Quote:
Originally Posted by Drybrain
All we have to do is look at the Cogswell to see an area where literally thousands of people were displaced by government fiat to accomodate auto infrastructure. Smaller-scale examples of that can be found across the region, and larger examples in other cities. Some American cities were more or less dismantled for the purposes of running expressways through them. That's not explicitly the fault of cars so much as poor planning--but our societal over-enthusiasm for car infrastructure resulted in the degradation and in many cases total elimination of entire communities. That's not an exaggeration.
Probably hundreds of houses were torn down over the decades to make way for streetscapes that look like this, or this, or this, or this, or this. Every other block has one of these in some areas, and there are a couple where entire blocks have been largely razed and converted to garages. It's strange enough that I had a friend visiting from out-of-town last year remark upon all the "car businesses" in the neighbourhood, and she wasn't a super-urbanist type who would be attuned to that sort of thing. It's not normal to have this many garages and parking lots and so forth littered across a single neighbourhood.
I'm not saying there was any plot to do so, but it was an unfortunate consequence of the under-valuing of urban neighbourhoods and the aforementioned enthusiasm for all things automobile.
No one wants to force anyone to do anything, that's a red herring. The idea is to create more infrastructure for other road users as well and create alternatives, especially at the level of individual neighbourhoods, or adjoining neighbourhoods. If cars have gotten 95 percent of the road space and infrastructure spending over the past half-century, any change in that status quo may appear to be a "war" on the car, but it's just providing more choice. And sure, it will probably mean people's drive time may be lengthened or their convenience mildly curtailed, but that's in the interest of rebalancing things, and creating more convenience, efficiency--and more importantly, safety--for people who choose other modes of transport.
And let's not forget that most people who are cyclists and pedestrians are also drivers. Most people who advocate for cycling infrastructure aren't trying to induce some large-scale social-engineering project to force everyone out of cars and make bikes the dominant means of transportation. This is a false notion. But a city of Halifax's size and compactness (centrally speaking, and in the inner suburbs) can easily become the kind of place where a very substantial percentage of trips happen by bike. Compare to Victoria, where seven percent of commuters cycle to work. That's a city in most ways not much different than Halifax. And seven percent of all trips, not just commuting, happen by bicycle in the city (not CMA) of Vancouver, up from four percent in 2013.
Those cities have less severe winters, but we can look at cities like Ottawa and Winnipeg and Montreal, with longer and/or colder winters than Halifax, and see even better numbers. In some parts of central Montreal, fully one-fifth of trips are by bicycle, and in some parts of Winnipeg, around 15 percent. For that matter, 10 percent of commuting trips originating in the South End already happen by bike. There's plenty of room to expand and improve those numbers throughout the regional centre, which will reduce pollution, reduce congestion, etc. |
True enough about Cogswell specifically, as it was part of the failed Harbour Drive project, but generally the 'slum clearance' actions of the 1950s and 1960s weren't just about automobile infrastructure. For example, a large part of the building clearance was done to create a downtown shopping centre, Scotia Square, which specifically was built to bolster the downtown area in an urban sense.
I can't say I know the histories of all the properties you listed, but I had previously found photos from the
Halifax Municipal Archives site, showing that an industrial-type business (Cousins - I'm not sure of the nature of their business, but there is a smoke stack visible in the pic) had occupied at least part of the Scotia Chev site you showed. You'll also notice that the Irving station in the picture has been reclaimed for residential - a large apartment/condo building now resides there. See below:
My point about the businesses is that there was a perceived need for them, so the businesses were created. Where they ended up is related to other factors - perhaps the north end, being somewhat of a run down neighborhood in the 1960s/70s was chosen because the city had more lax zoning laws, or perhaps the land was cheap. I don't know that answer to that.
I will say that the neighbourhood where I grew up, in the old section of Dartmouth (hence my forum name), had many auto-related businesses very close to where I lived. From what I remember, people in the neighbourhood liked having those businesses nearby as they could drop off their cars for repair and walk back home. I don't ever recall thinking they were a blight to the neighbourhood. FWIW, just about every one of those businesses have closed over the years and the land used for a residential building.
I don't want to pry, but I am curious as to whether you would have the same opinion of those businesses if they had not been automotive-related businesses? It's not unusual for houses to be torn down to build a business or converted to a business when the zoning allows, so I am wondering where the strong opposition is coming from. Maybe I'm missing something?
The "red herring" was really just me being sarcastic - sorry for that. As you can see by my previous posts, I do support the cycling infrastructure, but I also prefer a situation where everybody is respectful of the 'other side'. Cars aren't going anywhere soon, and I applaud the resurgence of cycling (I used to cycle quite a bit many years ago, until work and family life made it mostly impractical), but I wish we could all just see the other side in a kinder light. I prefer a no-BS atmosphere where loaded opinions don't rule the roost.
I hope I was able to express my opinions well enough so that everybody understands where I'm coming from.
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