It has been a tough 48 hours for residents and business owners alike throughout the region and across the province.
With two separate blizzards hitting in and around St. John’s this week, leaving mounds of snow and slush, disgruntled individuals have complained loudly via social media about snowclearing by the city.
One of those people who feels the downtown pain is Brian Vallis, owner of Piatto Restaurant on Duckworth Street.
“It’s hard for people to get to my restaurant. A lot of people come here for lunch and in these conditions, people from Water Street aren’t going to, or be able to, get up here to Duckworth,’’ Vallis said.
“When people can’t park downtown, they don’t come downtown,’’ he said, noting the impact this has on his business and many others. “I own a second location on Elizabeth Avenue and it is more successful than this one because there is always parking available.”
Vallis said that when the sidewalks aren’t done and large mounds of snow are piled along the streets, often covering all the parking meters, it dissuades people from going downtown.
Staff at Piatto had shovelled out the front of the restaurant and a small path from the street through the snowbank in order for patrons to reach the front door. Many other businesses had done the same throughout the downtown on Friday.
A host of social media posts Friday, several from Water Street business owners and another by a local musician regarding access to the LSPU Hall on Thursday night, led St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen to hold a news conference at city hall Friday afternoon.
“People need to understand we had 48 centimetres of snow in 48 hours. That’s a lot of snow and it takes a while to clean up,’’ Breen said.
“We appreciate the patience being shown by many residents and businesses, and we understand what they are saying, but it will take time.’’
Breen said that because of the nature of the downtown, the highest traffic occurs from Thursday through Saturday nights. This makes for difficult dynamics when it comes to snow removal, Breen said, and despite the parking ban from 4-6 a.m. instituted in early December, it is not enough right now.
He said the city crews want to get the cleanup done prior to businesses opening, and the nature of plowing roads is that it gets pushed onto the sidewalks, creating access problems at many locations downtown.
“There are nine kilometres of sidewalks downtown. To clear those, that process takes time,’’ Breen said.
“I want the residents of this city to know we are executing our plan — it is a process— and it takes time.’’
Breen said the city areas are divided into priority levels of what needs to be cleared first and what has to wait. They are well into this plan now and, he said, it is going well despite the challenges the crews face.
He said all public buildings and laneways have been cleared of snow, a massive task for the workers as they spend the entire eight hours of their shifts shovelling.
An area that raised a great deal of conversation overnight was the LSPU Hall in downtown St. John’s, where “Feast of Cohen” opened and patrons were met with mounds of snow on the steps and walkways into the building.
“We were not aware of the event going on there last night. As of today, that area has been cleared up,’’ Breen said.
“I would like to point out that nothing prevented them from clearing the snow themselves, at least along the rails to get people into the building.’’
The next 24-36 hours will be critical for all residents, as there is a warm front coming through the region that is going to provide heavy rainfall.
Breen said if there are storm drains near people’s homes, and they are not clear of snow, residents should dig those out so the water has somewhere to go. He also mentioned fire hydrants, which need to be accessible, and urged residents, if they have one of the 3,200 fire hydrants in the city, to dig those out if they can.
“Flooding could be an issue with this impending rain, but coming in behind that could be freezing. The combination of both of these could be a concern,’’ he said.
“The good thing right now is that streets are open. They are done, and the snow is pushed back. Now we just have to complete the next phase of the cleanup.”
