Anytime it’s snowing in St. John’s and the roads are in hard shape I always hear people say “I’m not taking the highway” referring to Pitts Memorial Drive.

Everytime I hear this I feel like defending the highway in poor driving weather.

The “Arterial” as it is called is part of the Governement of Newfoundland and Labrador’s highway infrastructure and thus it’s snowclearing is managed by the provincial government. Compared to the City of St. John’s those roads are immaculate in the snow.

Additionally the highway swurves around the turns of the hills on the southern side of St. John’s and is surrounded on both sides by thick coniferous vegetation which prevents virtually any blowing snow.

To top it off this is a popular highway where there is a lot of traffic. Even when the plows cannot keep up on the accumulation of snow the flow of traffic keeps the roads clear.

When it comes to driving in poor winter conditions I am confident there is no safer road to drive on. Outer Ring Road is a completely different story.

Rants Newfoundland & Labrador, Pitts Memorial Drive, St. John's, Street Cleaning

On January 4th St. John’s began issuing snowclearing tickets as promised. They advertised on the radio and on television. I rarely pay attention to either, but even I was aware of the snowclearing date.

All the same, 300 motorists found themselves with hefty $45 snowclearing tickets the next morning.

Needless to say,  many were not happy.

You leave your vehicle on the road overnight when snowclearing is in effect and you deserve a ticket. I agree with this. Otherwise we have messy streets in the morning because plows were unable to maneuver properly through them.

But 300 tickets on a clear night? City Council is just going out looking for people to ticket needlessly. Random sweeps are fine. The odd ticket for a violator will prevent people from parking on the road overnight. Obviously if it snows, nail them with a ticket. Otherwise, frig off.

There is no need to ticket so many people on a night where there was no snowclearing and the weather forecast indicated no chance of snow.

But if the city must ticket absolutely everyone with a tire on the road, then why not put the money they make to snowclearing?

In one night of ticketing they raised $13,500.00. Take out the expenses for ticketing those violators and you have a significant profit from one night’s work. Surely this kind of cashflow could be put towards improving the city’s dismal snowclearing efforts.

If St. John’s put as much effort into actually cleaning the streets as they do ticketing parked vehicles we’d have wonderfully clean streets.

Local News, Rants, Service St. John's, Street Cleaning

I am not sure if this is a regular thing, but I logged into Twitter tonight to find a flood a updates from @thescopeNL regarding discussions during the St. John’s City Council Meeting. Real time updates of important issues as they are addressed.

Cool!

Local News St. John's, The Scope, Twitter

Finally!

People in and around St. John’s, particularly downtown, have undoubtedly seen or heard about the filming of the CBC program Republic of Doyle.

CBC is now presenting the trailer. It’s very in depth and looks amazing. I actually cannot wait to see this show!

From CBC: Republic of Doyle

Interest, Local News CBC, Newfoundland & Labrador, Republic of Doyle, St. John's

The Scope recently released this great article to help people figure out what ward they are in and who is running in their ward.

From The Scope: What ward am I in?

Local News, Politics Elections, St. John's

A while back I wrote an post jesting that street cleaning in St. John’s is a big money scam for the city to make money off of your parked cars.

Last night there was street cleaning on the street (and there will be again tonight). Most people on the street continued to park as they normally do, unaware of the ticket they were about to receive.

It absolutely kills me that the city does not provide more notification about street cleaning. If everyone is still parked in their usual spots, the street isn’t going to get cleaned, so why bother?

No other reason I can think of than money.

From GregPike.ca: Street Cleaning – St. John’s Biggest Money-Making Scam

Local News, Rants, Service St. John's, Street Cleaning

The Globe and Mail is not usually known for speaking well of Newfoundland but this week there is a spotlight in their travel section regarding the music scene here in St. John’s.

From Globe and Mail: Rocking the Rock

Local News, The Web Music, St. John's

The City of St. John’s has announced that the annual Pride Parade is to be limited to the sidewalks on Water St. due to heavy construction on Harbour Dr.

The Pride Parade is scheduled to take place 1:00pm this Sunday starting from St. John’s City Hall. The parade is set to loop around the downtown area and finish at the Scotia Centre.

From Signal Blog: Have parade, need road

Local News Pride, St. John's

Last year my friends Phil and Ashley approached me about starring in their Thriller video redux. When they told me their plan I loved it. When they told me they wanted me to be Michael Jackson, I loved it even more.

The idea was to present it as a gift for our friends at “The House” who host an incredible democratically-themed Halloween Party every year that is like no other. They decorate their entire house at great expense and there is a spooky dance floor.

For an entire month we planned, choreographed, and filmed this video without any of our friends at the house having an inkling of our project. They got the greatest suprise of their… umm, Halloween I guess.

I would like to thank everyone that was involved, especially those who took time away from their exams (when others more appropriately prioritized) and helped us out with this film.

Enjoy.

Part I

Part II

Directed by Phil Hogan
Produced by Ashley Kieley
Starring:
Greg Pike as Michael Jackson
Nikki Janes as the girlfriend
Megan Murphy
Christopher “Grubbie” Penney
Theresa Murphy
Craig Stoyles
Garrett Flight
Denise Hennebury

YouTube Videos Michael Jackson, Phil Hogan, St. John's, Thriller

Last night (and the night before) there was street cleaning on my street in Downtown St. John’s. I knew about it because shortly after moving in I got a street cleaning ticket (without warning) and I immediately jumped on the St. John’s Street cleaning mailing list. I also check the City of St. John’s website frequently.

But most people don’t.

In fact, I don’t think the city really cares about actually cleaning the streets. They send the street cleaners down the streets still lined with parked cars and put tickets on everyone’s windsheild. The streets don’t get cleaned. The city just gets paid.

If they were really concerned they would provide some kind of notice to residents and I am sure people would move their cars.

I know there is a mailing list, but I can’t say I blame the people who aren’t on the mailing list. They send an email every day and list every single street that gets cleaned. It’s a mess. You should be able to receive emails ONLY when the cleaning affects streets you are interested in.

I have said this before (about potholes and snow removal and sidewalk clearing) and I’ll say it again. I wish this city was more progressive instead of just reacting to each situation thrown its way.

Signs, flyers, or e-mails would be a great first step to getting our streets clean.

Local News, Rants, Service St. John's, Street Cleaning