Southland sidewalks remain covered in ice, despite repeated calls

Some Calgarians say they're upset thatthe city has not cleared a long sidewalk along a major artery in the southwest after repeated requests.

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Many commuters use the route onthe south side of Southland Drive between Macleod Trail and Elbow Driveto get to and from theSouthlandLRTstation.

Cement is underneath the snow and icesomewhere,but John Delahunt says he hasn't seen it in a while.

Probably since, I'd say, early January when it started getting really warm again, said Delahunt.

And it just freezes and snows on top of that and gets compacted.

Delahunt says he would like something done about it,even if it's just some salt.

StephenBabey, who uses a cane, says theinches of hard ice and snow are very dangerous.

It's disgraceful. I think it's unwalkable it's like an obstacle course.

311 calls pour in to city

Babey and others have been calling the city.Theres even a sign up urging others to do the same.

I called the 311 number, I called the appropriate people in the city, I got no response so that's why I'm here is to try to get some action.

BrianPincott, the area councillor,confirms 311, city council and city hall are getting a ton of calls about sidewalks.

• Record 9K calls flood Calgary's 311 line Wednesday

But he says councillors can't make decisions on where work is done.

Yes, I could throw my weight around and say, You must get to this person who called me now, and have all the crews leave where they are and go do that but that would be incredibly inefficient having them chasing the councillor's phone calls.

Pincott says that specific stretch is one that the city is trying to get to.

Sidewalks end up being a lower priority than getting roads cleared. And, as you know, every single available person is out working on the roads.

City council will be briefed Monday about snow clearing progress.

Patience needed, says city

The city is asking Calgarians to be patient.

Sean Somers, with the city transportation department,says they arestill receiving a record number of calls asking about snow clearance butcrews are doing as much as they can, as quickly as they can.

"If you drive into the downtown core, what's close to home for us is City Hall. It's curb-to-curb bare pavement and the roads are dry. Folks cannot expect that same level of service in the residential communities."

Somers says the city estimates it will have spent $12 million on roads in January alone.

The city's entire budget for 2014 is $34 million.

He says the city still has work to do in another 20 communities and crews hope to get the remainder done this weekend.