Proposed heated sidewalks for the downtown core in Sault Ste. Marie Ontario got a warm reception from council, but ultimately, the chilly upfront capital cost to install them stopped the proposal in its tracks.
Ward 3 Councillor Angela Caputo tabled a motion which would direct city staff to conduct a study on the viability and various costs of heated sidewalks between Bruce and East streets.
Staff conducted preliminary research on costs and informed council installation would carry a $25 million price tag. Maintaining a heating system would cost another $1.5 million, annually.
Queen Street restoration is set to get underway this year. Staff said adding a sidewalk heating system of any type into the project at this juncture would cause a major delay in the start of restoration work, and possibly push the start into next year.
The motion was defeated by a 10-1 vote.
Anyone that would come up with a suggestion like this in the middle of an unprecedented crisis needs to resign in shame and never attempt to return.
OPEN YOUR EYES, the city is in dire straits with all of the poison drugs that are easier to buy than aspirin, ever increasing crime, the mentally challenged wandering all over the place, the severe lack of housing, starvation and the homeless pulling down their pants and dropping a coil wherever they may be, to mention a few.
They have taken over a 16 story high rise apartment at Bay and East by kicking in the security door and just ‘moving in’. There is no live in super there and no one wants the job, could you blame them?
The city lost it’s way a long long time ago when it started the stupid practice of under budgeting for road and infrastructure repairs, by a lot, in fact they only allowed about 20% of what they actually should have. It all went downhill from there, now it’s at a point that it will be impossible to ever catch up.
A good start would be to clean out city hall of the lamebrains that are making these irresponsible, DUMB decisions.