Snowclearing consultants get an earful in St. John's

Despite being held on a warm summer night, a forum on snowclearing in St. John's heard vivid memories of the brutal conditions of last winter, and particularly the job that the City of St. John's did with dealing with it.

About 50 people turned out at Macdonald Drive Junior High on Tuesday night to tell consultants with KPMG how snowclearing in the city could be improved.

The management firm is being paid about $150,000 to review the city's entire approach to snowclearing, and to provide recommendations on how to improve the delivery of services.

Elizabeth Yeoman, who said she has "just been really stubborn" about walking to work each winter, said the city's snowclearing efforts were terrible earlier this year.

'Can't face it anymore'

"I'm constantly afraid of being taken out because of walking on the street with the cars and the ice and snow, but this winter, to be quite honest, I more or less gave up," she told CBC News, adding that she chose instead to drive despite her preference to walk.

"I just thought I can't face it anymore, and that's after 22 years of walking to work every day," she said.

Resident Claude Daly said he is prepared to pay more for better snowclearing, if that's what it takes to improve conditions.

"We pay six bucks to park downtown. I pay $300 to park at the university," he told reporters after the meeting.

"I would pay a thousand dollars to park my car downtown, in front of my house, if I  thought I was getting service — if the city treated me as a customer," Daly said.

Many of the complaints at the public meeting focused on problems in the downtown area, where some streets were effectively shut during the worst of a series of storms.

City council launched the review after being blasted over its performance on snowclearing.

KPMG said it hopes to have a report and recommendations ready in time for the city council to make changes before snow starts falling again.