9 hours Ago By Brody Langager
From bus safety to street sweeping to emergency-service access hindered by blocked railway crossings, a wide array of subjects were touched on this week by Saskatoon city council. Here’s a rundown of those topics. STREET SWEEPING UNDERWAY Some street sweeping has began in Saskatoon, with priority streets being the first to get treatment.
City administration said soft medians will be swept on the north end of the city, after it was decided through budget discussions that median sweeping would happen every two years. In areas where construction is taking place, developers are responsible for street sweeping. Administration said if people are concerned, they can contact the city’s customer-care centre and the feedback can get passed along to the appropriate group.
Neighbourhood street sweeping is expected the first week of May, with the full city expected to be swept by mid-June. EMERGENCY SERVICES AND RAILWAY CROSSINGS Coun. Senos Timon brought up concerns he has been receiving from residents in the Montgomery Place area regarding emergency services being blocked due to railway crossings.
He said a train recently blocked a railway crossing for 20 minutes. “This has been an ongoing issue for a very long time in that neighbourhood,” Timon said. City manager Jeff Jorgenson said there’s a long history of the city collaborating with rail companies on this issue.
He gave an example of technology being brought in to help monitor the time those railway crossings were blocking traffic. Saskatoon Fire Chief Doug Wegren said emergency services can relocate or reroute if they know a train will be blocking a crossing. “This is an ongoing issue that we have, but we do mitigate it as best we can,” Wegren said.
Jorgenson said city administration could speak further to Timon about the issue outside the council meeting. MORE BUS SAFETY CONCERNS Timon also brought up issues around bus safety that he had received from residents and operators, saying a woman operating a bus was assaulted in March. He said concerns were raised about drug use on buses, as well as bus cleanliness.
“With these ongoing safety concerns, the city trying to encourage residents to take buses, and taking buses becoming not an option for many because of safety concerns, can you speak to what administration is doing to address these safety concerns?” A report to the transportation committee at the beginning of April highlighted work being done to address bus safety, spotlighting fewer assaults occurring due to things like the addition of fire community support workers. Jorgenson said this was a significant community-wide issue, and that concerns around transit, safety, homelessness and housing is the capstone issue of the strategic-planning process. “It is the most pressing issue facing our community,” Jorgenson said.
He said this was a broader issue than what would typically be discussed during council’s Q and A portion, saying this would normally be brought forward through a report. He said a transit safety report was coming soon, and that a fire community support-team report is also on its way. City administration explained that a multi-faceted approach was being taken to address bus safety.
Physical barriers have been set up for bus operators, surveillance systems have been placed on all buses and staff has been specially trained. City administration also spoke about service supervisors, who ride the bus and wander downtown terminals to assist operators. RelatedReport highlights work being done to improve Saskatoon Transit safety'I was hoping this was going to go differently': Saskatoon's pet limit continues uncapped after council meetingCoun.
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