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By ItJustIs (registered) | Posted March 12, 2015 at 13:08:38
I was there on Monday evening. I was impressed by the turnout. (But not so much at the demographics.) I was also impressed with your presentation, Nicholas.
However, I was not impressed with the dearth of context regarding the topic. It was clear that (probably) most of the attendees were not aware of the history of conversion back in the 50s. They had (have?) no grasp of why it was done in the first place, what the area looked like back then, how things have changed, why going back to two-ways is being shoved down their throats. (I use this term because that's what I heard being expressed in the audience.) One of the first questions voiced was 'Why?!?' Why this was happening in the first place. This in itself was a sign of (bad) things to come.
(As an aside, invaluable effectiveness-of-argument was lost by the insistence of 'conversion' being used instead of the more accurate 'reversion'. As I wrote to the Chair of the DNA:
"Which is why I've tried to encourage the use of 'reversion' over 'conversion'. People immediately infer from the latter that it's always been the way that's in front of them, therefore it's a harsher form of 'change' than the former, which tends to bring people up short, providing an opportunity for an actual discussion. "They were all two-way streets at one point? Hmm... Didn't know that. Why were they converted? What was the downtown like back then?"
I have believed from the beginning that an 'All or All' mindset adopted by those wanting to get all one-ways reverted to two-ways did their cause no favours. I've lived in Durand (and Central and Kirkendall). I've walked those streets thousands of times over the past 30 years. My take on reversions to two-way? Some streets should absolutely, positively reverted from one-way. The arguments for these are unassailable. But there are a number of streets that should not be reverted. As with LRT, there is no 'absolute right and absolute wrong' in the discussion about the full assortment of streets being considered. To those who are so desperately attached to facts, figures and statistical evidence, I feel the need to remind them that Life lived is not about numbers. And you simply cannot lecture people on what they need to accept, decisions-wise.
My bottom-line advice? Choose your battles better than you have been.
Permalink | Context