For the better part of a year, Robert Campbell has been using an electric scooter to get around his North Burnaby neighbourhood.
But it’s not always easy or safe travels for the senior.
Campbell’s biggest obstacle when he’s out of his house are the sidewalks. More specifically, overgrown shrubs and hedges that hang over walkways and boulevards.
“It’s making it really difficult to get around because you have to go close to the edge of the curb,” he told the NOW. “I’ve actually almost fallen off my scooter once already.”
Campbell, who lives on Duthie Avenue, noted in one spot a hedge has grown all the way to a signpost, forcing him to go between the two obstacles, scratching up his scooter.
Frustrated by his predicament, he’s asking for the city to step in to deal with the problem. Campbell said he’d like to see some sort of bylaw that would prohibit property owners from allowing their plants to infringe on the sidewalk.
He also said he’s called the city about the issue the last month but hasn’t gotten anywhere, and he wanted to reach out to the media to get some help.
“It’s been an issue, especially when it’s on streets I travel on regularly,” he said, adding there are other people in the community with mobility issues struggling with the same problem.
It appears the city is well aware of the issue.
Sheryl Pordan, a traffic assistant with the city, said the municipality receives complaints about overgrown hedges on a weekly basis, adding the busiest time for complaints is during the spring and summer.
She said the city responds on a per-complaint basis and will go out to the sidewalk, take a picture, send a letter to the property owner and tell them to cut whatever is overhanging back behind the sidewalk by one or two feet.
She added the city will give the homeowner a couple weeks to do the work, and if they don’t, crews will go out and cut it back.
Pordan explained that it’s up to property owners to maintain the boulevard in front of their house, and in most cases the problem comes from something the owner has planted on the city’s boulevard.
She’s said it’s important the sidewalks are kept clear for people with mobility issues, adding anyone with problems can call the city and let them know.
“Sidewalks were installed for safe passage of pedestrians, not for people to have their trees and everything growing over them,” Pordan said.
She also noted the city is working on strengthening the current bylaw that would make homeowners responsible for cutting and maintaining the boulevard.
