Trench warfare

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/03/2022 (1429 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sarah Broadfoot’s car has been on ice for nearly two weeks.

She last tried to move it on March 18, after a plow went down her back lane and left high windrows that froze when the mercury dropped way below zero. She got stuck in the ruts, and was only able to push her car back into place with the help of a few kind neighbours.

She’s able-bodied and works from her home on Carter Avenue, but can’t use her car to run errands. She worries she’ll be without transportation when she really needs it.

“If there’s any sort of emergency, I live on my own, I have elderly parents. If they called, I can’t get out to help anybody if they need help, I can’t get out myself,” she said.

People across the city are caught between a windrow and a hard place thanks to back lane plowing by the city this month. A higher number of complaints about residential back lanes has been registered compared with last year, the city said.

The city has received 3,307 service requests for back lanes so far this year compared to 214 in the same period last year.

Broadfoot has tried to get help from the city via its Twitter account. To date, she hasn’t been given a proper response.

“I have contacted the city via 311, and through their Twitter account, and I keep getting reference numbers and nothing has happened … I just feel totally abandoned, like nobody’s listening,” she said. “These reference numbers mean nothing, because nobody has come to look at it.”

A city spokesperson said homeowners are on the hook when it comes to dealing with the piles of snow and ice left on or by back lanes.

“While we can empathize with residents’ frustrations, these operations are governed according to the council-approved policy on snow clearing and ice control, which stipulates that residents are responsible for clearing windrows left on or adjacent to their properties’ rear approaches,” the spokesperson said in an email.

It’s been almost impossible for many people to break the ice on back lanes this spring.

The city has received 172.4 cm of snow this season. As the temperature warmed up and the spring melt began, there were oodles of puddles. Then the mercury plummeted and the water froze again.

“It is unfortunate that weather conditions led to freezing of windrows following the most recent lane clearing; however, the risk of property damage is just too high for the city to clear this snow and ice from back lanes and adjacent to the rear of private properties,” the spokesperson said.

Broadfoot said the back lane icefield this spring has been the worst since she moved in to her home in 2018 and she is resigned to just waiting for the ice to melt. To add insult to injury, the front side of her street is being worked on by the city, meaning residents can’t park on the street.

“I totally understand this winter was unique, it was crazy the amount of snow we got – but this is Winnipeg, it’s not like we’ve never had winter,” she said.

“It was just more snow and more ice, it wasn’t like a really unique situation. So that’s what I don’t understand, why it all seemed to really fall apart this winter.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca