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Snow removal a good compromise

We would like to take a moment to reply to all the negative letters in the Advocate regarding the snow removal in Red Deer and the blame that is being put on the new mayor and city council.

We would like to take a moment to reply to all the negative letters in the Advocate regarding the snow removal in Red Deer and the blame that is being put on the new mayor and city council.

Clearing all the residential streets in Red Deer after each snowfall has never been a priority for city council. It has been discussed several times over the years; each time it was discussed, the bottom line was that it would increase taxes, which nobody ever wants, so it was dismissed each time. This was under our two previous mayors and city council members.

Mayor Tara Veer and the new city council were faced with a tough decision, and we believe they made a wise choice. It would have been extremely costly and time-consuming to scrape all the residential streets and remove the snow to the snow dumps. Another option, that of scraping to the pavement and leaving three- or four-foot-high windrows, would have meant people would need to remove those windrows in order to park in front of their homes. It would also add to the cost by having skid-steers following and clearing each home’s driveway, and all the alley entrances, and all the fire hydrants.

We feel that a very good compromise was to remove the ruts so people could actually drive on their streets safely, and yet not leave huge windrows for people to remove. I shovelled mine onto my lawn in about 10 minutes.

We feel that the citizens of Red Deer are lucky to have a mayor who cares so much about her community, and who is not scared to make a tough decision and then to stick by it. Why not try to limit the negative comments, and let our city council and Mayor Veer know that some people in Red Deer believe that they are doing a good job, and that they deserve our support rather than our condemnation?

Jim and Janine Kristinson

Red Deer