MANITOWANING—Assiginack council seems to be in agreement that the sidewalks in Manitowaning are in deplorable condition and something needs to be done, either new sidewalks or another option to make it safe for all residents of the town to have a safe place to walk on. This comes after a youngster tripped and fell on one of the downtown area sidewalks recently.
“Two weeks ago, we had a young parent with a preschool child come into the office when their child tripped and fell on a (Walcot Street) sidewalk,” said Alton Hobbs, CAO at an Assiginack committee of the whole meeting November 5. He noted the child was okay and the adult was not angry. However, “the parent said to me that our sidewalks are atrocious. I couldn’t disagree with this statement.”
Most of the sidewalks in Manitowaning were done in the late 1970s and the township maintenance policy indicates that sidewalks on Arthur and Queen streets are maintained in the winter so children have a safe place to walk to school. It was pointed out even if the sidewalks were repaired the township does not have the proper equipment to maintain them properly like larger neighbouring municipalities have.
In 2022 the municipality replaced one block of sidewalk on Napier Street because it was not up to standard, and it cost $38,000.
“I would say, estimating conservatively, that it would cost about $50,000 a block to replace the sidewalks and if we do maintenance, they would all have to be the same size as those on Queen and Arthur streets,” said Mr. Hobbs.
“Basically, town residents walk on Queen and Arthur street sidewalks and everywhere else people walk on the road,” said Mr. Hobbs.
“We need to have safe sidewalks. We are talking liability issues with people walking on the road (in traffic) if we are not providing proper sidewalks that are good and safe,” said Councillor Rob Maguire. “We have to look at safety, sidewalks are essential especially when we have seniors and kids walking on them.”
Councillor Jennifer Hooper called the state of sidewalks in the downtown area an embarrassment. She said sidewalks need to be in good shape and safe. However, “For the cost of redoing the sidewalks, I can’t justify the cost involved and where would we start? We need to make sure the sidewalks leading to the downtown area and the school are maintained. But I can’t justify spending that much money when we have so many requests from local residents for work to be done on roads in the community.”
It was suggested by Councillor Maguire that walking paths using asphalt or other materials would be good.
“Both of you have good ideas, for sure,” said Councillor Dwayne Elliott. He said that, due to many years of neglect, the worst sidewalks need to be removed and the maintained ones still need work done on them.
“The sidewalk by my house is a disaster,” said Councillor Janice Bowerman. She suggested the public works department should investigate the worst sidewalks and prioritize those that need work on them the most.
“Let’s come back (to a future meeting) with a list of the worst sidewalks and a costing for them,” said Mayor Reid.
“They are all the worst,” stated Councillor Hooper. “They are not good for seniors and children to walk on. Someone is going to get hurt.”
“The ones where people have fallen need to be a priority,” said Councillor Bowerman.
Councillor Hooper said it would be nice to hear from the local people that use the sidewalks to get involved and point out the worst sidewalks.
Council will bring this information to a future meeting and discuss and consider it further in the 2025 township budget.
