Torontonians forced to do the snowmageddon shimmy amid ongoing cleanup
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The shuffle, the slide, the twist, the sidestep and the shimmy – welcome to Toronto’s snowmageddon dance class.
Please, Torontonians, limber up before stepping out and take a chill pill as you negotiate the snow-clogged streets on foot, bike or by car – because city officials say it will take at least three weeks to clear this dance floor.
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On a section of roadway at Shoppers World located on Danforth at Victoria Park Aves., the mountains of snow obscured the plaza from the street on Thursday and made sidewalks non-negotiable, sending pedestrians into the bike lanes and cyclists onto the road.
Joe Fitsimmons, a hearty soul, was riding smoothly along the Danforth on his bike after being at the gym, but thought he’d head to Victoria Park subway station to take the TTC to his home near Coxwell Ave.
“Its pretty tough out here,” Fitzsimmons said of having to use the roadway. “The cars are moving pretty slow out here, so I can just go on the road if I have too.”
“If (the weather) is too bad, I won’t come out,” he added.
If not, he is lucky enough to live on the Bloor-Danforth subway line.
Asked whether he thought the City of Toronto has done a good, bad or adequate job of clearing snow he responded, “I think they have done the bare minimum.”
“I mean, it’s hard to get it all done on time. As long as people can drive it’s okay I guess,” said Fitzsimmons. “Yep, the bike lanes, they are covered in snow but I can manage.”
On the north side of the Danforth, two women with baby strollers could be seen shoving them along the clogged sidewalk while two oncoming pedestrians had to slide and sidestep around them.
Jose Pierelouis and Wendy Montcrieff, who live north of the plaza up Victoria Park, said they haven’t seen plows yet on their side street or along the walkways outside the condo on the Scarborough side.
“I have a terrible time getting through. It’s been three days and I had to call 311 to see when they are going to clear it,” said Montcrieff.
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Pierelouis believes the delays in cleaning might be due to manpower. If you don’t have enough people working for the city to get in machines, then it will take a longer time to clear everything.
“The main streets have been cleaned but the residential areas are not that great,” said Pierelouis. “Obviously, you don’t get that (much) snow every year. I think they need more employees.”
“I guess they are doing their best,” said Pierelouis. “I’m sure they are working overtime.”
“If you don’t have snow boots, good luck,” he added, looking down at his red training shoes and laughing. “I’ve just come from the gym.”
A section of sidewalk on the north entrance/exit of the plaza, going eastward from Thyra Ave. to Victoria Park was plowed for about three metres at the traffic lights and then abruptly stopped because of mountainous mounds of snow.
An elderly man carrying two bags of groceries could be seen slipping, sliding, huffing and puffing his way along before stopping to catch his breath – then venturing out onto the open roadway to get to Victoria Park.
A group of people exiting the rear of a TTC bus had to shimmy their way along the side of the bus because a snowbank impeded their way to the sidewalk.
Meanwhile, along side streets in East York, further north off of Dawes Rd., city recycling trucks had the narrowest margins to slide by snowed-in cars and oncoming vehicles while trying to pickup up green and garbage bin collections with their extender arms.
One driver was doing well plucking bins off the tops of snowbanks and dug out driveway openings before having to stop because the long reach arm couldn’t reach the odd green bin on the route along Chapman Ave. and Elmont Dr., which leads to a dead end.
At that point, the driver who drove into the dead-end section of Elmont Dr. finally got out of his truck and physically removed materials from the bins, tossing them into the truck using his twist technique.
So, keep limbering up Torontonians – the snowmageddon dance classes will continue for the next few weeks as temperatures are expected to remain frigid and spring is still a month away.
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