Chow touts improvements after storm puts City clean up efforts to the test

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow took heat during a frigid stretch last winter when Toronto was walloped by snow it was seemingly ill-prepared to deal with.

A series of storms had dropped more than 50 centimetres of snow within the span of a week last February, and it stuck around far longer than it should have. Days — even weeks later in some locations — sidewalks remained impassable.

That led to a flood of complaints that Chow empathized with.

“The sidewalks are not plowed. It has been more than a week … it is not acceptable,” she said at the time.

In response to the embarrassing inability to deal with predictable winter weather, Chow called for a review of the contracts with private companies hired to do snow removal for Toronto. City council later approved an updated snow removal plan.

That plan was put to the test over the last few days when a winter storm blanketed parts of Toronto and the GTA with heavy accumulations.

Over the course of Wednesday and Thursday, around 22 centimetres fell at Pearson International Airport. Other parts of the region were hammered even more intensely.

Scarborough North, for instance, saw between 48 – 53 centimetres.

Chow says this time around, the City was prepared.

“We have improved snow response with better equipment, faster snow removal and more staff,” she said on Friday during an unrelated announcement in Scarborough.

“There’s more hands on the deck, more new equipment and faster snow removal which means you’re getting better services.”

Chow said most city sidewalks have already been plowed at least once, and operations will continue around the clock with more snow in the forecast for Friday.

Blowing snow may have reversed some of the work, she admitted while reminding residents to call 311 if their area requires attention.

“The sidewalks have gone through (plowing) but sometimes because of snow drifting it’s covered already, so they will come through again.”

Chow seemed intent on not repeating last winter’s debacle.

“It’s 24-7,” she said of the current clean up efforts. “We are not resting, we are not stopping. And for those folks that need their sidewalks shoveled (call) 311, we will come.

“We have more melters and places to store the snow … so we (have) faster snow removal, more equipment, newer equipment and more staff … so it’s working.”

Finch LRT closures ‘frustrating’: Chow

Chow also touched on the “frustrating” weather-related closures of Line 6 Finch West — Toronto’s newest, but already-troubled, transit line.

Opened to great excitement in December, Line 6 quickly made headlines for its slow travel times. It’s now seen back-to-back, weather-related shut downs on Thursday and Friday.

“I hope they can open faster,” Chow said. “The TTC runs Line 6, (but) we do not maintain it, we did not design it, we did not build it,” she added in an apparent attempt to absolve the city of blame.

“It’s the new beginning of this kind of model – the private/public model (with Metrolinx).”

When pressed for answers on the issues plaguing the new line, Chow told reporters to ask the province, which oversees Metrolinx.

“We are working very closely with Metrolinx to get the problem fixed,” she added.

More snow expected Friday, over weekend

While the worst of the winter wallop seems to be behind us, there is more snow expected on Friday, and over the weekend.

Toronto could see an additional four centimetres of snow between Friday and Monday, with most of it falling on Friday evening.

Saturday and Sunday will see isolated flurries.

Temperatures will drop on Sunday and keep falling, reaching a frigid peak on Tuesday when wind chills could reach a teeth-chattering -24 C.