Dear Bronco:

Hey, how's it going, Mr. Mayor?

I understand there was a back-breaking amount of shoveling you had to deal with recently. Sucks, don't it? Me, I live in a condo complex - I don't have to do any shoveling except to clear the patio. I don't even do that, to be honest, my sister handles it. But I understand your pain.

You know what's worse than spending half an hour to an hour shoveling? Dealing with Calgary roads. Now, I'm not going to lie, I've been a supporter since you first ran for mayor. The fact that you've done - or started - most of your "campaign promises" has cemented my support. But, sweetpea, it might not be bright to piss and moan about the amount of shoveling you have to do when half of the city is shut down due to inadequate sanding and plowing and the resultant accidents.

Sure, in a perfect world, people wouldn't drive like arseholes when the roads are bad. In an amazingly perfect world, people wouldn't drive like arseholes, full stop. Alas, we don't live in a perfect world. We live in Calgary. And Calgary drivers are, in a word, arseholes. We are arrogant and impatient drivers.

Couple that arrogance and impatience with roads that haven't been cleared after the second day of snow, and what do you get? A lot of anger and a lot of accidents. I go over (*counts*) eight bridges - counting the ramp onto Glenmore - in each direction, to and from work. Three of these are over open bodies of water.

I mention this because these bridges - most specifically the ramp onto Glenmore and Graves Bridge - are woefully undermaintained during the winter. And the bridges over open bodies of water become considerably more icy than the rest of the roads. When the roads - and thus, the bridges - are not cleared, drivers are dealing with two to three inches - minimum - of hard-packed snow just waiting for one more set of tires to compact it into ice.

Bad news, Bronco. Bad news.

So here's a thought. Why don't we consider paying the drivers of the sanders and the plows enough to entice them to keep their jobs? It is, right now, an employer's market. Utilize that, and bend when the wind changes. If not, scrap the program altogether and offer the opportunity to bid on handling the city's contract, to private companies. Might be pricier upfront than maintaining the status quo...

... But when you factor in the lost productivity - CITY-WIDE - when half of the major arteries are shut down, is it really more expensive?

I don't pretend to know what the council has to deal with on a daily basis, and I won't pretend to particularly empathize. The ugly truth of the matter is this: Y'all work for the citizens of Calgary. If the citizens of Calgary keep losing time and money due to the inability to travel in this city in the winter months - you know, all nine of them - you're going to be out a job.

Winter comes at about the same time every year - earlier than we want it to. Though most of us don't put much stock in the weather forecasts, perhaps the city council ought to. Perhaps being PROactive about providing a safe living, working, driving space to Calgarians, rather than REactive, would reflect well on you.

No, you're not going to be able to please everyone, all the time. But everyone in this city relies on the roads. Drivers, city transit-users, even those who never leave their houses.

I'm just asking you to consider all of us out there before you start commenting about shoveling.

I'm just sayin...

Sincerely,

~Me