From My Bottom Step

When Brenda Ryan came here in 2002 from Toronto she’d reached the point where she was only able to walk about five feet, and otherwise bed-ridden or confined to a wheelchair most of the time. But when her husband joined a fitness club that also happened to have a swimming pool, she decided to purchase a limited membership for herself as well.

I said to my husband, maybe if I got into the water I’d feel a little bit better. So I got a membership. Changed my life completely! I go four times a week. I cannot do any exercises on the floor. That would kill me for sure. But I can go in the water. It’s very, very therapeutic for me. My cardiologist and my family doctor can’t believe what it’s done for me.

But, here was the problem… They have two handicapped spots in this great big huge parking lot, but they parked all their snow all winter long in those two spots. I approached them (30 times minimum last year) about it. Finally, out of sheer frustration, I called the city parking enforcement about it. They said, “no such by-law, private property, they can do whatever they want.” That was right at the end of the winter.

So in early September I wrote letters to my ward councillor, Joni Baechler, and to Controller Gina Barber and to Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best. They all responded in writing that they thought the issue was interesting and important. But then we had the freak snowstorm in October and the fitness club did the same thing again. So I phoned the Mayor’s office and her executive assistant put me through to Orest Katolyk who’s in charge of by-law enforcement. But he didn’t know about any applicable by-laws in existence at that time either. So he had me contact Cheryl Miller who’s the Chairperson of the Environment and Transportation Committee.

Although Brenda feels that she was “extremely well accepted” at ETC, “Orest Katolyk read a by-law out which he said covered the issue, and he said that unfortunately it hadn’t been enforced, but I didn’t catch all that he said at that particular time …”

I’m not at all surprised to hear that, since I often find it difficult to follow the committee proceedings myself, no matter that I’ve been attending them for several years. I often complain about the poor way in which committee members use their microphones (most recently in THIS POST and THIS ONE), and suggested in a GTF submission that audio recordings should be made of all meetings.

Following her submission to ETC, the very next time that we had a snowstorm, Brenda encountered the same problem again. So she contacted Mr. Katolyk’s office and was provided with a copy of the Property Standards By-law (CP-16). According to staff, there are two sections of the by-law which apply:

Section 3.1.3 (Drives, Ramps – Surfaced – Marked)  says that

• driveways, ramps, parking areas, paths, outside stairs and landings, except for those on properties zoned and used for agricultural purposes, shall be (a)surfaced, resurfaced, repaired or regraded to provide a uniform surface for pedestrian or vehicle use; and, (b) provided with markings or islands, to indicate parking spaces, ingress and egress routes and snow piling areas.

Section 3.5.2 (Collection – Comply) says

• the collection, handling, storage and disposal … (d) shall not obstruct an emergency route, recreation facility, parking area, driveway or walkway.

I’ll make my own inquiry and see if I can get independent verification from Mr. Katolyk that those two sections provide his staff with sufficient power to ensure that snow obstructions are removed (and whether or not the affected pedestrians have to be disabled) and whether or not he’s willing to actually send his officers out to enforce the by-law.

Stay tuned.