News Online: City answers parents’ plea for snow clearing help

Published online at GlobalTVEdmonton.com on February 9, 2011.


Linda Hoang, Global News: Wednesday, February 9, 2011

City answers parents’ plea for snow clearing help

Parents in the city’s southside are thanking the city for quickly answering their snow clearing concerns, after daycare buses were cancelled because of road conditions in the neighbourhood.

Bus drivers refused to enter narrow streets around Belgravia Community Centre at 11540 73 Ave. because of not only the number of windrows present in the area, but also how large the windrows were.

The windrows were making it impossible for drivers to get through.

“I ended up going out there, directing traffic. Nobody’s moving. The bus couldn’t back up. The other parents couldn’t back up. And it was just completely blocked,” said Jennifer Tkachuk, director of the Belgravia Out of School Care Program.

The situation left parents like Tracy Strongman, who is also a post-secondary student, wondering what would happen with her son’s after school care and scrambling for other after school care alternatives.

“How do I pick up my son from school? That was the biggest question going through my mind,” Strongman said.

“It’s really been a tough time. It’s very important to get it cleared up when things like this start to happen.”

But when Tkachuk and parents complained to the city, parents in the community were delighted when they woke to city crews clearing away the windrows on Wednesday morning.

“To find out the city came in right away and plowed it, that was helpful,” Strongman said.

“I’m happy,” Tkachuk said. “I can’t believe they came out here to do this for us.”

The city says it prioritizes all snow complaints it receives and tries to deal with more pressing ones as quickly as possible, as was the case with the Belgravia day care.

With files from Fletcher Kent

Click here to read the article on the Global Edmonton website.

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