Vancouver's 'Snowmageddon' does not bode well for 2010 - CityCaucus.com

Yet despite the regular snowfalls, most cities along the southern coast of British Columbia are ill-equipped to handle even a few centimetres of the white stuff. They call it the British California syndrome or zonal denial. I call it just plain stupid and I'm mighty frustrated with having to live through it every year.

Take for example the most recent bout of winter that Metro Vancouver was hit with in the last couple of weeks. Admittedly, even by Canadian standards we did receive a lot of snow. However, does that excuse the fact that not a single street in my whole neighbourhood was plowed five days after the snow began to fall?

I’m beginning to think that the City of New Westminster (my hometown) doesn’t even own a plow. What else would explain how the act of a simple snowfall transformed our quaint streets into something reminiscent of an end-of-the-world Hollywood film?

For heavens sake, days after the storm, there were still cars abandoned everywhere. And I mean literally everywhere. Sidewalks were impassable while back alleys were complete no-go-zones unless you owned a Hummer or a snowmobile.
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I tuned in to a few hours of talk radio and dozens of callers were phoning in outraged at how they were losing a day of pay, missing a critical medical appointment or had their vehicle damaged due to bad road conditions.