Street-cleaning - Where's the Logic???

[IanO]

Random car focussed suburban neighbourhoods prioritized over central neighbourhoods with far more pedestrians negatively impacted by grit and dust being blown around as they walk to work or get off of transit, shop etc.

Nice to see Wîhkwêntôwin and 124 scheduled, but walkable high density neighbourhoods, key 'tourism' areas and centres of business should be completed first, no?

And before people jump all over 'why should central Edmonton receive special treatment, I would absolutely include WEM, SEC, Kingsway and city corridors with this.

But having Oxford and Castledowns scheduled before you do around the UofA, Leg, Whyte and the most densely populated, ie. highest % of people walking in this dusty mess continues to blow my mind.

*BIAs, including Downtown and Whyte do get 'enhanced cleaning', but I've not seen much, if any difference and the amount of dirt and grime in the core is significant.

What gives?

ArcGIS Web Application

gis.edmonton.ca

 

[itom987]

Who ever is in charge of scheduling should be fired.

 

[thommyjo]

Random car focussed suburban neighbourhoods prioritized over central neighbourhoods with far more pedestrians negatively impacted by grit and dust being blown around as they walk to work or get off of transit, shop etc.

Nice to see Wîhkwêntôwin and 124 scheduled, but walkable high density neighbourhoods, key 'tourism' areas and centres of business should be completed first, no?

And before people jump all over 'why should central Edmonton receive special treatment, I would absolutely include WEM, SEC, Kingsway and city corridors with this.

But having Oxford and Castledowns scheduled before you do around the UofA, Leg, Whyte and the most densely populated, ie. highest % of people walking in this dusty mess continues to blow my mind.

*BIAs, including Downtown and Whyte do get 'enhanced cleaning', but I've not seen much, if any difference and the amount of dirt and grime in the core is significant.

What gives?

ArcGIS Web Application

gis.edmonton.ca

View attachment 641783View attachment 641784

Agreed. I think a number of us should email our councillors about this. Very concerning and not aligned with numerous strategies we have for walkability, main streets, downtown, local business, transit, etc etc

 

[Gronk!]

Agreed. I think a number of us should email our councillors about this. Very concerning and not aligned with numerous strategies we have for walkability, main streets, downtown, local business, transit, etc etc

Remind your councillors that this is an election year.

 

[northlands]

I would be curious what methodology they used to establish priority on most of the NW, nothing on the entire east side, and then random segments outside/near the Henday (Edgemont, Hamptons, Summerside, Cameron Heights).

You would think the simplest and arguably most fair approach would be have each City district roadway yard focus on the highest density neighbourhoods and BIAs within their district, and expand out from there.

 

[jason403]

All roads matter...

 

[channing76]

I agree Ian, and I live in Windermere. All major roads, downtown, Oliver, UofA, high density areas should be done right away, before anything else.

 

[IanO]

Nice to see the bike lanes getting done... well the City ones at least. TransEd has not started any spring cleaning of their areas, including bike lanes.

I just wish the City/building owners would brush stuff from sidewalks into the street for sweeping prior to...

 

[thommyjo]

Nice to see the bike lanes getting done... well the City ones at least. TransEd has not started any spring cleaning of their areas, including bike lanes.

I just wish the City/building owners would brush stuff from sidewalks into the street for sweeping prior to...View attachment 642287View attachment 642288

Seems like a no brainer to do all adjacent sidewalks at the same time. Literally 2 sweepers 20 ft apart or one that does a block at a time, sidewalk then bike lane and repeat.

 

[ADob]

This is the reply I got from Anne Stevenson's office:

 

[IanO]

BIAs are certainly prioritized with a higher level of care, but then show them on the map as well... it sends the wrong message.

Plus, if you are in these key areas and are just outside of the BIA, you still get no priority, even though you might be in a high density, urban neighbourhood with much higher percentage of walkers, potential for visitors etc.

I'd also ask then why can remove snow from most areas in the city in 72hrs, but that we do not JUMP on spring cleanup? While some curbs still have a little snow/ice, most are good for a clean and certainly there could be teams with brushes and the like getting a jump on key areas. There just does not seem to be any impetus to really get on it and make thing look great as soon as possible.

*I should also remind everyone that this extends to private businesses, building owners etc.

 

[thommyjo]

BIAs are certainly prioritized with a higher level of care, but then show them on the map as well... it sends the wrong message.

Plus, if you are in these key areas and are just outside of the BIA, you still get no priority, even though you might be in a high density, urban neighbourhood with much higher percentage of walkers, potential for visitors etc.

I'd also ask then why can remove snow from most areas in the city in 72hrs, but that we do not JUMP on spring cleanup? While some curbs still have a little snow/ice, most are good for a clean and certainly there could be teams with brushes and the like getting a jump on key areas. There just does not seem to be any impetus to really get on it and make thing look great as soon as possible.

*I should also remind everyone that this extends to private businesses, building owners etc.

I think part of the issue is seeing Spring clean up and sweeping as a 1 time event.

Which I can empathize with. One big sweep of most roads gets it done and you never do it again. Plus it’s a huge, costly task.

But all central, walkable, BIA type areas shouldn’t be treated this way. Roads in suburbs, sure. But sidewalks in central areas, no.

We need to see it as ongoing maintenance, not a big event. The big cleanup events are great for volunteers and that approach. But city staffers should see this as daily work to keep cleaning up. Every day in April we should have small sweepers going around downtown working. And March if enough of a melt happens like we saw this year.

 

[MacLac]

Every year they take turns on where they start…..rotating schedule. We all know they run sweepers down arterials before they hit the neighborhoods, the city maps strictly identifies neighborhoods and does not pull out the Whitemud, YH etc. 50th and Ellerlsie was down LAST in 2024, now that neighborhood is first call.

 

[IanO]

Has anyone seen any action on street cleaning, sweeping, sidewalk grit removal or anything of the like Downtown? I've see it at the Leg, but that's about it.

 

[MacLac]

I was the Grey Nuns yesterday…..a crew was cleaning the strip mall parking lot across the street. Beaumont’s street cleaner not yet, but they had their skid steer and brush doing sidewalks but nothing major yet.