 days ago

Even if you drive exclusively, Toronto’s snow clearing can hardly be hailed as successful. Parking lanes are rarely cleared, even on high streets, and if you’re unlucky enough to require street parking on a residential street, I hope your Honda came with a battering ram.

joshuahind.bsky.social•5 days ago

Again, none of the failures of Toronto’s snow clearing are new—I’ve been long jumping over lake-sizes corner puddles for 25 years—nor are they exclusive to large storms. 5cm or 50cm, the problems scale with the accumulation.

joshuahind.bsky.social•5 days ago

What’s changed with this storm is the Mayor. Bad service was John Tory’s brand, part of the bargain voters made to keep taxes artificially low (both in terms of inflation and regional equivalence). Chow was supposed to be different. But she isn’t any more interested in quality than John or Rob.

joshuahind.bsky.social•5 days ago

Leading up to the 2010 election, when a Ford victory seemed increasingly likely, staff prepped for lean years, knowing they’d been expected to do the same with less. But that’s impossible, so they learned to make it look possible. A “don’t look too closely” approach which lives on to this day.

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