Raise the Hammer

Hi Rusty;

There is no focus on purely road networks for me, but nor can the banning of expressways which happen to pass through a ravine to socially reverse engineer a city/economy work either.People are going to build a house or home where then can afford it.An expressway will enable them to get from A to B with least amount of environmental impact.People do not buy cars based on roads made or not made but how they can be employed with the least amount of costs v income.

I agree IF the comapnies move here because the City makes it business freindly and liveable, that would be ideal...

The FACT is they are not at this moment but going elsewhere.That is a separate issue than the one at hand.Unless there is a guarantee of employers coming and which can measurable impact the need for said RHCE, which there is not..I can gurarantee that growth will continue and traffic and pollution will far exceed the impact of the expressway



"Jon's point was simply stating that because we now have a new road network we will now get more car-dependant housing and industry because of it. It will facilitate 'more of the same' type growth and will leave us with the same car congestion problem later down the road. Without the road this kind of growth would have been stifled and viable alternatives would have had to 'magically' appear (if it's magic then I guess towns like Portland and Boston and Toronto must be Never-never land...). "

If you are using these 3 cities as examples, perhaps better not to.If you notice the traffic is starting to flow out of Toronto outskirts to the suburbs now alsong with the companies... on these same expressways)

All I am saying is what we have is a fact..congestion,pollution,wasted resources, productivity from the worst of all things ..Car Traffic Jams.Needless needless waste.

What we have is a solution to move that problem and reduce its impact from sitting burning fuels going nowhere to to get somewhere needed.

In order to create the roadless highway is not reality unless we start from scatch or have the govenment socially engineer the citizens and economies of cities. (ie if you live at "A" you must work at this "A" location)


"If nothing else, consider this: do you think it is possible for a person to live somewhere where they can have a variety of employment options within a reasonable transit commute from their home? This is the town we want Hamilton to be. If you don't think this is possible then we'll never be on the same page. "

This is indeed what I "want it to be".But what you want is a Utopia.. not what blocking 1 expressway will deliver simply because it is an expressway.You cant force people to live and work in the City even the the jobs are there.

What disheartens me is the all or nothing view of Environmentalists gone wild.. much like Capitalists gone wild.If it involves a car or road it must be evil.I am talking about practicality and reality.

The RHCE was the right decision INHO.It was also right that Environmentalsists held developers feet to the fire to act responsibly..in the end both were not happy to some degree. An example that it worked.