Raise the Hammer

Thanks for this post. It's so true. I moved back to Hamilton about three years ago after living in Toronto for six years, and I was immediately struck by how much of a "car-city" Hamilton is compared to Toronto. I've never owned a car myself (I actually like walking and taking public transit to and from my destinations, strange I know) so as a transit rider and a pedestrian I can say first hand that Hamilton is much more difficult (and annoying) to traverse then Toronto. I'm lucky that I live in the western end of downtown because I'd imagine the Mountain (aka suburbia) must be many times worse. I'm not surprised that that letter about infrastructure funding being wasted on pedestrian bridges was written for and published by the Mountain News; people on the mountain especially love their cars. Have you ever tried going for a walk on the Mountain? The only people you pass on the streets are teenagers (who presumably don't have their licences, yet) and seniors (who, you know, come from a generation that understood that walking wasn't just something you did when one was too poor to afford a car).
I'm looking forward to the upcoming remodeling of the street scape along Longwood which connects Westdale to Aberdeen. Currently, making your way by foot either to or from Westdale to downtown isn't the best experience. You either have to travel over one of the 403 bridges (the Main Street one being particularly awful considering you're basically walking over a highway on a highway), or along Longwood which is basically a desolate brownfield (and on a windy day, a very powerful wind-tunnel); I'm really hoping that McMaster and its partners will create a bike/transit/pedestrian friendly strip along Longwood because a decent walking route to or from Westdale to the city is badly needed!