WINNIPEG — Parents living near King Edward Community School said they’re walking their kids to school using the road, because sidewalks in the area are covered in snow.
Stacey Yerlitz is calling on the city to immediately clean sidewalks in his neighbourhood on Stella Avenue, to clear a path for dozens of students who are being pushed onto the road for their commute.
“This scares me. As a parent this scares me,” Yerlitz said.
Walking with his 7-year-old son every day to school, Yerlitz said the two are now using the road to walk, because the sidewalks are impassible.
READ MORE: ‘Right now we are trapped’: Winnipegger frustrated sidewalks not cleared after blizzard
“This is an elementary school. These kids are 12 years and younger, how safe is that?”
The city is currently working to clear sidewalks city-wide as temperatures warm up.
Yerlitz said he has called 311 countless times throughout the winter, but nothing has been done.
“I get the same story, they’re getting to it, it’s happening, call use back, here’s a tracking number.”
On Hespeler Avenue, neighbours are raising the same concerns, with snow piles falling onto the sidewalk.
“Five foot snowbanks, and they’re piling them higher and higher. This huge boulder on top, a kid was playing on it a few weeks ago, it could kill a kid.”
RELATED: Winnipeg sidewalk clearing going slow after major snowfalls
City councilor Scott Gillingham said crews are still working to clear sidewalks from 2016 storms, even though the $3.8 M budget wasn’t fully used.
“The sidewalk plows are still doing work, they’re doing work now still related to 2016 snowfall, with a 2017 budget” Gillingham said.
Yerlitz said the city needs to start seeing children as a priority, with the sidewalk to King Edward Community School becoming more dangerous.
“It’s an elementary school right on a bus and truck route, and this is how the sidewalk is, it’s deplorable.”
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