If your street looks like this, your complaint isn’t with snow plowing

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – As snow removal complaints begin to pile up and residents begin pointing fingers, one municipality is pointing the finger right back.

The City of West Kelowna sent this picture to local media and posted it to its Facebook page to show residents what snow plow drivers face on a daily basis while trying to clear roads.

"This picture shows cars parked on the street, one at a very awkward angle, a large pile of snow deposited onto the roadway from driveway clearing and several cars parked on street, one that has obviously been there for some time,” West Kelowna communications manager Kirsten Jones says.

With 18 to 20 cms of snowfall piling up in Kelowna, Vernon and Kamloops and nearly 11 cms in Penticton, residents are taking their snow complaints to government Facebook pages, news site comments and anywhere else someone might listen.

Check with your local city about bylaws and your responsibilities for parking and clearing of snow. You might save yourself some money, a missing car and even friendlier neighbours.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca