This is Vanese Ferguson with Coffee Talk.  So, the City was going to do snow, I thought removal, in my neighbourhood on Friday – which was just snow moving.  They took a bunch of the ruts and the ice on the road and were trying to get rid of it.  They must have received a complaint. Because now the windrow on our road is enormous.  It seems like things would melt faster spread out as opposed to all piled up.  I’m just saying. I realize there’s a science to this. They also went through at the end of February and graded everything again.  I just don’t want to hear about the inflated snow removal budget and how dire the financial situation is, again this year. And did all that grading of snow compound or aid the drainage situation?  We don’t have storm sewer drains on our street – it’s down around the corner.  However, I noticed that all the drains along the main street in the neighbourhood were packed solid with ice and snow.  To the point the city came in and sprayed the snow green so another crew could find the storm drains and clear it out. I just don’t ever remember that taking place in years gone by.  Like maybe one would need clearing but not all of them.  And where is the old guy in the neighbourhood with a stick and shovel, clearing and poking away at the ice to free everything up?  Every neighbourhood used to have one.  Perhaps a sign of the times is all the young couples moving in and not realizing that it’s part of the gig of owning a home.   In the interim the City of Saskatoon says yes there are over 14,000 catch basins and that’s a lot of drainage at work.  They say that those parking-lane snow piles actually help slow the melt, reduces the chances of sudden flooding. I’m just saying if you got a stick, and you’ve got a shovel….maybe you can help out!