Raise the Hammer

Makes sense, but why not get into publicly owned rail? What is the cost of building, maintaining the rail system, rail cars, and outfits such as the one image I linked to above, to load and unload the trailers onto the rail beds, compared to building highways, maintaining them, widening them, widening them, repairing them, traffic jams, light bright signs to tell us roads are jammed like they are every morning that are often not up-to-date. What more importantly, are the unknown long-term costs of jeopardizing the land, farms, nature, etc. that is required to build these roads?

If using rail to transport trailers is expensive, maybe there needs to be more competition.

What about building up such a network that provides multiple options to transport via rail, and then creating a law to get trucks off the roads? What about tolls on all highways for just trucks?

I'm picking on trucking above but I'd rather actually see as I have hammered on about before, more local jobs and getting 1 and 2 passenger vehicles off the roads. The recent summit to encourage business to invest west, in Toronto this past week is a good place to start.

Perhaps sell our own Tourism in such a way as well, that reminds locals how many entertainment and recreation options are right here in our hometown. Like listening to Y108 plug the Mauraders playoff game this Saturday at 4:30pm at Ron Joyce Stadium. Not that this city isn't alive with promotion of local already but we just can't say 'no I don't want a highway'. We need solutions for the reasoning behind wanting to build these roadways and one might be to get people to stay 'home'.

Or why can't I set up an office in my child's school so I can also volunteer there. Takes a load of the education system, get's me off the major roadways, taking away travel time and allowing more time to be involved in my community.

Whether this is make-work, job creation, a way to help tourism, or to help our neighbors like Welland hit hard with the loss of manufacturing jobs who require better ways to get their citizens to jobs whether it's a increased road capacity to connect to the QEW (or Hamilton and area via a road system), or more importantly the GO extending to Niagara.

Whatever all the reasons are, we need to hit them with alternatives and if they say privately owned, question why there aren't publicly owned options. Not saying others haven't already done this but if 21-0 opposition of Halton Council isn't enough, let's help them sell against it. Then hopefully they will in turn help, us sell against the portion that will cut across the upper crust of Hamilton.

Another question: Why wasn't Hamilton council represented at that meeting? It's planned to cut through Flamborough.

Comment edited by lawrence on 2012-10-30 14:33:41