Peter Butkevich says he has lived on Princess Street for about 30 years.
He’s frustrated that the narrow street which is also the home to Fire Station One and City Police Headquarters, is not getting the proper road care that it requires.
“Emergency vehicles use Princess Street on a daily basis, police, and fire yet when you drive by the two stations the road is choked down to one lane,” stated Butkevich.
During the interview with BayToday, an example of the problem arose, as a parked car pulled out in front of another northbound vehicle which had no room to pass due to the high snow banks just north of the police station on Princess West. Luckily an accident was averted, but that incident showed how narrow the roadway has become.
Butkevich notes that Victoria Street, which runs parallel to Princess, is just as bad.
“Take a drive down Victoria, the banks are so high and pushed out onto the road that even a single vehicle parked there - I saw a school bus have to back halfway out of Victoria and go around because one vehicle was parked there,” noted Butkevich.
“How are they going to get a ladder truck down that street?”
Butkevich believes whoever is prioritizing snow removal should take a better look.
“They have got to get out from behind their desks and look,” he said.
“This is not just this year, this is continual, continual, continual.
“When you get a street like Fraser Street with very little vehicle traffic having snow removal twice before High Street - High Street there are four schools up there and 500 kids using that street, it is not even a priority,” Butkevich continued.
BayToday.ca reached out to both the North Bay Police Service and the Fire Department to find out if they have any concerns.
The police have not found it a problem.
"Our Officers have not had any incidents of delay beyond what you would normally expect living in a northern community," stated North Bay Police Service Special Constable John Schultz.
The fire department says those streets are very rarely used by their service.
"The truth is that neither Princess Street nor Victoria Street are a part of our usual response routes," stated Deputy Chief Greg Saunders.
"For calls to West Ferris or downtown we respond down Ferguson to Worthington. For calls to the North end of the City we take Ferguson to Chippewa. For calls to the west end of the city we take Ferguson to King. Very seldom would we ever respond down either Princess or Victoria Street."
