Earlier this week the top issues the Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee is working on for the coming year were outlined as they delivered their annual report to city council. Safety and accessibility issues around snow clearing at bus stops, an problem brought to council a few times during the winter, is a major concern MAAC is focused on.
In her presentation to council, Committee Chair Nora Long says it got so bad at one point, they actually had to cancel one of their own meetings because it wasn’t accessible enough. On top of bus stops, there were also areas of parking buried with snow, and Long says things like that didn’t sit well with them. As part of the report, Long included a copy of a letter she had written to council back in October with suggestions to improve how snow is removed around parking spaces and bus stops in North Bay.
Long says they work with the city to address issues in North Bay, and despite some criticism believes council is doing what they can. She says the committee brings information and what’s going on in the city to council’s attention and they work together to find a happy medium to resolve the issues. Long added unfortunately due to budgets and other things the city isn’t always in a situation to resolve it. She says that means they have to be more creative and come up with more ideas and solutions to deal with these things.
Long says she believes the city will properly address this issue, because other municipalities are looking to them for leadership. She says they are looking to North Bay, for ideas on how to solve similar issues they have been dealing with in the winter months as well.
