‘Suicide path’: Grace Lutheran Place tenants frustrated with state of sidewalks, ramps

Every movement in front of Grace Lutheran Place is challenge for tenants, who say the broken, gravelly sidewalks and steep, slippery ramps are causing people to trip and fall.

“My kids don’t let me walk alone,” said Sylvia Zimmer, a tenant at the housing complex for seniors on Victoria Avenue. “If I break a hip, I’m dead.”

Zimmer said the tenants have nicknamed the gravelly slab of cement in front of the building the “suicide path.”

The most gravelly patch of sidewalk is located right in front of the staircase, leading to the entrance of Grace Lutheran Place. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

In October, Deb Schlosser, a tenant at the building, was hurt after she fell. She said the steep ramp and broken pavement at the approach are to blame.

“I tripped on the bottom, and my head ends up getting gravel in it,” she said.

She said the fall sent her to the hospital and left her with two black eyes and a lump on her head. Her recovery took months.

“It took a long time to heal,” she said.

Michael Mack said he has called and emailed City of Regina to come and fix the sidewalks for the past three years. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

Michael Mack, a wheelchair user, said if the broken areas are not fixed, another person could get seriously hurt.

“All the old people here can trip and fall. All the people walking by can trip and fall,” he said.

For Mack, getting to the transit bus means scrapping his elbows on the sides of narrow ramp. He said the rough sidewalks have also damaged his motorized wheelchair.

“I’ve gotten a flat tire out front because of the cement, the way its cracked,” he said. “It went through my tire.”

Mack said traversing the rough and bumpy sidewalks gets even more challenging during the winter months. On four separate occasions he said the para transit driver has had to come and push him out.

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Mack said he has called and emailed the City of Regina for the past three years asking for someone to come and fix the sidewalks.

In response to one of his emails on June 18, Service Regina said an inspection was done on the sidewalk in May and June last year. The city noted that it has a limited budget for its sidewalk maintenance program, and works on a priority basis.

Mach said the response made him feel terrible.

Margaret Scott said all city crews have done to the area is paint off the broken bits to indicate that repairs are needed.

“I keep on saying they had it painted to be fixed for how many years since I’ve been here, but paint washes off and doesn’t get put back on again,” she said. “It’s washed off right now.

“(If) they don’t see any markings, they don’t have to do anything, I guess.”

Scott said things have steadily become worse during the eight years she’s lived in the building. She said it is “distressing” for her to take her walker down the ramp, because she often gets stuck on the broken pavement.

Many tenants Grace Lutheran Place said the walkways outside the building are an accident waiting to happen. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Both the City of Regina and the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation said crews will work to address the tenants’ concerns.

The housing corporation said it is working with the Regina Housing Authority to look into an application of a rubberized paving product on the ramp to improve traction.

“The ramp’s width and incline comply with the National Building Code of Canada,” a statement from the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation read.

The city said it is planning to do temporary work during this year’s construction season to help improve the safety of the sidewalk, with permanent fixes to follow.

“The City is tentatively scheduled to complete a revitalization of the sidewalk in front of 1025 Victoria Avenue in 2026,” the City of Regina said in a statement.

“The timeline for this revitalization was picked to minimize traffic disruptions by coordinating sidewalk work with underground infrastructure improvements.”