Is it time to unchain our stairs?
It's strange that in a city where it can — and does — snow anytime between October and April, officials seem unable or unwilling to keep public paths and stairs open year-round.
Bruce Deachman, Ottawa Citizen
Nov 18, 2022 • 32 minutes ago • 4 minute read
“There is no tourism in winter.”
That is what a Parliament Hill security guard actually said to me this week when I tried to access the now-closed-for-the-season staircase behind the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, near the fenced-off statue of a possibly unamused Queen Victoria. I presume he was not speaking in any official capacity, on the record, or for anyone but himself. And yet I suspect that Ottawa Tourism might hold a differing opinion. Winterlude’s mascots, the Ice Hogs, must be bristling in their burrows (or wherever it is they live) at the thought of their presumed seasonal uselessness.
The tourism argument aside, though, it does seem strange that in a city where it can — and does — snow anytime between October and April, officials seem unable or unwilling to keep public paths and stairs open year-round.
Are we not hardy Ottawans who welcome our climate and geography? We turn Canada geese into life-saving parkas. We sweep granite stones on frozen paths for fun. We proudly wear beards of ice as we take selfies skating on the world’s largest rink in sub-arctic temperatures. We don’t capitulate to winter; we embrace it. We own it. Are we going to let a few snowflakes barricade our portals to the outdoors?
Oh… wait… We are?
It’s not as if we don’t know it’s going to be a long, cold winter. It’s always a long, cold winter in Ottawa. We are the seventh-coldest capital city in the world.
Do you think they’re cordoning off public staircases in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia? I asked the Embassy of Mongolia here in Ottawa. They are not. Public staircases in the world’s coldest capital, I was told, remain open and accessible year-round. So why not ours?
Because, really, you’d think that in a place where we’ve come up with a million uses for winter, we might also find a way to keep our steps clear of some snow and ice.
There’s a staircase that I feel is emblematic of how the city bows down to winter. It spirals up from Colonel By Drive to the Laurier Avenue Bridge over the Rideau Canal. It is not maintained during the winter, so its fair-weather climbers will soon have to find an alternate route — perhaps through both the Westin Hotel and Rideau Centre to the Mackenzie King Bridge, then along Albert/Slater streets and through Confederation Park to finally get to Laurier.
I’m beginning to wonder whether the Franklin expedition was really looking for the Northwest Passage, or simply trying to navigate its way from Sparks Street to the Bytown Museum, and somehow got seriously misdirected by all the closures.
Sure, I hear you say, what about liability? That’s always a risk. It’s why jurisdictions erect signs everywhere telling you what not to do. But if we’re so risk averse, why live in Canada in the first place? Liability? How about liveability?
The NCC doesn’t mention liability in its reasoning to shutter stairs. Citing “limited resources,” the federal agency says it “maintains the pathways providing an important link to the pedestrian system or servicing NCC winter programs during the winter season, in partnership with the two local municipalities.”
Regarding other paths and stairways, the NCC says it limits its snow removal operations “since plowing, scraping, sanding and salting reduces their life cycle by half.” But that’s presumably true of roads, too. I’m not suggesting that roads go unmaintained, but somewhere in all the subtext one might read something like: “We just don’t think the staircases you’re talking about are all that important.”
Even the National War Memorial — which I hasten to add is accessible year-round — has a couple of routes to it blocked off during the winter.
The city provided some details of its snow-clearing protocols on paths and stairs, including that it maintains “SOME (my emphasis) City-owned stairways where there is no ramp or alternative access to the pathway within a reasonable distance,” as well as this: “We do not clear steps in parks except in cases where there is a field house or facility that is programmed during the winter months.”
It may as well read, “There’s nothing organized going on in this park, so take your little dog somewhere else.”
The city is even prepared to fine you a minimum of $125 for using part of a park that is closed or restricted. I’m okay with the fine, but only if the city uses the money to buy a shovel and bag of salt from Canadian Tire.
Meanwhile, the city’s Winter Quality Maintenance Standards—which sets out the city’s priorities for such details as snow removal, salting and connectivity—hasn’t been updated since 2003, back when no one even thought of pedestrians, and thus doesn’t necessarily reflect residents’ current preferences. It’s going to be updated in 2023, I’m told, so maybe by this time next year we’ll get to visit parts of the city we’ve never seen in winter before. And perhaps bring along a tourist or two.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/deachman-is-it-time-to-unchain-our-stairs
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