Jess McDiarmid
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 30, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Seniors Society has collected 123 signatures on a petition calling for the city to enforce its rules requiring that sidewalks be cleared of snow.

Pat Neary, left, launched a petition asking the city to enforce more strictly the sidewalk clearing bylaw. Greta Baetz, right, is one of 123 people who signed it. - Jess McDiarmid/NNSL photo

The petition was launched by Pat Neary, who has a disability that makes it hard to get around, after she had a few falls and decided it was time to do something.

She plans to present her petition to city council on Dec. 10.

Neary slipped and fell near the corner of Franklin Avenue and 54 Street a while ago, smashing her head on the sidewalk hard enough to get a concussion.

"I should have done something then," said Neary. "All over the place, people can't walk."

She started gathering signatures on Nov. 19. By Nov. 29, more than 120 people had signed their support.

Neary said she hopes the petition will make people "stop and think that maybe they should clear off their sidewalks."

The petition thanks city council for passing a bylaw last year that expanded the downtown core area in which business owners and residents must remove snow from sidewalks. That meant the area along Franklin Avenue between Mildred Hall and the Baker Centre is included.

"They moved the perimeter up to the Baker Centre, which I think is absolutely amazing," said Vivian Squires, executive director of the senior's society. "Now it's just enforcing it."

Kathryn Youngblut uses a wheelchair and frequently can't get out of her car because of snow.

"I signed (the petition) because the streets are in horrible shape," said Youngblut.

She said she also encounters difficulty when people do shovel but pile the snow over the curb. And Youngblut said she'd like something to be done about wheelchair ramps that point towards the street and have grooves for grip running down them, instead of across.

Greta Baetz, another petitioner who does a lot of walking, said the sidewalks are a major safety concern for older people.

"I hope they'll keep the walks clean," she said. "For us, at our age, if you fall and break something, you might never walk again."