Sidewalk snowclearing still wanting: St. John's pedestrians

About 40 people who attended a meeting about snowclearing in St. John's on Monday evening said they are frustrated by their attempts to walk on city sidewalks.

The meeting, held by officials at the City of St. John's, was to talk to citizens about the city's enhanced sidewalk snowclearing program.

The city has increased the sidewalk clearing budget by $700,000 this year, and has added three new small sidewalk plows.  As a result, city officials said crews are now clearing 132 km of sidewalks, up from 101 km.

But pedestrian Sherwin Flight said the additions don't go far enough.  

"I think we need to look at clearing more sidewalks so that more people can get around without having to pick which side the street am I going to walk on," Flight pointed out. "While so many other people are saying, 'I don't even have a sidewalk to walk on at all.'" 

Anne Penney said she doesn't see much improvement.

"I walk at least two hours every day. I can't walk any more," said Penney. "You're taking away my right to walk."

Officials said even with the new equipment, pedestrians can still expect to wait a week after a big snowfall to see all the sidewalks cleared.