Comment 41534

By nobrainer (registered) | Posted June 03, 2010 at 10:55:31

Hey Jon, congrats for getting your letter published!

Time to reclaim our downtown

June 02, 2010
Jonathan Dalton
The Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton
(Jun 2, 2010)

Re: 'York Blvd. work starts Monday' (May 29)

Hamilton takes one step towards a livable, walkable downtown and The Spectator frames it as bad news for all those poor drivers. If it speeds, it leads.

The article could have mentioned that the York Boulevard two-way conversion will complement the new street-level facade of the Farmer's Market with wider sidewalks and a temporary pedestrian zone. This road space is being reclaimed from through traffic for those who live, shop, and enjoy downtown.

The new York Boulevard will also allow the return of outdoor market stalls for the first time since the vendors lost that century-old tradition in the city traffic department's war on the pedestrian in the 1950s. I'd say it's about time.

Though some overprivileged motorists will cry foul, these changes are simply tightening the belt on a bloated road system. Hamilton has over twice as many lanes of highway per capita as other Canadian cities. Though vehicles will move slower, and lives will be saved in the process, there will be no 'traffic chaos' as suggested in recent talk-radio hyperbole.

Converting our deadly expressways to normal downtown streets is essential to repairing the damage caused by anti-urban policies of the last 50 years. Impatient downtown drivers -- deal with it.

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