Man tries for five years to get sidewalks, streets fixed in Rosemont

Outside a bus stop on McIntosh Street, purple spray paint on the edge of an uneven sidewalk tile disturbs people’s path forward.

Brad Tooth, who lives a few blocks away on Minto Street, said this is just one of the areas that have steadily got worse since he moved into the neighbourhood 10 years ago.

“They are really hard for people to walk on if you have mobility issues,” he said.

Tooth said he has spent the past five years trying to get the City of Regina to fix some of the roads and sidewalks in the Rosemont neighbourhood, without success.

The streets are filled with potholes, patch jobs, and spots where the ground has heaved upward. Some of the roads lack accessibility ramps leading onto the sidewalks in areas with bus stops.

“If anyone has ever driven up this road, they can see this road is just a patchwork, over patchwork, over patchwork,” Tooth said.

He said the uneven roads collect water in front of homes, making it slippery in the winter.

“Our sidewalks are constantly flooded with water,” Tooth said.

Tooth understands what it’s like to not be able to walk on the streets. In 2014, he had knee surgery, which restricted his mobility.

“It’s hard when you lose your freedom,” he said. “Now I can walk up and down the streets without an issue, but when I was on crutches or injured…. it (was) hard.”

In 2019, Tooth began filing requests to the City for road fixes after he watched a neighbour using a walker struggle to get up the street with her groceries.

Some of the sidewalks on Tooth’s street do not have accessibility ramps. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

He said he was told by the City that the sidewalks would not be fixed, and said the woman could use the other side of the sidewalk.

“It was impossible for someone with a walker or a wheelchair to get over the curb, and to use that side of the sidewalk,” he said.

Tooth said this was the first of many messages to city crews over course of five years.

In 2020, Tooth reached out for sidewalk repairs again, which the City said was slated to be fixed. That day would never come, according to Tooth.

“They completely ignored that there was an accessibility issue,” he said.

Minto Street is one of the main thoroughfare’s to get to the grocery store and pharmacy on Dewdney Avenue up to 4th Street, according to Tooth. He said drivers who don’t know the area well, almost always bottom out their vehicles.

After temporarily dealing with mobility issues when he got knee surgery, Brad Tooth said he does not want to see any more people struggle to get around his neighbourhood. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Tooth said he has seen what a positive impact smooth streets can make, with some streets in Rosemont being redone to include accessibility ramps and some streets being repaved.

Only recently have some fixes been made to one uneven panel in front of Tooth’s home, but he said the fix probably won’t make it through the winter.

“It’s not great,” he said. “I’m already pushing it through with my boot, and it’s squishing away.”

In a statement from the City of Regina, it said it has invested $10 million into sidewalk repairs over the past two years.

“We understand residents may have specific concerns regarding sidewalks in their neighbourhood,” the statement read. “We are committed to addressing those concerns on a priority basis. Our team also conducts annual inspections which assists in prioritizing sidewalk repairs.”

The City said Rosemont is regularly inspected. In April, city council passed the Regina Accessibility Plan, the aims to make improvements to infrastructure so everyone can use it over the next 10 years.

Tooth said he would like to see the spray painted marking result in repairs.

“I am not happy that we continue to pay tax dollars and we continue to see our street continue to just fall apart,” he said.