File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Accessibility

City of Kamloops moves forward on accessibility, though some councillors express impatience

Feb 26, 2020 | 3:22 PM

KAMLOOPS — Several councillors are pushing City of Kamloops staff to ramp up efforts to make the city more accessible for those with mobility challenges.

Council adopted an Accessibility and Inclusion Plan (AIP) in 2018. At this week’s regular meeting, council authorized staff to work with the Healthy Kamloops Engagement Group to work on a plan implementing AIP priorities.

As council gave staff the okay to move forward, several councillors strongly urged staff to come up with a plan to speed up timelines for adding accessibility features.

At the City’s current rate, three-to-four wheelchair letdowns would be built per year, even with about 300 left to add to city sidewalks.

Another schedule would see six bus stops outfitted for full accessibility per year. There are about 115 such stops requiring modifications in Kamloops.

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“At the current rate, it will take us 75 years to do all the wheelchair ramps and the letdowns in the city and for the bus stops, it will take us 20 years to finish,” noted Councillor Sadie Hunter. “So I implore the committee to have a look at those two items specifically.”

Many of the modifications are being prioritized around care homes and other seniors facilities. Even so, councillors expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of modifying and adding amenities.

“The rate that we’re going right now, to me, it’s just not okay,” said Councillor Kathy Sinclair. “We can’t do everything at once and I’m learning that, but this is a human rights issue. We have an aging population and to take 75 to 100 years to install new wheelchair letdowns throughout our city… I just would challenge the Community Services Committee to look at that.”

Accessibility modifications can be surprisingly expensive. The three-to-four wheelchair ramps and letdowns, for example, are listed by City staff as a $20,000 expense.

Councillor Arjun Singh says the City seems to rely too heavily on grants to fund the work. Instead, he suggests more should come from the Kamloops taxpayer.

“I think this dependence, in a way, on grant funding is the wrong way to go. We have to figure out priorities and figure out taxation streams to actually fund this stuff in a core way,” said Singh. “A municipality exists, I think, also to make it easier for the folks who are more impacted by things to live their lives in a more productive way.”