Heated sidewalks? Residents chime in on how to make Saskatoon more winter friendly
CBC News | Posted: April 27, 2017 11:00 AM | Last Updated: April 27, 2017
Winterized washrooms, lighting for nighttime cross-country skiing among ideas shared in survey
Heated sidewalks, winterized washrooms, lighting for nighttime cross-country skiing: people have plenty of ideas on how to make Saskatoon a better place to live during the winter season.
The City of Saskatoon is sharing the results of recent surveys that asked people how the city could beat its reputation as a primarily summer-focused city.
In addition to hosting nine roundtable sessions with 48 community organizations, the city also received 531 online responses during its WinterCityYXE reach-out.
"Given that it's an open-ended survey, not just a checkbox thing, that's pretty darned good engagement from our community," said Brenda Wallace, the city's director of environmental and corporate initiatives.
Some of the other ideas floated include:
- Creating walkable spaces for pedestrians that are shielded from the wind.
- Allowing seasonal businesses along the Meewasin Trail.
- Providing more indoor parking lots.
- Holding smaller events and festivals in neighbourhoods.
Public information session
The city will share the full results of the survey Thursday at a public information session at the Legion Hall at 606 Spadina Cres. W. starting at 8 a.m.
Wallace said the city wants to know which of these ideas people feel most passionate about.
"We need to spend some time deciding as a community what we actually want to do and what are the priorities," she said.
Asked if the recent financial pressures caused by the 2017-2018 provincial budget could put a damper on any of these initiatives, Wallace responded: "I would say the strategy has largely been about what we can leverage, what we can co-create with the community and where is there community energy, so that if we band our community together… we can make one plus one equal three."