Raise the Hammer

It was virtually impossible to walk anywhere yesterday without using the roads in lieu of sidewalks. Even in the BIAs where the city clears the sidewalks, the sweepers left an inch of solid ice behind them. Meanwhile, the roads were largely dry and clear.

Lest we forget that every person enters and leaves the world a pedestrian, and every driver starts and finishes every trip a pedestrian.

The city's priorities are completely out of whack, and sadly, I think the only method which has a chance of waking them up is litigation.

No roads in the city feel as dangerous to me as mountain roads. The push for complete streets will likely make its greatest impact in the suburbs, where stroads abound, where sidewalks are neglible and neglected, and where crosswalks (sans zebra crossings) are calibrated to the gait of twentysomethings. Seniors and those with mobility challenges are at a severe disadvantage at the best of times. And winter is not that.

If it's too expensive to build sidewalks in an area, then it's too expensive to develop. Either the city is charging the developers insufficient development fees, or they're frittering the money away, or they should have blocked these construction projects and told the developers to go somewhere that already had water and sidewalks.

As per the Planning Act, cities can't charge the full cost of sidewalks to developers.

I don't mean that sidewalks should be a separate line-item on the development fees, just that the development fees in these low-density areas may be too low in general if the city can't cover expenses like sidewalks.

There should be WAY more courtesy crossings than exist. You're NOT going to space traffic lights a kilometer apart and have people obeying them.

The city warned that it's running out of salt, and the winter is continuing unabated. Surfaces are likely to be less treated for the remainder of the winter - more sand, less salt, and more side streets will go without.

Be very careful, our roads are as forgiving as railway tracks. A huge metal projectile will sever your body parts if you intrude into live lanes. Which you have to do if you want to cross the street. With polished ice sidewalks beside them.

So remember folks, living in your neighborhood requires the same safety precautions as working in Stelco or National Steelcar. Vehicles cannot be expected to stop, slow down, or even brake. High visibility vests, steel toe boots, crash helmets, a 10 foot tall high visibility flag, are highly recommended if visiting the variety store for milk. Children should not be allowed outside, only driven to designated recreation shelters. Don't forget that tobogganing is prohibited in this city.

Okay, above hyperbole aside ... at least the police are honest in that we've chosen to build in a manner that places us responsible for our own safety. If you make a mistake, you die. Mountain goats don't get a second chance if they slip and fall off a cliff. We city build the same.

Or they could save some money but trimming their 5-lane roadways down to 3, and add wide sidewalks everywhere with a tree-planting boulevard next to the roadway.

"No roads in the city feel as dangerous to me as mountain roads."

I really dislike this generalization, which I see on RTH quite a bit about the Mountain. I live in the area between Concession and Quuensdale, near Upper Wentworth. I have never felt any road in my neighbourhood is dangerous. I bike, walk, shop on Concession for virtually everything I need, have my doctor and dentist on Concession, and am even getting bike lanes on Queensdale. My Mountain area is just as livable and walkable as any area of the lower city

Please stop generalizing all of the Mountain as the same. My experience is completely different than that of someone who lives out near Rymal in terms of walkability, pedestrian safety, and livability in general.

I get really tired of seeing backhanded slaps against the Mountain as a whole on here. I recall someone saying several months ago, in response to Olive and Kiwi opening up on Scenic Drive, that it was "like an oasis on the Mountain" - come on.

It wasn't any of the above. The developers fronting on Rymal Rd would have paid their proportionate share of the urbanization of the road at the time of development, however the City has chosen to wait indefinitely to complete the work within the right-of-way. It's been on their radar since 2006 however for whatever reason the City continues to delay complete reconstruction and has chosen to piecemeal it bit by bit as required between Dartnell Rd and Hwy 20.

Sorry, that should have been in reply to Pxtl's first comment.

agree 100%. Tax generation is way too low as well. Higher densities and mixed-uses in new developments will start to benefit the city instead of hurting it.

Apologies for the slight. I should have been more specific: From the vantage point of a pedestrian, no arterials in the city feel as desolate or dangerous to me as those located south of Fennell. (Note the "feel" and "me" – I mean for these to be understood as subjective valuations.)

FWIW, I lived for many years on the Mountain, but am still someone who believes that there is abundant appeal in Mountain communities, particularly those north of Fennell. The streets off Concession date to the 1930s and earlier, and the scale of those neighbourhoods is, IMHO, the legacy of a more humane age of development, before cars became ubiquitous.

*It's not that the area south of Fennell is lacking in neighbourhood-level ap peal, just that its main streets tend not to have been designed with pedestrians/cyclists in mind, a choice that has not been without consequence.

On Mohawk Road you can't even pull your vehicle out of your driveway without receiving horn blasts if you're not done before the wave catches up. They're fast streets those mountain arterials.

Just want to share a minor and momentary incident this morning, but very much on topic.

Biking up Dundurn this morning, a woman with a cane was walking in the right lane ahead of me, and looked like she was going to step out in front of me. But it didn't look like she was crossing - she was only a step from the crosswalk, but standing in the lane looking confused.

The color of her cane, plus what looked to me like a confused expression, prompted me to stop. For a second it looked like a blind person had wandered into the roadway, so my reflexes reacted as such.

So, being on a bicycle, I was able to stop on a dime and ask if she was alright and if she was aware she was walking in the roadway; would have been trivial to assist and get her back on the sidewalk. She responded and everything was fine, so there was nothing left to do but carry on.

During this 10 seconds of a simple, inconsequential act of making sure a vulnerable pedestrian wasn't disoriented in traffic, the car behind me decided to ... guess what? Lay on the horn!

Yes folks, the neanderthal in the chariot behind me, did the only thing those primitives know how to do, when faced with an unexpected situation on the road. Get angry and honk that humans have unexpected issues sometimes and a 'safety stop' is required from a driver as a courtesy. I wish I had a photo of the vehicle to post here for public shaming.

In general, I find the drivers in Hamilton are way too quick to honk and often for ridiculous reasons. It amazes me the level of impatience, especially considering the vast amount of road capacity and overall high rate of speed afforded to Hamilton drivers. My best guess is it is the frustration caused by people heading to or coming from their eventual epic commute - maybe they just don't know how good they have it compared to the GTA.

I did a quick search to understand how many pedestrians are killed each year by vehicles and found the following information from Toronto.

In 2007 a study was completed reviewing the number of pedestrian fatalities due to pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions. Over the 2002/2003 period there were 92 fatalities in Toronto. That’s roughly 1 death every 8 days.

It seems that there are strong vehicle centric cultural influences that impact this issue. If the statistics in Hamilton are of a similar scale perhaps there is a way to better highlight this issue here and work towards changing the perceptions that seem to be hindering progress.

Thanks for the clarification. The Concession area is such a great neighbourhood. Last I heard, Concession is to be re-constructed in 2015- I can only hope we get some bike lanes (although not holding my breath).

Thanks Ryan. I just wanted to say as well that you wrote a great column for The Spec. I think a lot of Mountain folks would be well served to read that end to end. Like you said - when the urban core of a city thrives, we all win.

Wanted to point you in the direction of the latest facepalm today, though - a project that will actually increase density on the Mountain is being delayed by 'neighbourhood concerns' - oy. Can't post the link, but it was just posted on the Spec site: "Traffic concerns defer condo vote".

Really? I hope they get rid of the stupid ramps at the top of jolley. It's a pedestrian nightmare.

That sounds great - I was sad to see Concession go the way of payday-loan shops and boarded up buildings back when I was in highschool. Anybody remember Bayshore Hobbies' location up there with the bank of pay-per-minute Playstations? Sad that didn't pan out.

Looks like these days it's become an extension of Juravinski, which is better but still not exactly a vibrant community.

Concession really is the old "Downtown North Mountain", and has gone the way of most downtowns.

Comment edited by Pxtl on 2014-02-05 11:19:08