We are a couple raising a young child in Brantford’s Johnson Road neighbourhood, and we are deeply concerned about the safety of our community.

For years, residents along Johnson Road have asked for the missing 295-metre stretch of sidewalk between Stephenson and Colborne Street East to be completed. We have spoken to property owners along this route who have expressed strong support for finishing the sidewalk. The city's own 2022 Johnson Road Traffic Calming Pilot Project specifically recommended completing this link.

In December 2024, a city report confirmed that the project would cost only $66,375, well within Brantford’s annual $250,000 budget for addressing missing sidewalk links. Unfortunately, despite our Ward councillors’ support, a majority of city council, including the mayor, repealed the official sidewalk petition policy after our request to circulate a neighbourhood petition. This has left us no choice but to bring this petition online.

In 2024 the city released a list of priorities, placing industrial areas over our residential neighbourhood. Under this plan, the Johnson Road sidewalk will not be built until at least 2035 - long after today's children have grown up.

This decision ignores the reality of our neighbourhood:

• We have one of the highest concentrations of children under 18 in Brantford.
• We are the furthest neighbourhood from a library, day care, and have no community centre. Our local school was closed in the 1980s.
• Our area is vibrant, young, and was recently recognized as Brantford’s most diverse neighbourhood. We have many seniors with mobility issues, without vehicles, who assist in childcare.
• Based on assessed tax value, our residents pay much higher property taxes than the city average.
• Every day, elders, families, and young children are forced to walk along a gravel shoulder to reach essential city services. This is not only inconvenient, but dangerous. Brantford has one of the highest rates of impaired driving in Ontario, making the lack of safe pedestrian infrastructure a serious public safety issue.
• Our area's population is increasing by the hundreds with the new townhouse developments on Johnson Road, as well as the additional development on Balinski Farm Road.

We ask Brantford City Council to:

1. Re-examine the priority ranking of the Johnson Road sidewalk link.
2. Direct the Engineering Department and Department of Public Works to complete this missing link immediately.
3. Complete a needs assessment to ensure our neighbourhood is not forgotten in future city planning.

Our families should not have to wait another decade for basic pedestrian infrastructure. We urge you to act now and complete the Johnson Road sidewalk.