Comment 102353

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted June 11, 2014 at 17:07:55 in reply to Comment 102352

I think the paradigm is slowly changing, and it is changing because the Ward 1 and 2 councillors have been supportive, the attitude among staff is slowly beginning to shift (and some very good people have been hired recently), and the community is becoming more active and demanding change rather than just politely asking and hoping someone will eventually get around to it (think Cannon bike lane, 30km/h North End zone and tactical urbanism).

I don't think it is helpful or practical to try to change the attitude of everyone all over the city before pushing for change in the neighbourhoods that want it. But I don't really think we really need to since no one actually wants their own neighbourhood to have dangerous high speed traffic and street designs that make walking uncomfortable and challenging.

The main message to the rest of Hamilton needs to be that Durand (and other lower city neighbourhoods) are also densely populated residential neighbourhoods and that this is what the residents want, it will be good overall for downtown (including economically), and please ask your own councillor to be supportive (and I'm sure our councillors will support your efforts, just as they did for Wilson street. But there needs to be some trust that the residents have a pretty good idea of what's needed, especially groups like the DNA that have studied this issue for decades.

The participatory budget process has also been very helpful in Wards 1 and 2 as it has removed the "but there's no money" argument.

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2014-06-11 17:09:21

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds