WATCH: More snow was forecast on the way for Nanaimo Tuesday night as that community continued to dig out from last week’s repeated storms. Many of the city’s more than 300 kilometres of sidewalks are still buried under ice and snow and as Skye Ryan reports, frustrated pedestrians say it’s time the city does something.
New mom Lynneah Titian carved out a bone-jarring path through a snow-covered Nanaimo sidewalk on Tuesday. After being snowed in for days, she decided she wasn’t letting the conditions keep her in any longer.
“It’s hard to get anyplace. So I’ve just been a homebody. Because I can’t get anywhere with the snow on the sidewalk,” said Titian.
Some stretches of sidewalk were so bad that she needed to call in back-up for her and her seven-week-old son Damian. Her husband grabbed the wheel of their baby stroller just to get through the snow.
“It’s really frustrating,” said Titian.
“It makes me so mad that the roads are fine for people to get by but us people who walk can’t get anywhere,” she said.
Meantime Bill Vipond, another Nanaimo resident, was looking out for his wife Shirley.
“He’s pretty good at that,” said Vipond.
The icy snow covered Nanaimo sidewalks have raised the danger of her falling again.
“She’s got a walker,” said Bill.
“And it makes it tough for her getting out across the road,” he said.
“It’s been a few days since we had the snow,” said Shirley Vipond.
“You’d think it would be cleared a bit better,” she said.
Nanaimo’s mayor said that many sidewalks are still treacherous despite a city bylaw requiring property owners to remove the snow on sidewalks outside their homes and businesses.
Leonard Krog said the city isn’t considering investing in sidewalk plows as seen in other jurisdictions but will be increasing enforcement of the bylaws.
“Will we look at perhaps enforcing the existing bylaws, be tougher about it? I think council will certainly look at that in light of the number of complaints,” said Krog.
Skye Ryan
