Happy City St. John's releases survey results on snowclearing

An online survey, conducted by municipal advocacy organization Happy City St. John's, shows 69 per cent of respondents would agree to pay higher taxes if it meant snowclearing would improve.

The organization had asked residents for their ideas on how to improve snow removal in the city. 

About 500 people responded to the online survey.

About 35 people gathered at city hall in St. John's Wednesday night for a forum and discussion on snowclearing. City of St. John's crews dealt with a large amount of snow over the winter months — and frequent complaints from residents. 

People really stressed how important snowclearing is in their lives- Josh Smee, Happy City St. John's 

Happy City St. John's Board of Directors Chair Josh Smee said the majority of respondents agreed with the idea of raising taxes to improve snowclearing.

Sixty-nine percent of the survey respondents indicated that they would be willing to pay more taxes for the sake of better snowclearing in town," he told CBC News.

"And when we asked the folks who said 'No, I'd rather not,' a lot of them said that a bylaw or asking property owners to do it would be the alternative solution."

Smee said many respondents were eager to provide suggestions — especially regarding sidewalk clearing.

"People really stressed how important snowclearing is in their lives."

​"You know, most of the discussion was focused on sidewalks, and that was partially our intention. That's clearly been the big issue of discussion for a lot of people this winter time. And what's been really interesting about that conversation that people have been having, for one, there are a lot of ideas there. So people gave us 20, 30, 40 suggestions for how things could be done differently." 

Smee said the survey data will now be given to the City of St. John's.