Uptowne business people want snow cleared faster

A local businessman is pleased that concerns about snow removal in the Uptowne area will be on the agenda for an upcoming council committee meeting and believes that's a direct result of pressure he and other business people exerted on town officials last week.

In essence, some Uptowne business people were frustrated that after a big snowfall the weekend of Dec. 1-2, areas like the Sportsplex parking lot were cleared before Uptowne was. Some Uptowne streets were not cleared until Wednesday, Dec. 5 or Thursday, Dec. 6.

Drew Marceton of Nulook Hair Salon on 51st Street was one of the most active campaigners. Like many of his fellow business people, he thinks the town's snow clearing policy should be revised so that streets in Uptowne are among the very first places to be plowed.

Marceton says several Uptowne business people complained that parking lots around the Sportsplex, Evergreen Centre and the library, as well as access to the Cow Palace and Memorial Way (54th Street) and some back alleys were cleaned Monday or Tuesday, well before Uptowne streets were.

As a result of several letters and complaints to town officials about that issue, correspondence about the matter was placed on council's Dec. 10 agenda. It will again be on the town's policies and priorities agenda Dec. 17 at 1 p.m., at which time councillors will hear first-hand from a delegation of Uptowne business people.

After raising his concerns during the first few days of last week, Marceton met with Olds & District Chamber of Commerce executive director Caroline Bodmer for about an hour on Thursday, during which time they hammered out strategy. They agreed to encourage concerned Uptowne business people to attend the Dec. 17 meeting.

Marceton is satisfied that the matter has gotten on council's agenda, but not happy he and others had to go through all that effort to get it there.

"I think that all of our phone calls and the pressure that we put on in the last few days definitely did get them motivated to step it up and get this done," he said Thursday.

"The thing is though, I don't want to go through this every time there is a snowfall," he added. "I would rather just change the policy or review the policy, or have us move to the top of the list just so that we don't have to go through this every time."

"Business taxes have gone up exponentially and are going up again. So that will be a great question for council. How do you justify that?  What level of service will we receive," he asked in an email to the Albertan.

According to Marceton, when he initially raised the issue with Olds chief administrative officer Michael Merritt, he was told he was the only person who had complained about the pace of snow clearing in Uptowne.

"Of course I don't believe that for one minute and I also didn't like that answer at all so I went looking for other voices from the Uptowne Olds committee and the chamber. Turns out there are a lot more people than myself that are very unhappy with the lack of service to the Uptown businesses," he wrote in his email.

Marceton said unlike big box stores or malls, Uptowne businesses do not have independent contractors who come in and remove snow immediately or the next day. They rely on the town for snow clearing.

Marceton said the snow was such a problem that he and others spent a lot of time helping push out vehicles that got stuck.

"I have pushed three people out on Monday, two people on Tuesday and two more today," Marceton wrote. "We even had a lady come in looking to borrow a shovel to dig herself out, and she had a well outfitted 4x4 with good winter tires.

"When I'm pushing people out and fall under the vehicle or get driven over, who is going to pay my lost wages? This snow removal situation is ridiculous and unacceptable."