Regina residents, business owners demand action on 'haphazardly' done sidewalk repairs

Regina residents who believe the sidewalks in their neighbourhood have become impassable and unsafe over the past several months continue to demand the city do something about it.

Some are even taking action on their own.

Paul Kleckner, who resides in the northwest area of the city, says he has called the city four or five times over nine months to complain about an unsafe part of the sidewalk in front of his house.

The first call he made was after city workers came to his house, which is on the corner of Sherwood Drive and Hayes Crescent, to replace a fire hydrant last fall.

He says the hydrant site remained an unfilled hole for several weeks, and he felt his calls had gone unheard. Once he reached out to the media, he says, the city rushed to fill the hole with rocks and gravel, which Kleckner said was done "haphazardly."

Now, nine months after the hydrant was replaced, the sidewalk remains incomplete and Kleckner is concerned for the safety of pedestrians. He said it is also impossible for people who use wheelchairs to use.

"Now, I'm at my wit's end with them," he said.

Kleckner put a sign up on his lawn, right in front of the under-construction sidewalk, which asks anybody who falls or trips due to the sidewalk to call him at the number he provided.

He says he's already received one call after putting it up on Friday.

"I'm hoping to grab attention, plus I want to help," he said. "It's such a mess [if] people trip over it or happen to fall or injure themselves."

Kleckner says anyone who is injured on the sidewalk can contact him, as he has documented the multiple times he has contacted the city asking for the hole to be fixed.

"I would definitely go to court because I feel this is the city's negligence that [would cause] that to happen," he said. "Every time I phone they say, 'Oh that's not my department,' or you talk to them and their famous line is 'Oh, we can't do anything about it.'"

Besides the safety hazard, Kleckner says part of his lawn cannot be planted due to rocks and gravel in the way.

"There's no way I can water it and keep it from dying," he said, adding the city worker he spoke with on the phone mentioned he was two or three years behind on service calls in the city.

Kleckner says the hole has also affected drainage of the water and snow for the sidewalk.

"[The drain] won't let the water flow down either direction because it's so crowned, and what's happening is the water builds up and runs over the sidewalk and causes a sheet of ice," he said, adding another safety issue on the already hazardous corner and sidewalk.

Overall, Kleckner says, no Regina resident should have to constantly contact and complain to the city about an unsafe sidewalk when it could be easily fixed.

"Two, three years go by to leave it like that," he said. "That's ridiculous."

Chris Warren, the director of roadways and and transportation for the City of Regina, says he expects Kleckner's complaint to be addressed before the end of the year.

Warren says the work on Sherwood Avenue and Hayes Crescent began in late October of 2021, but the arrival of winter meant a temporary repair had to be put in place.

"What we see there is some gravel that is backfilled and compacted until our city crews can get back and do the permanent repairs with concrete," he said.

"This location is on our existing list for repairs and, as we work through the various areas of the city, we expect to get that work completed sometime during [the] 2022 construction season."

Business owner in Warehouse District affected as well

Mark Heise, the president of Rebellion Brewing in Regina's Warehouse District, says he has been taking note of unsafe sidewalks in the area as he also lives in the neighborhood and enjoys walking.

"We've always had a lack of great sidewalks here. They've gotten considerably worse over the last few years," Heise said in an interview with CBC's The Morning Edition. "They have done a fair bit of construction here. They changed out some streetlights and of course ripped the sidewalks to shreds in the process."

He says while the construction started early last spring and summer, the sidewalks remain unfinished.

"The sidewalks are impassible for a lot of people," he said. "I go out and run — I slip and fall on this stuff constantly.

"It breaks my heart every time I see someone in a wheelchair or scooter get up to the spot and realize that they have to turn all the way around [and] go back to the corner. They often have to drive right out onto Broad Street or Dewdney Avenue. I mean, what could be more dangerous for these folks?"

Heise says there are sawhorses over some holes, but he doesn't think they will prevent injuries or improve accessibility in the neighbourhood.

"The city would never think of having the road unusable for cars," he said.

Heise, who enjoys walking, believes the issue stems from a lack of priority and investment into making Regina a walkable city.

His business, located on the corner of Broad Street and Dewdney Avenue, does not have a sidewalk in front of it at all.

"We've been asking for that for nine years now," he said. "There's bus stops on that side of Dewdney, there's people parking on that side of Dewdney. We want people to safely get to our business, and if they're scared to come to our business, they probably aren't going to spend money."

City says backlog will be complete by 2023

As for Broad Street, Warren says, the city is aware that there are several repairs that need to be done.

"This is mainly due to a traffic signal replacement we did earlier this year," he said. "We do have those locations on our list for repair, and we are expecting to get those started within the next two weeks.

"Being that it is Broad Street, we know this is a major arterial road that a lot of Regina residents use to commute and to get to the various locations. This is one the locations where we have a lot of work to do.

"We are doing these repairs, we'll do them as quickly as we can and we appreciate [residents'] patience." 

Warren says in 2021 there were 550 service requests regarding sidewalks, and in 2022, there have already been 465.

Warren says the city's goal is to make sidewalks as accessible as possible.

"We do monitor and maintain approximately 1,400 kilometres of sidewalk through several programs, and really what our main focus is, is to target the most severe deficiencies that require repair first," he said. "About 700 kilometres of the sidewalks in the city are in good and excellent condition."

Over the next two years, he says, the city is investing more than $10 million in sidewalk repairs.

Warren acknowledged that city crews did fall "a bit behind schedule" on repairs.

"We did go to council in 2021 and brought that information forward and did receive additional funding to help us get through the backlogs," he said. "We are currently working through that backlog and expect to have that complete by 2023."