Raise the Hammer

The DNA is over 40 years old: it is one of the oldest neighbourhood associations in Ontario. It is, as far as I know, the only organized voice of Durand (and has been for at least the past 17 years) and is recognized as such by our Councillor who regularly meets with the six neighbourhood associations in Ward 2. It is the only ward 2 neighbourhood association that has survived continuously, without breaks, splits or reconstitution.

The DNA has also been remarkably consistent in its support for two-way reversion and street calming for the past 40 years (read the Durand Chronicle which gives the history of the DNA for examples). This shows very consistent and strong support for these policies by the community given the annual change in membership of the board and membership at large. Remember that any resident can join the DNA for a few dollars: you do not have to own property.

With hundreds of members, a long history, and a depth of expertise on these issues stemming from its personal and institutional memory, it is just irresponsible and disrespectful to brush off the DNA as "not the only voice"!

It IS the only organized voice, has been for 40 years, and the message the DNA has heard from the vast majority of the community is that the streets of Durand need calming. That was the message from the public meetings around the 2002 Traffic Study and that is the message today. Of course, not every single resident agrees, but the vast majority who take the time to make their views known do!

In fact, even those who opposed the two-way reversion of Bold and Duke did not do so because "There's no need to fix what's broken" or because they wanted to drive fast. They opposed it because they felt traffic conditions were already dangerous and they were concerned two-way might make it worse (mistakenly I believe). They did want something to be done, but they were fearful about two-ways since they couldn't visualize how traffic would move.

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2015-06-17 09:36:13