Pedestrian Discussion

[matt602]

Meanwhile in Hamilton...

[markbarbera]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

I'm not saying we should follow the city's bad example.

The city needs to prioritize sidewalk clearing on its own property. Whether one person/hour or a hundred use a sidewalk, it's part of the transportation system, and those with mobility issues as well as the younger/older people rely on that network. If they have time to clear Fay Ave then they should have time to clear the city-owned Fay Ave sidewalk. I cleared my elderly neighbour's sidewalk but I don't have the resources to plow the perimeter of the park the next block down, so he can get as far as the corner before having to walk in the street to get to any destination further than a mailbox. That's not appropriate.

This is exactly right. It is another case of leadership by example. I was irked by the city taking to social media to remind homeowners of their responsibility to clear snow within 24 hours of a snowfall when quite often the city is slower than that clearing their own walkways. I am thinking in particular of sidewalks around bus shelters which always seem to take 2-3 days to get cleared properly. A quick pass by a bobcat that leaves banks to scramble over does not qualify as a properly cleared path in my books.

[Pearlstreet]

delete

[thistleclub]

Lack of sidewalks leaves Mountain neighbourhoods out of step with safety: Councillors
(Hamilton Spectator, Teviah Moro, Dec 18 2013)

At one time, Betty Watts didn't worry about walking down her sleepy south Mountain side street.

"You saw the odd car," says Watts, 86.

That was 63 years ago. Since then, the population boomed, more houses sprouted from fields and the traffic exploded.

But there's still no sidewalk on Kennedy Avenue.

"I try to walk on the side of the road, but when the cars come, I have to get over. And sometimes I don't get over. I just stay until they pass," Watts says.

Her subdivision, nestled in a pocket at Rymal Road West and Upper James, ought to have sidewalks, she says. But Watts isn't holding her breath they'll be laid out any time soon.

"I can't see it in my lifetime."

Councillor Terry Whitehead hopes to find the money to make sure that's not the case.

"That's the challenge. There's only a limited capacity to spend."

The city's capital budget for 2014 proposes $900,000 in development charges be spent on new sidewalks, while $500,000 come from city coffers to fund sidewalk maintenance. Councillors could direct as much as $500,000 more from their area rating funds to sidewalk work.

As the city expanded its urban boundaries, Watts' Kennedy-East neighbourhood and others like it were left in the dust, the Whitehead said.

When Mountain subdivisions took root, developers weren't obliged to include sidewalks, and homeowners worried about a higher tax bill to finance them, the Ward 8 councillor noted.

So no money was set aside for sidewalks.

"It was just never built into the capital program," Whitehead said.

But it's not just neighbourhood streets; arterials such as Rymal Road also have long stretches without sidewalks.

Priorities have changed, though, and Whitehead and fellow Mountain councillor Scott Duvall say they're fielding more calls from sidewalk-less constituents than before.

Duvall can only speculate it would cost many millions to bring streets up to par, but he points to the human cost of not addressing the issue: senior citizens and children.

"We're putting them in a dangerous spot," said Duvall, whose Ward 7 includes sidewalk-devoid stretches along and around Upper Sherman and Upper Wellington.

Council recently endorsed a pedestrian mobility plan that hinges on "routine accommodation." It's a strategy that calls for certain considerations — such as sidewalks, benches, bump-outs and crosswalks — with every roadwork project the city undertakes.

This adds between 2 and 7 per cent to the price tag of every roadwork project, an increase city staff says can be covered by development charges.

This has raised the two Mountain councillors' eyebrows. Both are supportive of the mobility plan in principle, but here's the rub: While council pushes pedestrian-friendly makeovers in the lower city, Ward 7 and 8 neighbourhoods have waited years for sidewalks.

[SteelTown]

Yea they really need to start adding sidewalks at West and Central Mountain. Some have sidewalks but on only one side of the road.

It was just recently they added sidewalks along Stone Church from Upper James to Garth.

One area that desperately needs sidewalks is Mohawk and West 5th, along the front of Auchmar.

[ScreamingViking]

Here's an interesting video about a town in England that transformed its core by totally breaking with conventional wisdom about street design.

• Video Link

[Dr Awesomesauce]

I'm open to these ideas, though I sometimes find it hard to wrap my head around. Seems quite similar to the naked streets concept.

[HillStreetBlues]

Not sure if anyone else saw this: Stoney Creek resident battles City over sidewalks

It reminded me very much of the article a few weeks ago (by Dreschel, I think) in which suburban councillors protested against walkability infrastructure improvements in downtown on the grounds that some of their streets don’t have sidewalks at all. Well, here’s the municipal government trying to install sidewalks and one of the residents wasting workers’ time (our money) because she doesn’t want to shovel the snow, and was under the impression that that was her property.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by HillStreetBlues

Not sure if anyone else saw this: Stoney Creek resident battles City over sidewalks

It reminded me very much of the article a few weeks ago (by Dreschel, I think) in which suburban councillors protested against walkability infrastructure improvements in downtown on the grounds that some of their streets don’t have sidewalks at all. Well, here’s the municipal government trying to install sidewalks and one of the residents wasting workers’ time (our money) because she doesn’t want to shovel the snow, and was under the impression that that was her property.

Did you actually read the article.Where in the article does it state that she doesn't want to shovel snow. From the sounds of it her main concerns are environmental. The councillor for the area, Brad Clark, supports the sidewalks as do most of the residents. You are trying to make an argument where there isn't one.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

Did you actually read the article.Where in the article does it state that she doesn't want to shovel snow. From the sounds of it her main concerns are environmental. The councillor for the area, Brad Clark, supports the sidewalks as do most of the residents. You are trying to make an argument where there isn't one.

Did you actually read the article. It states in the twelfth paragraph (why do I have to read it for you?): “She says many residents bought their homes because there were no sidewalks to shovel in winter.”

Not too long ago, suburban councillors were telling us “We just want sidewalks, please,” trying to create a false choice between walkability enhancements in the core and investment in sidewalks in the suburbs. Here, we have someone in one of those suburbs being given a sidewalk, and actually disrupting construction. It’s one person, and I wondered why it was newsworthy as well, but they have a few residents quoted as being against the most basic of infrastructure, which seems odd to me.

And the municipal government evidently capitulated in this case, jogging the sidewalk in front of her lot specifically to eliminate the boulevard so that her garden could be larger. I’m not sure what argument you might have thought I was making, but I argue that that is not a good response to someone wasting tax dollars by parking an SUV in a construction zone.

[thistleclub]

There are various standards brought to bear on easement plantings – in Ward 1, Bond & Marion's vision triangles are obscured in-season while comparatively modest easement plantings on Sterling between Cline and Haddon have been uprooted by the City – but there should be a clear, fair policy/protocol to resolve these conflicts.

A serpentine street like Donn would presumably benefit from taking pedestrians out of the laneway. That appears to be the City's goal. As for the environmental concerns, Ms. Valiani's house backs onto a sizeable park, part of a ravine system running from Devil's Punch Bowl to Centennial Park that contains no impervious surfaces. In terms of historical precedent, here’s GoogleStreetview of her front yard in April 2012 (and earlier). Maybe the City could rent her the easement, she could treat the expense as an in-kind donation to Monarch Watch and the revenues might pay for snow clearance for her neighbours.

[markbarbera]

I believe this entire discussion is not being held in proper context. I don't think the issue has to do with whether or not the neighbourhood wanted a sidewalk, it is one individual upset because her butterfly garden was ruined for a sidewalk. In the end, the sidewalk was installed (curbside in front of her home, and boulevard-style for the rest of the neighbourhood). While she does state that "many neighbours" don't want to shovel snow, one must remember that is an anecdotal comment not reinforced by supporting statements from her neighbours. It would have been interesting to see if her sentiment was shared by any of her neighbours. Given the ultimate solution, she would seem to be rather alone in her objection to a sidewalk.

For further clarification, Valiani did not say her neighbours didn't want sidewalks because they would have to shovel snow, she said her neighbours didn't want to have to shovel snow themselves and would like the same snow-clearing service provided to Ancaster residents.

[HillStreetBlues]

True that there’s no way to know if the subject of the article is accurately representing any of her neighbours. Her comments are hearsay.

Her “environmental concerns” are a complete joke. A sidewalk is a fraction of the width of a street…if she’s concerned about impervious surfaces, it would do a lot more good to choose almost any material than asphalt to pave the driveway for her vehicle.

The article does quote another “anti-sidewalk” neighbour, but I must say I don’t understand his comment that “"If you don't put asphalt down with a barrier beside it, it will always crumble. We're wasting our money.”

I’m not sure how newsworthy this really was for the Spec. I only brought it up to indicate that there are people who can twist things in their own minds to the extent that denying pedestrians the minimum amount of safe infrastructure in suburban neighbourhoods seems to be the environmentally responsible thing to do. And who feel sufficiently entitled that they’ll disrupt attempts to provide that basic infrastructure.

[bigguy1231]

Originally Posted by HillStreetBlues

Did you actually read the article. It states in the twelfth paragraph (why do I have to read it for you?): “She says many residents bought their homes because there were no sidewalks to shovel in winter.”

Not too long ago, suburban councillors were telling us “We just want sidewalks, please,” trying to create a false choice between walkability enhancements in the core and investment in sidewalks in the suburbs. Here, we have someone in one of those suburbs being given a sidewalk, and actually disrupting construction. It’s one person, and I wondered why it was newsworthy as well, but they have a few residents quoted as being against the most basic of infrastructure, which seems odd to me.

And the municipal government evidently capitulated in this case, jogging the sidewalk in front of her lot specifically to eliminate the boulevard so that her garden could be larger. I’m not sure what argument you might have thought I was making, but I argue that that is not a good response to someone wasting tax dollars by parking an SUV in a construction zone.

My point is she didn't specifically say she didn't want to shovel snow. You are trying to make an argument where there is no argument. She raised concerns, the concern was addressed and the sidewalks are being installed. Everyone else seems to be in favour of the sidewalks including the local councillor.

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by bigguy1231

She raised concerns, the concern was addressed and the sidewalks are being installed.

She raised baseless concerns, the municipal government allowed her to disrupt construction at cost to us, and then they compromised by changing the position of the sidewalk for no good reason.

[markbarbera]

If the basis of her concern was the needless destruction of her butterfly garden, it may seem baseless to those who see a butterfly garden as nothing more than some quirky, frivilous personal aesthetic choice. For those who have a genuine concern for the various endangered species of butterflies in Ontario and the impact this is having on the province's biodiversity, and by extension, the implications on the interruption of natural pollination patterns in the Niagara Fruit Belt, her concern is not baseless, and the added expense of rejigging the sidewalk to preserve the butterfly garden not really for no good reason.

http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butt...ervation_e.php

http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.ph...&lang=en&id=55

http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.ph...&lang=en&id=57

http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/risk.ph...lang=en&id=149

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

If the basis of her concern was the needless destruction of her butterfly garden, it may seem baseless to those who see a butterfly garden as nothing more than some quirky, frivilous personal aesthetic choice...

Promoting the vegetation that butterflies and bees use as their habitat is important. I actually have a garden that includes a lot of these native species. It is on my own property.

[thistleclub]

Safety concerns lead to pedestrian crossing light on Upper Sherman
(Hamilton Mountain News, July 29 2014)

A new pedestrian crossing is up and running on Upper Sherman at Burkholder Drive.

East Mountain councillor Tom Jackson said he and neighbouring councillor Scott Duvall were petitioned by Mount Hamilton Youth Soccer Club to help youth safely cross to Macassa Park.

MHYSC has about 4,000 young players in leagues that operate at the park.

The cost of the lights was paid out of Jackson’s Ward 6 area rating fund.

[HillStreetBlues]

It’s that time of year again, and the snow is falling in Hamilton. I wanted to remind everyone that Hamilton’s by-laws make clearing snow from sidewalks the responsibility of the owners or occupants of buildings adjacent. This must be done within 24 hours of a snowfall.

If there’s a property owner who is not clearing snow off the sidewalk in front of his or her property, the only way that the City of Hamilton can effectively enforce the by-law is to receive complaints about the property. To register a complaint about a property that has not cleared its snow 24 hours after a snow fall, you can use the City of Hamilton’s online form, call 905-546-2782, or e-mail mle@hamilton.ca.

Everyone deserves a sidewalk that is safe to travel on, but it’s of particular importance to older people; children; and people with mobility issues. These people already have large barriers to getting out of the house and taking an active role in the community, and it can be an even bigger challenge during wintertime. For better or worse, the City of Hamilton has made clearing sidewalks a shared responsibility, and we all need to make sure it’s performed.

When I posted this last year, a few people commented that the municipality itself does a poor job of clearing snow from sidewalks adjacent to their own properties. I spoke with folks at property standards last year about a few different locations where the City was not clearing snow quickly, and they seemed to welcome the feedback. By all means, complain, and they will be prioritized. Otherwise, they will assume no one cares. It’s a poor system, but it’s the one we currently need to work within, and it really is important that the sidewalks be safe for everyone at all times of year.

[king10]

unless you live in ancaster