Raise the Hammer

i don't really understand the resistance by council to this obviously easy remedy for the core. the spec daily poll the other day showed that even spec readers support limiting truck traffic on many routes.

who are councillors trying to appease? do trucking companies really donate that much money to campaigns? even i can't believe that council deliberately keeps downtown crappy to raise housing prices in the suburbs to prop up developers' profit margins.

The fact of the matter is it's not necessarily that they're trying to appease anything. It's the same problem with this as anything else...status quo. Our city council is famously lazy and outdated!

even i can't believe that council deliberately keeps downtown crappy to raise housing prices in the suburbs to prop up developers' profit margins.

When you see such blatantly horrible decisions you can't help but wonder.

Frank's right, our councillors outside of Bratina and McHattie only want to stay in office and keep the city so mediocre that we'll expect nothing better from them. Check out this other gem from CATCH: http://www.hamiltoncatch.org/view_article.php?id=775

Can someone please explain to me what the city's position is on this, since I can't seem to find it here or on the CATCH website? And what is the preferred option of the anti-truck advocates? Seems to me that any attempt to get trucks off some streets will only push them to other streets, and I can't see how mandating trucks use the Linc/RHV is enforceable.

I prefer to view myself as pro-Hamilton, pro-business, pro-quality of life, pro-economy, pro-best place to raise a child, pro-changing Hamilton's image instead of 'anti-truck'.

So is the goal to get a truck-free downtown through this ongoing Truck Route Master Plan process this time around (i.e. now)? Or is this more of a long-term, thing? I mean, it'd be great to not hear air-brakes on John St. anymore, but you're talking about a pretty revolutionary move here. Has this pro-Hamilton, pro-business, pro-quality of life coalition presented some incremental option during the Study that was ignored, or is that what resulted in the 18mo trial on those 4 roads?

What the hell do we need an "incremental option" for? RHVP has been open for over 2 and 1/2 years now, there's NO reason not to get the trucks the hell out of our neighborhoods TODAY. Either this city cares about it's neighborhoods or it doesn't, there's no middle ground.

There's NOTHING "revolutionary" about goddam TRANSPORT TRUCKS not being allowed to short cut though city neighbourhoods. NOTHING.

Stop making excuses for them.

Yeah I'm pretty mad about this.

Comment edited by nobrainer on 2010-06-08 14:08:34

Wow, nobrainer, I certainly hope you bring that enthusiasm to your elected representatives--it's bound to convince them!

Now I remember why I stopped asking simple questions of you folks. Thanks Ryan, for the info you did offer. I'll try figuring out the rest myself.

Comment edited by Borrelli on 2010-06-08 14:14:02

I don't understand the comment about incremental change. Should we allow trucks on Main only to Catharine and then have them divert to the Linc for 2 years before having them use the Linc full time?? The infrastructure is built. Let's use it.

Nobrainer, you should be mad. We all should. This is complete insanity.

@borrelli no one likes a quisling.

Maybe there shuld a concerted effort to get a rally going and take it to city hall. I am sure the neighbourhood groups can network together to get citizens invovled.

Sometimes, a show of PEOPLE POWER is what will get in the MSM.

Perhaps it's coincidental, but it seems to me that Hamilton has been in economic decline for roughly about the same amount of time it has had one-way streets throughout.

If downtown is such a good place to run trucks, why are all new, viable industrial parks located along perimeter highways?

The through-truck economic argument ignores the advice of folks like Richard Florida, to make communities liveable in order to attract the entrepreneurial intelligencia who will create local businesses. The truck transpo plan is more a dream about attracting big employers from someplace else. Dunno, but I don't hear much talk by Chinese industrialists hoping to relocate into South Ont. Has GM announced a post-recession expansion plan I haven't heard about? Could be I'm out of the loop though.

And it's not as though I'm widely travelled, but I'm trying to think of a busy commercial street I've been on that had 18 wheelers rumbling by two a minute. Not Queen St. Toronto. Not St. Laurent or Ste. Catharine in Montreal. Not The Miracle Mile in Chicago. Nope, not coming up with any, but I'll keep an eye and ear out. Maybe city planners could start a write-in campaign: "Tell us about the attractive and busy commercial and residential streets that supported heavy big-truck traffic in cities you have visited (pictures appreciated.)" Would make a nice column on RTH. Don't wanna move on that too quickly though.