Raise the Hammer

Hi Ryan

The city should do the same thing for the Ivor Wynn Pan Am nayborhood as they are planning it now ,

they should do it near the Pan Am site on King Cannon and Barton area

Best news I have had all day! Congrats to Crossing Guard Wendy (pictured in photo above, to left of renowned Canadian artiste Gord Leverton watching for cars) whose first-hand street knowledge gave credence to the ideas coming from outside our city.

Wow...I'm equally pumped about the bumpouts AND the bold-lined crosswalk treatment. I want this treatment all across the city. Hunter and Locke absolutely needs this treatment. Ditto for Main and Locke.

And pretty much every intersection on Cannon.

Thanks for mentioning Hunter and Locke- I couldn't agree more.

Ditto for Cannon.

This is good news. Great job getting the city on board. But I wonder what they're going to do on the Cannon St. site of another tactical urbanism act. Sad if only affluent neighbourhoods get cooperation from the city.

Affluent residents are part of it, for sure -- Mater's follow-up mention of Locke and Hunter isn't on the other side of the tracks literally or metaphorically.

But the math may be more complex.

Affluent neighbourhood + powerful BIA + elementary school + Catholic parish + politically savvy real estate broker + progressive multi-term councillor-planner would be a compelling chorus of voices.

Awesome. I'm honestly surprised the city managed to swallow their pride and do the right thing.

So, King at Dundurn next? Please? Pretty please?

King and Dundurn must be one of the busiest intersections in the west end. You have motorists pressuring to turn left from Dundurn onto King in order to gain access to the 403; you have motorists wanting to turn right from Dundurn onto King in the opposite direction for the same reason. Then you have timed lights and a wave of traffic barrelling down King also trying to access the 403 or go into Westdale. On top of all of this, you have a major shopping plaza, a HSR and GO bus stop (B-line stop too).

All of this explains why this was one of the first intersections to get red light cameras. It also explains why Dundurn Plaza has been given some attention and densification plans are under way. The next logical step to help faciliate densification plans is to start installing subtle but effective traffic behaviour modification tools.

King and Dundurn was actually one of the sites that were considered during the HBSA charette. I was part of that group, and there were significant challenges that arose during our brainstorming, due to the intensity of the traffic here i.e.:

• painting crosswalks could actually lead a pedestrian directly into the path of danger (advanced left turn)
• temporary bumpouts could cause accessibility issues at bus stop (curb height)

Perhaps an actual discussion could be had with PW staff to discuss actual improvements here instead of tactics. i would be happy to take part!

Why is everything new that's done in this city considered a pilot project?

not to sound jaded, but I think it's because doing a pilot gives the city 1,2 or 5 years to do nothing further. NYC transformed their bike networks and complete streets in a matter of 5 years. We do pilots as an excuse to keep the status quo as long as humanly possible.

I'd rather a pilot than nothing.....

NYC has the added impetus of being NYC. Manhattan has leviathan BIAs, global oligarchs and assorted masters of the universe, an immense tourism industry, plus access to conspicuous amounts of federal and state funding. That and a billionaire mayor who empowered a transportation commissioner and backed her bulldozer moves.

Hamilton has a fractious council, an aloof public works department and a $2 billion infrastructure deficit. But we can always seize on creative workarounds.

They're basically saying, we kind of like this idea enough to do a pilot project of it to see what it's like... but we don't like it enough to go all in so we'll also half ass this project just in case we want to reverse it (ie. Gore Park Promenade). No one is ever willing to go all in and take some risk and leadership.

Case in point. It's hard to imagine hundreds of blocks of greenery being installed at considerable cost when the city has been so half-hearted about executing its established plan for the heart of the core, the Gore.

Kudos to the city too, who all too often are maligned and criticized. They got this one right!

I agree. Let's give them all the positive feedback we can and see if we can keep this ball rolling :)

Actually NYC has done most of their complete streets changes as pilot projects. The Commissioner of Transportation said this in a speech she gave in Mississauga a few years ago, saying that a pilot can be implemented faster "all it takes isa bucket of paint".

great point. I think Hamilton could see rapid change along all of King St, Locke, Main, Wilson and other streets in a few short years by utilizing 'temporary' tree planters as bumpouts. NYC has perfected this art of quick improvements of their urban spaces....which then leads to more permanent changes of substantial nature:

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/04/02/new...

Everyday I see cars screaming down the curb lanes of King East trying to pass 1 car and save 7/10 of a second on their drive home. Putting lives at risk is apparently worth it to enough people to drive this way 365 days a year.

Imagine every single corner along King being outfitted tomorrow with huge tree planters in order to create 24-7 curb parking on both sides, 1 westbound bike lane and 2 full travel lanes (which it's traffic volumes can easily handle).

Not to mention the added trees and greenery are desperately needed along most of our main streets:

http://thevillager.com/villager_387/peda...

It's so simple it hurts.

Even City Councillors and staff would be moved by the transformation that NYC has undergone - stunning pictures.

This spectator article says that the permanent bumpouts aren't a sure thing yet. The city will be installing those temporary white pole things in the shape of a bumpout for a year to monitor traffic changes, accidents, etc and then decide if they will become permanent:

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/323685...

If all they're doing right now is installing those temporary pole things, they should definitely be rolling them out at multiple locations across the inner city so that ALL of them can be reviewed in a years time instead of one of them at one or two locations every few years.

I don't get how Public Works can call those pylons a safety hazard and then put in white poles...

exactly right. I was worried last week when I heard that city hall wanted to meet with the Tactical Urbanists. I can see them tossing up a few plastic bollards, calling it a pilot and then hoping everyone goes away and our plans can collect dust on a shelf with every other progressive plan that's been developed since 1992.

The cheap options with plenty of room to avoid conflict with the status quo are the ones that City Hall will be most enthusiastic about. Especially if it makes them look like heroes in the bargain.

Nihilistic to suggest the receptiveness of City to this is just to quiet the progressives. Mater gets it as the article suggests and change takes time. Persistence. Patience.

you're probably right.
Sometimes the memories of involvement, feedback and wasted public meeting attendance from 1993 (Vision 2020) until now gets the best of me when I realize that every single progressive plan, document or idea that has been worked on by the public is collecting dust on a shelf somewhere at city hall. The optimist in me thinks 'one of these times it will be different'. But the optimist usually gets stomped on by the realist.

I wouldn't want to suggest that at all.

I think this install is a relatively easy fix to implement, one that satisfies a range of constituents and supports a broad range of bottom-line gains at nominal cost. All incredibly helpful.

totally off-topic, but my 'edit' button has gone missing for a few weeks now. Anyone else with this problem?

+1

Awesome! Great to know there are people at city hall willing to listen to people who know the small things that can make big improvements for safety and enjoyment in their own neighbourhoods.

Truth. Those ghost crosswalks should be restored to bright white any day now.

Bumpouts now painted, crosswalks are bigger and have big white bars in them to make them more visible.