Raise the Hammer

The King St. truck route was technically legal only insofar as it was mistakenly left on the books from the days when King linked up with Sanders Blvd. Once that connection was severed, King between Paradise and Forsyth no longer met the city's standards for a legal truck route as it is not continuous, and dead ends at a residential side street. Also, the only way to access this stretch of King is through the illegal use of residential side streets. Therefore I stand by my statement that Mac is relying on the illegal use of our streets as part of their transportation 'plan'.

I am not surprised that you and your friends believe the University is right. You are understandably loyal to your school, and you have only heard their spin on the issue. Believing it doesn't make it so, however. You have suggested that Council should have consulted the community before making this decision, however this is a misunderstanding of the process. Council was responding to a staff recommendation that they reword the bylaw to correct an oversight that had mistakenly left a truck route on the books that hadn't been viable for decades, and that relied on the illegal use of residential streets for access. Rejecting the staff recommendation and allowing this route to stand would have called into question the city's standards for truck routes across the entire amalgamated city. I fail to see how following set law could be interpreted as "backhanded".

You have to ask yourself what kind of a transportation 'plan' relies on the illegal use of city streets. A very poor one, in my opinion, and one the city was under no obligation to legitimize. The trucking issue is a perfect example of what happens when a site is over-capacity. It is the University's lack of foresight in attempting to pedestrianize the campus core, while simultaneously over-building the Westdale campus, and making no provisions for the resulting truck traffic, that has caused this problem, not the city.