Transportation Services had the option of cutting back on summer maintenance or winter maintenance. And the big loser was winter maintenance. Pothole repair was deemed more of an essential service than snow removal.

When the Toronto weather starts to wreak havoc with a vengeance I’d like someone to justify that to the residents of Toronto. But, the greater question is why should we have to choose between pothole repair and snow removal? Lack of either of these necessary services is a safety hazard.

In order to save approximately 5 million dollars from a 65 million dollar operations budget, Toronto weather prognostication is now going to play a major role in when snow removal will begin after a storm. Until now snow removal begins on major streets as soon as 8 centimetres of snow are on the ground and the snow has stopped. Sidewalks are scheduled for plowing within 48 hours. Snow removal doesn’t take place on side streets until 15 – 25 hours after the storm. If you ask most people in Toronto how they feel about it, they will tell you that snow in any significant quantity absolutely paralyzes the city and that the current snow removal system is hardly adequate.

Now the strategic thinkers at Transportation Services have come up with this brilliant plan. They will alter their snow removal plans if the Toronto weather forecast is for warmer, sunny weather which should in theory take care of snow removal naturally by melting it. Let’s all get out our crystal balls in order to find out when our streets and sidewalks will become navigable after a snow fall. And what of the insurance rates which will sky rocket as the number of accidents, both pedestrian and vehicle, increases as a result of the lack of timely snow removal? What is this very minor cost saving scheme actually going to cost the residents of Toronto?