Raise the Hammer

"LRT can indirectly slow down city life by encouraging dense urban development. But its direct effect is to speed up travel within a city." ~ John Neary

"...the creation of new theory demands that the best of the old falls under the microscope." ~ A. R. Cuthbert.

The Paradox of Intensification - (video) highlights the huge disconnect that exists between "evidence" and "evidence-based thinking" amongst Hamilton's urban enthusiasts.

What often appear as evil-intent and quickly labeled as disparagement of the enshrined notion of "LRT" - is in fact the slow grinding search for evidence.

Most of our trusted notions and impulses on planning and transit end up being just that - when we look back on how we have come to be where we are:

St. Clair LRT Almost Ready to Open ~ December 11, 2009, by Rick McGinnis

(public sentiments in 2009: "But the travesty and exceptionally poor planning of the St. Clair debacle, not to mention ideological, as opposed to research-based justification for the project, is not the way to promote transit-use in the city.")

*A Post Mortem for St. Clair’s Construction ~ January 17, 2010 by Steve

(public sentiments in 2010: "At some point, one has to conclude that the TTC is congenitally incapable of operating a world-class light rail transit system. I’m going to suggest that point should come after two separate trial projects, St. Clair and Spadina, have both turned out to be profoundly mediocre; and BEFORE spending an additional $8 billion to find out that, no sir, the TTC really doesn’t have any idea how to design, build, and operate street-level rail.")

Getting it Right - Lessons from the St. Clair Streetcar for the Implementation of Transit City ~ 7 January 2010, Les Kelman and Richard M. Soberman

("A report about the lessons learned from the St. Clair construction project and their implications for work on Transit City.")

Our public discourse around urban issues, however well meaning lacks the rigor and dispassion required to develop rational solutions to our highly complex problems.

In most cases our problems suffer from lack of definition and are solely driven by unexamined passions. And when our preconceived needs and unexamined passions are not immediately gratified we publicly punish those who dare to spend time examining evidence.

We kill a little bit of ourselves as a community with every biased discourse, we destroy the spirit of innovation and progress with every bit of punishment we inflict on others who do not toot our ideology.

Maybe nature is withholding progress from our community, until we mature enough to handle the responsibility which comes from seeking change.

Here is a recent example of what can happen when we fixate on ideology at the expense of evidence:Hundreds gather to celebrate cars returning to K Street, Sacramento ~ November 13, 2011

Change requires original thinking, which requires putting ideas under a microscope, which requires respect for diversity and opposing views, which requires us to stop publicly gang-banging people who offer answers to questions which we have not yet learned to frame correctly.

Mahesh P. Butani

Comment edited by Mahesh_P_Butani on 2011-12-21 16:05:06