Freeing up money in the budget for sidewalks is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to address accessibility issues, said an advisory group's members.
In a report to council from the city's accessibility advisory committee, the 2015 Canada Winter Games are a prime reason to improve pedestrian infrastructure.
"Access to high-quality and safe sidewalks will have [a] positive impression during and long after the Games," said the report.
Chair Vincent Sherry has been on the committee for almost two years and said the group has been told time and again that they couldn't ask for sidewalk improvements because there wasn't any money available for them.
At the Dec. 2 meeting, council heard from Dorothea Ellis about the condition of the city's sidewalks.
In the fall, council approved a change in the city's snow plowing policy that would save $180,000 by clearing residential streets after 12 centimetres of snow had fallen instead of 10 cm.
Those funds were put towards putting in an additional afternoon shift of snow clearing, said operations superintendent Bill Gaal.
On Dec. 4, an additional gas tax fund money was approved in the 2014 capital budget for further investment into the city's sidewalks, gravel roads and residential streets.
Five-year committee member Heather Lamb thanked council for the recent cash injection and said it was a positive sign.
"Unfortunately the problems we've identified, that friends and family members have identified around the community will take a lot of money in order to fix and probably a lot of time. We don't expect everything to happen instantly," she said. "But I think it's important to recognize that we are working members of this community who contribute a lot and if we can't get to work or to our volunteer positions, it makes it very difficult for us to continue to contribute."
The committee is focusing their attention on the downtown area because of the upcoming Games, but hope the work will extend to making the entire community accessible.
"And that includes seniors, people with disabilities, parents with baby strollers, other pedestrians and everybody else that uses our sidewalks," said Lamb.
