MONTREAL – The city’s tiniest sidewalk is creating some big controversy.
The walkway on Brébeuf St. has been cut down to a 28 inch width (or 70 cm) to make way for a new bike path.
While it might seem comical to some, Laurent Morisette doesn’t find it funny at all.
Why? Because his wheelchair is too big to use the sidewalk.
“I tried to pass yesterday during the day and I couldn’t risk it,” he told Global News.
“I didn’t want to get onto what they call a sidewalk.”
Plateau borough Mayor Luc Ferrandez tweeted about it, making a joke on how the city must be saving money on concrete.
Montreal mayor Denis Coderre tweeted back, tongue in cheek, saying “Montreal: green city.”
One resident found the sidewalk so small, that she simply asked herself “what else is there to do with a sidewalk 70 cm wide?”
The answer? Dancer Mistaya Hemingway and cameraman Jerome Watier-Sincennes say is “just dance.”
While the city said motorized vehicles like wheelchairs can use the bike path, Morissette said the joke won’t be so funny once the snow starts to fall.
“I said to the Mayor ‘if I get stuck, I know a way to get your personal phone number and I’m going to call you and you’re going to have to come help me out,'” he said.
Many insisted the sidewalk is too small to even be usable.
“It’s not a sidewalk,” said Plateau resident Alexandre Laflamme.
“People use it during the summer and people jog around the park and they use the sidewalk to jog.”
Montreal disability rights group RAPLIQ plans to file a complaint to the city’s ombudsman.
They’re submitting it on Thursday, which is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
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