In a new occasional series, the Star delves into 311 data to see what our concerns say about the city. In this third instalment, we look at an issue that’s top of mind as the temperature drops: snow clearing. In the heart of winter, Gina Stoneham’s sidewalk does not get plowed by the city. Less than a five-minute walk away, Abigail Manzano’s does.Both women live on Pritchard Ave., a quiet mostly residential stretch of the West Toronto neighbourhood Rockcliffe-Smythe, dissected by Jane St.But when it comes to snow and ice, theirs is a tale of two sidewalks. Only the eastern stretch of Pritchard, where Manzano lives, makes the cut for city sidewalk snow clearing.Manzano says the city usually shows up to clear the sidewalk in front of her home “within 24 hours.”Meanwhile, the west side, Stoneham finds, often turns into a treacherous icy pass.“I am so paranoid that my husband bought me a pair of boots last year for Christmas that, with a special key, flip out these spikes,” says the 64-year-old. “Those things saved my life a few times.”The neighbourhood’s winter partition hints at a deeper divide in the city. Across Toronto, the city plows the majority of sidewalks, especially major routes. But in a vast and complicated Toronto “no plow zone” — which includes stretches of sidewalks in the old city of Toronto, York and East York — residents are responsible for clearing the sidewalk in front of their own properties.The city says it’s because of those sidewalks don’t meet criteria for clearing — that they’re too narrow, or there are other obstacles such as utility poles. Critics says it’s the legacy of a pre-amalgamation inequity that’s been carried on.The no-plow areas are an issue pedestrian and seniors’ advocates say puts people of all ages at risk.A Star analysis of 2018 snow and ice-related calls to 311, the city’s non-emergency hotli ...
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