Comment 108639

By MissingPartOfTheStory (registered) | Posted January 31, 2015 at 13:30:04 in reply to Comment 108637

I'm glad to hear that you gave such pitches in the suburbs. You can expect people to research what you've done, but I don't think that's a reasonable expectation. When you're trying to convince other people of your position especially.

I didn't 'just miss' all the parts about the economic and social benefits to the entire city. I'm talking about the non-stop negativity. Look at the average article on Raise The Hammer, the urbanist tweets on #HamOnt, or the dissidents Facebook group. It's all so negative, almost all the time. Forgive me if I somehow 'missed' all the parts about economic and social benefits to the entire city.

In contrast to downtown, which is supposed to be a daily destination for the entire city, Ancaster is a suburb. You can't (while maintaining a credible and cohesive position) say that in some instances that benefit downtown it's ok to treat suburbs differently than the downtown, but in other instances that disadvantage downtown it's not ok to to treat suburbs differently than downtown. You want downtown to be different? To be the centre? Fine, me too, that's OK. But then you can also expect suburban voters to expect to have a say, and for them to go ahead and have that say.

The angry language is not a 'natural result' of anything. People have agency. They can choose how they react and how to behave. They can be encouraged by leaders like you to behave that way too, if you choose to lead at that level you wish to observe in others. Some of the behaviour in council chambers during the bus lane vote was nauseating.

And if anger is somehow a 'natural result', should suburban voters than not be justifiably angry when their commute is impacted? Of course not. We should, and do, expect them to be grown-ups and realize that a bike lane on Cannon adding a minute to their commute is for a greater good.

Most higher order transit systems evolved out of a need to deal with traffic. I'm sure you can find examples where some engaged citizens groups may take some kind of credit, but the driving need behind these systems traffic. That's why we're going to get Go Transit before we get LRT - need, not want.

Viva Rapid Transit in York Region would be one example of a balanced approach to transit that didn't come out of engaged citizens in an urban core (there isn't even really an urban core). It came out of a need to deal with traffic.

Taking credit, making noise, investing your time in causes, does not necessarily make you or others like you responsible for the end goals achieved.

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