Doctor losing patience with city over snow removal

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This article was published 27/12/2016 (3561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local doctor is outraged after he was unable to open his Machray Avenue clinic on Tuesday morning because access to it is blocked by a mountain of snow pushed there by city snow-clearing equipment.

Dr. Peter Arnott said he won’t be able to see patients at his North End clinic until the snow is cleared. They’ll have to go to hospital emergency departments where the wait times can be much longer than at a clinic.

“The way it has been dumped, it has totally blocked access to my building. No elderly person can walk or should even try to get to my door. I’m furious over this. This sort of thing should not be happening,” said Arnott, who owns the McGregor Medical Clinic at the corner of McGregor Street and Machray Avenue.

“We are an essential service. Dumping snow outside clinics when the hospitals are overburdened with work is non-sensical. I will lose 50 visits today, patients I could have seen, which will now probably go to the emergency services.”

Arnott said he cleared his doorway himself when he arrived earlier Tuesday but access to the clinic is blocked by high snow banks. A couple of patrons of a nearby business attempted to clear a path to the street but he said it remains unsafe.

“It is very slippy. There must be 20  tons of snow all along the length of the clinic and I don’t see anywhere else quite so backed up with snow as my clinic,” Arnott said. “I won’t see them (patients) until the pathway is clear. We’ve had people fall here, it’s not safe and I’m serious about this.

“That will not be in anyone’s favour if somebody has an accident outside here. We have to keep the place reasonably safe and I won’t take the risk.”

Arnott said last week he paid someone privately last week to clear the snow on the sidewalk in front of and leading to his clinic.

Counc. Marty Morantz, chair of the infrastructure, renewal and public Works committee which includes snow clearing, said he spoke personally on Tuesday with the acting head of the city’s snow clearing services who said a crew would be dealing with Arnott’s snow pile as soon as possible.

He said it is unusual to have two major snowfalls inside of a month as has occurred in December.

“The City of Winnipeg snow-plowing operation is a massive operation involving the clearing of thousands of streets. The city does do its best to be sensitive to the needs of all local enterprises, including medical clinics and if situations arise where additional attention is required, the city is very interested in rectifying any situation,” Morantz said.

Morantz referred to city data stating the areas that need to be cleared include 748 km of regional streets, 712 km of collector streets, 1,852 km of residential streets, 915 km of back alleys and 2,588 km of sidewalks.

“And, it’s all got to be done in three or four days,” Morantz said. “It is always a technical challenge to get it done as quickly and as efficiently as possible.”

City spokeswoman Michelle Finley stated in an email that “snow clearing crews do their best to not impede traffic while stopping for operational updates and breaks.”

“Regarding the medical clinic on Machray, we apologize for any inconvenience to patients and staff that the plow’s temporary stop at this location, may have caused. Our streets supervisor has contacted the crew and asked that they relocate immediately,” Finley stated in the email.

“We appreciate the public’s ongoing patience and cooperation as city crews and contractors work to clear streets following Sunday and Monday’s major winter weather event.”

Finley stated that members of the public should call 311 to report any issues with snow clearing equipment or deficiencies in clearing or by email at 311@winnipeg.ca so that “city staff can connect with snow clearing crews to resolve the concern in a timely manner.”

In a call to 311 placed by the Winnipeg Free Press on Tuesday morning, a reporter was on hold for 25 minutes before a city operator answered the call.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca