Street Sweepers?

[hotrocket]

Here are some facts.
1. DWK hired a contractor for street sweeping. The budget was low. So to expect 5 star service on a 1 star budget is a bit crazy. God forbit there is a rise in taxes to provide DWK with better service, machinery or workers.
2. The contractor has 8 weeks plus a couple "rain day" delay days from the time they started in March. Would would make completion mid to late may.
3. Sweeping can not be done in the rain/snow/wet days
4. There is no mandate for multiple sweeps in a year. 1 sweep is all that is required.
5. The mayor decided that steet sweeping could only be done 7am to 7pm so yes it takes longer as opposed to kelowna for example that runs it's sweepers 24 hours. Guess he doesn't want to be disturbed during his beauty sleep.

[dodgerdodge]

I fully appreciate that these things take time, limited resources, etc etc... but my problem is the fairness of the order. If we are last last year, we should be first this year... but no, we're last again. Do they do the neighborhood the mayor is on first?

I get that arterial roads are done first, that's not what I mean. I mean when it comes to the lowest priority roads (side streets, etc) that are in EVERY community, how do they decide what order to do the communities?

First world problems, I tell you.

I think you will find they start with all the roads at lake shore (lowest part) then finish with highest roads (West Kelowna, Glenrosa) as these roads have bigger risk of snow still falling when the schedule starts early March.
That being said it seems that end of May is way too late to still be suffering the effects of grit and extreme dust on a daily basis.
Whenever vehicles travel down our neighbourhood they create a huge dust cloud that follows them all the way through coating everything in its path and if you walk your kids to school better wear a mask!

[bazinga42]

I think you will find they start with all the roads at lake shore (lowest part) then finish with highest roads (West Kelowna, Glenrosa) as these roads have bigger risk of snow still falling when the schedule starts early March.

That makes perfect sense, thank you. I hadn't thought of that.

Of course, the tiny bit of snow that's going to fall through March isn't something that they'd bother to come sand anyway. But I suppose they have to plan for worst case.

Still, pretty annoying... not to mention ugly, unhealthy, unsafe. Ironic that its meant as traction and now its a slip hazzard.


Not that it matters, but for the record I swept an entire half of our cul-de-sac by myself back in March. Not just the area outside my driveway. I would have done the whole thing but it got depressing as the cars were just pulling it back down the hill *sigh*.

Anyway, it is what it is :)

[Bearto]

Considering this past winter was mild snow wise in the district and the fact that Snow tires are no longer required for high mountain highways past April 30th, one could surmise the elevation of Glenrosa and other similar elevation areas being well below "high mountain passes"

The DWK really has crapped the bed on this street sweeping thing again. There is no reason it should take 2 months to clean the district given our small size.

[Ken7]

Here are some facts.
1. DWK hired a contractor for street sweeping. The budget was low. So to expect 5 star service on a 1 star budget is a bit crazy. God forbit there is a rise in taxes to provide DWK with better service, machinery or workers.
2. The contractor has 8 weeks plus a couple "rain day" delay days from the time they started in March. Would would make completion mid to late may.
3. Sweeping can not be done in the rain/snow/wet days
4. There is no mandate for multiple sweeps in a year. 1 sweep is all that is required.
5. The mayor decided that steet sweeping could only be done 7am to 7pm so yes it takes longer as opposed to kelowna for example that runs it's sweepers 24 hours. Guess he doesn't want to be disturbed during his beauty sleep.

Solution is raise their taxes. Then they won't have to complain about lack of funds for services. I'll throw this out without checking same people who complained about lack of sanding.... hmmm.

[bazinga42]

I know its not popular, but I personally am OK with that. In fact, I *want* to pay more taxes... I just want better value for each and every dollar. Buying power, folks. Pay the minimum, get the minimum and more of a percentage of what you're paying goes to useless things like the Mayor's salary.

But I'm sure I'm in the fraction-of-a-percent minority if you took a poll.

[Bearto]

I would be okay with paying a bit more taxes if I was getting a bit more value but lets face it, the current planners can't fugure out which way is up. For example, I live next to a a park which belongs to the district which we have been asking to get some playground structure in for eight years now. No kids have ever really been able to play there because it's just a gravel square but somehow the district managed to arrange to put in some playground zone signs for it last year....

We had almost no snow last year yet somehow we seem to have more gravel on our street than we have had in the previous 7 years combined. There is 1500 meters of sidewalk that the district owns that until this past winter never saw a distict shovel, I''ve cleaned it for my neighbours, yet this year they managed to come by twice two days after each snow event to show their presence???

The person who originally made the decision to buy the one street cleaner for the entire district rather than contracting it out from the get go and then to let it deteriorate to this ought to rethink their approach becasue right now it isn't working.

[Ken7]

I would be okay with paying a bit more taxes if I was getting a bit more value but lets face it, the current planners can't fugure out which way is up. For example, I live next to a a park which belongs to the district which we have been asking to get some playground structure in for eight years now. No kids have ever really been able to play there because it's just a gravel square but somehow the district managed to arrange to put in some playground zone signs for it last year....

We had almost no snow last year yet somehow we seem to have more gravel on our street than we have had in the previous 7 years combined. There is 1500 meters of sidewalk that the district owns that until this past winter never saw a distict shovel, I''ve cleaned it for my neighbours, yet this year they managed to come by twice two days after each snow event to show their presence???

The person who originally made the decision to buy the one street cleaner for the entire district rather than contracting it out from the get go and then to let it deteriorate to this ought to rethink their approach becasue right now it isn't working.

I would guess that has something to do with the contractor who is paid by the hour to do the task. He most likely is paid a inflated rate for every cube of gravel thrown on the road. I'd take the time to stop by your local municipal office and ask about it and let them know what you have observed. Sitting here speak of it, only goes to those of us who like to BS a bit.

[dodgerdodge]

Considering this past winter was mild snow wise in the district and the fact that Snow tires are no longer required for high mountain highways past April 30th, one could surmise the elevation of Glenrosa and other similar elevation areas being well below "high mountain passes"

The DWK really has crapped the bed on this street sweeping thing again. There is no reason it should take 2 months to clean the district given our small size.

I think you're right. The basic idea of start low then work upwards is perfect but the time taken to move up to the "higher" areas is terrible considering this whole area has seen an explosion of new housing and they are building higher into the hillsides on each subsequent new phase. Those that live in some of these areas have to wait for gritting/plowing for longer then they have to wait for the clean up for longer.
In contrast i am wondering how long does it take kelowna to clean all the streets?

[Fancy]

I finally saw a sign.

[dodgerdodge]

I finally saw a sign.

No way, i think you are bluffing. Ha ha.
Still nothing up near Rose Valley except dust from road grit, dust from new school building and dust from Westlake Road widening and rock blasting!!!! Oh joy

[bazinga42]

Our street is finally done! Yay.

I gotta give them credit... at least they did a good job. I was worried with how much there was that they'd leave a significant layer as "good enough". It took them a few a goes at it :) It would come down the hill then stop before doing the bottom and speed off. Eventually I realized it was just getting full and had to go empty. I think it went down this hill at least 8 times before it was clean.

To the person above that suggested they only have one truck... there were 3 in a line and another at the filling station. Furthermore, they had a much larger tanker truck that does the final spray.

I wish it got done sooner, but it got done.



I still maintain they put an unnecessary amount of it down in the first place, but I guess I'm no expert in the matter and safety has to come first.

[Bearto]

To the person above that suggested they only have one truck... there were 3 in a line and another at the filling station. Furthermore, they had a much larger tanker truck that does the final spray..

This year they contracted out because their one truck policy didnt work out so thats why there are a few more doing it now.

[bazinga42]

Oh, I gotcha... sorry, misunderstood.

[tgm929]

They did our street. Sort of. Now instead of a bunch of sand on the edge of the street the whole street is covered in a thick layer of dust. Every vehicle that drives down the street creates a massive cloud of dust.

I'm fairly certain that water is usually involved in this process.

Maybe the rain this weekend will do the job for them.