Kamloops City Council has voted to demolish a staircase that connects Seymour Street to McIntosh after a petition asked for it to be removed.

Mayor Ken Christian says people wanted the change believing it will address unwanted activity in the area. “A lot of very clandestine activities and people in the west end were quite concerned about it. They met and they petitioned our council to do something about it.”

Christian says the timing makes sense as it’s cheaper to tear down the stairs while construction is underway on Victoria Street. “In this case, it seemed an opportune time because equipment is there and we can yank it out for I think $11,000 whereas if we were to do that as a separate project, it would be almost twice that.”

When it comes to fixing people’s concerns, Christian isn’t sure this is going to work. “I don’t think it really is going to solve the problem in its entirety. But, it seemed that there’s an opportunity to do it now while we have all the equipment on the site. And we have an alternative in terms of pedestrian access down through into Riverside Park from the west end.”