A Calgary woman who broke her kneecap on an ice covered sidewalk is hoping someone takes responsibility for a stretch of pathway in her southwest neighbourhood.
Cheryl Gunja was walking her daughter to St. Joan of Arc School in West Springs on Thursday, when she slipped on a pathway that connects a residential road with a regional pathway.
“I just remember looking up and I was in so much pain,” Gunja said. “Everyone on the scene was worried for me but they were also angry, because the one father said he has called 311 to tell them about this hazardous walkway. He knew something like this was going to happen.”
The ice covered path where Gunja fell is a busy drop-off zone for parents taking their children to St. Joan of Arc school.
Gunja said over the past three years she’s been told by 311 that the path is a “no man’s land” of sorts. The parcel of land next to it has yet to be developed.
“311 did acknowledge that it is city property. But he basically said that they don’t take care of it. So who does take care of it?” Gunja said.
Gunja said when she alerted the city about her injury on Thursday, then the path was sanded that afternoon.
“I called 311 at 4 o’clock. So how come it took three years of calls and a broken kneecap for them to finally take it to action? That’s what me and all the parents want to know right now,” Gunja said.
I’m glad it was me and not my daughter but what makes me the most mad is going forward, this could happen to a little kid and nobody cares,” she said.
People who live next to the path said it’s dangerous and they are worried about the dozens of children who use it on school days.
“It’s been icy. It’s been a hazard for sure,” Nolan Lerner, who lives near the pathway, said. “It’s very busy in the morning. There’s probably 30 cars lined up here in the crescent. A minimum 50 kids on this path, probably closer to 100 or 150. It would be nice to see it cleaned consistently when there’s snow and when there’s ice, if they would put gravel down here.”
The City of Calgary’s policy is designed to maintain reasonable walking and cycling conditions along city controlled sidewalks and pathways.
The city also offers free salted gravel to help with ice on public sidewalks at 29 locations in Calgary.