HRM Budget Committee Public Participation

Here is the full text from my presentation to HRM Budget Committee Public Hearing on January 27, 2026:

My name is Laurie Batten. I’m a resident of Sambro, a parent of three young children — a one-, two-, and four-year-old — a runner and daily walker, and the founder of Safer Steps Chebucto, a community-led initiative advocating for safer, more walkable and better connected communities from Armdale through to the Pennants.

I want to begin by sincerely thanking our District 11 Councillor, Patty Cuttell, and our MLA, Brendan Maguire, for their ongoing engagement and support. Both have met with us repeatedly and participated in our working group discussions. They have listened, and that matters deeply to families like mine and to the organization I have created.

Safer Steps Chebucto began very simply: with a wagon, a pair of running shoes, and the daily reality of trying to keep my family safe on roads that were never designed for people in communities experiencing rapid growth as sprawl creeps outward from the city’s core.

I walk my kids to and from Sambro Elementary every day. And when I say “walk,” I mean from the end of my driveway — a little more than half a kilometre from the school. That stretch, right up until just before the school, is posted at 70 kilometres an hour — then it abruptly drops to 50, and then to 30 in the school zone. For most of that walk, we are beside a provincial highway. There are no sidewalks or physical barriers. And many vehicles travel far faster than the limit.

We pass Mishoos, a community hub, at a confusing intersection where drivers rarely come to a full stop despite clear signage. They yield — sometimes. Other times they simply continue through. There are no painted crosswalks. No curbs. No flashing lights. So we wait. And wait. Until there isn’t even a whisper of a vehicle. Then we cross, quickly, hoping no one appears over the rise or around the bend.

And as cars pass along the narrow shoulder, we wave. Partly in thanks that they slowed. And partly with the hope it reminds them that people — small people — are on foot here every single day.

We continue down Old Sambro toward Ketch Harbour Road. Transport trucks thunder past. I scan the ditch, quietly planning where we could jump if a driver is distracted. There is no curb. No bollard. No buffer. No physical protection. Just narrow gravel and trust.

At Ketch Harbour Road, we wait again at the bottom of a blind crest, with the school just several metres away. Vehicles rarely stop at the stop sign. They come over the rise at speed and continue through. After heavy rain, runoff pushes us out of the shoulder and into the intersection, leaving us even more exposed on our way home. No crosswalk. No flashing lights. No physical separation. Just timing, hyper-vigilance, and trust.

One neighbour wrote to us, describing that intersection as “a tragedy waiting to happen.” We should not need a serious injury or loss of life to justify building the infrastructure that could prevent it.

This is what a “simple” walk to school looks like.

And it sends a troubling message to our children: that staying active, caring for your physical and mental health, making small climate-positive choices — like walking 600 metres instead of driving comes with real danger.

This is why signage and enforcement alone are not enough. Photo radar cannot protect a child at the edge of a 70-kilometre-an-hour road. Paint does not stop a transport truck.

What saves lives is physical infrastructure: sidewalks, curbs, bollards, buffers, and highly visible, flashing crosswalks. Real separation. Real protection.

My husband and I are long-distance runners. We live-track each other’s runs by GPS so we know the other will make it home. Not because we are in the wilderness — but because we are on roads like Old Sambro, Ketch Harbour, Purcell’s Cove, and Herring Cove Road. It is terrifying. And it should never be terrifying to be on foot in your own community.

We know Sambro is eligible for the Rural Sidewalk Program. But that process takes years and enormous volunteer effort. Safety should not depend on who has the time or capacity to fight for it. It must be built into how we plan and how we budget.

Through Safer Steps Chebucto, we are bringing together families, seniors, runners, schools, businesses, and community groups around a shared truth: people want to walk. They want their children to walk. They want to age in place. And they want to feel safe doing it.

And this is not just about Sambro. This is about HRM — and how we plan for growth in car-dependent communities while also asking residents to be more active, reduce emissions, and build healthier lives.

So today, my ask is simple and direct:

As you set the upcoming municipal budget, we are asking HRM to allocate dedicated funding for pedestrian safety infrastructure — specifically continuous sidewalks, physical separation such as curbs and bollards, and high-visibility, flashing-light crosswalks — in suburban and rural communities across HRM.

This is not a nice-to-have. It is the foundation of Vision Zero, the Road Safety Strategy, climate action, and public health.

How we invest now will determine whether children can walk to school without fear, and whether families can choose active transportation without planning escape routes into ditches.

We urge you to make safe, physically protected pedestrian infrastructure a funded priority in this year’s HRM budget.