Senseless trade-off

The coffers must be pretty bare given the Civic Centre’s latest brainchild to save money.
The plan, in a nutshell, is that south-side sidewalks will be eliminated whenever streets are repaired in future. The money saved on such things as maintenance and snow removal, in turn, will go towards building sidewalks in neighbourhoods that don’t currently have any.
In other words, get rid of sidewalks so we can build sidewalks. Talk about a senseless trade-off.
The town obviously sees value in sidewalks, otherwise why the push to build new ones in more areas? On the other hand, if they are so valuable, why get rid of ones that have been around for decades? Don’t those families deserve a safe route to walk to the store and for their kids to get to school on their side of the street? Shouldn’t youngsters have a place to play off the road in front of their own homes?
Particularly vexing, as Portage Avenue residents pointed out last week, would be the removal of sidewalks people had just finished paying for—or still are—through local improvements on their municipal tax bill.
Sidewalks, first and foremost, are a safety issue. And as a town that prides itself on being a “Safe Community” as designated by the World Health Organization, it makes no sense to create a potentially dangerous situation where one does not exist.
It also makes no sense to dig up sidewalks at a time when people are walking more for exercise and to help the environment by driving less.
It’s great to see the town wants to expand its sidewalk network, but surely that can be done without having to remove other ones.