After 28 years, a damaged curb in Winnipeg has now been fixed
A Winnipeg man finally has something he has been waiting for over 28 years … a new curb.
Calvin Hawley lives along Tyrone Bay and back in January 1993, Hawley's curb was damaged by a snowplow during snow removal in the St. Vital neighbourhood. The curb was only repaired last week.
"I remember the exact date, Jan. 26, 1993, and I discovered it at between five and six in the morning and I remember this clearly because that's the day, in the morning, that one of our sons was born," said Hawley.
He said he saw that the street had been cleared of snow and he noticed he would have to shovel some of it because it was blocking his driveway.
"That's when I discovered that a chunk was missing from our curb because as I'm shoveling I hit something that wasn't just snow and ice."
Hawley said he reported the damage a week later and was told crews would come along in the spring and fix it.
Winter turned into spring, spring into summer, and then fall came, and still nothing had been fixed. Hawley again phoned the city about the problem and he was once again told crews would soon come to fix the issue.
"For a while, it was every few months that I would try and check in and then it became a couple of years in between."
He said the calls turned from saying that crews would come to fix the curb to being told it would be fixed as part of a two- or seven-year plan. He was then told the city never received a report.
"After a while you just kind of get tired of chasing the tail," said Hawley.
"What really kind of set this off again was on the morning of Canada Day 2017, beautiful morning, my wife and I are sitting outside having a cup of coffee in the morning and this noise starts up in the bay."
The pair looked at what was happening up the road only to see city crews were repairing a curb that Hawley said had not been damaged as long as his was.
"That kind of just ticked me."
He called the city the next day, reported the problem again and he was given a tracking number for when the problem would be fixed.
"Lo-and-behold, the target resolution date on my case was June 26, 2037. Twenty years in the future."
Hawley said he eventually contacted his councillor Brian Mayes and the pair had been working on getting the curb fixed for the past few years.
"So a couple of weeks ago, they showed up, we all on the bay went, 'Wow, I can't believe they're here, but fantastic that they are.'"
Hawley said he is extremely happy and thankful that the curb had been fixed, noting the repair job looked good.
In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the city said it tries to inspect and repair damaged curbs as soon as possible if they are deemed hazardous. Currently, 1,242 requests have been opened or are in the process of being fixed.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."
'The lost season': Winter comes to a close as Canada's warmest on record
The warmest winter on record could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, climatologists say, while offering a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.