I attended the city consultation gathering at the Alliance Church. The city planners talk of a bike lane and sidewalk for 25th Street. What alarms me is their solutions to fix 25th Street’s issues for the few bike riders and walkers is to stop all drivers heading south or north on 25th Street at 32nd, 39th and 43rd avenues from driving straight through the intersection and no left-turns in any direction.
They call this traffic calming. Some people think people are using 25th Street to avoid 27th Street, I have lived in this neighbourhood for 48 years.
There is a little more traffic but we have more people living in this neighbourhood. The city has allowed more family homes to be built and more secondary suites in single-family homes. Therefore, more cars mean more traffic.
These neighbours need 25th Street as our through street to get to the grocery stores and other amenities we use in our community. After 27th Street, our next through street is Pleasant Valley Road.
Their plan makes it very difficult to get into or out of our neighbourhood.
25th Street is also, and always has been, a fire lane. Are our emergency vehicles supposed to zig-zag through our streets to get to a house fire or a heart attack victim? Would you buy a house in a neighbourhood that was hard to access? This will devalue the sale of our homes and increase our house insurance premiums.
This plan will serve about half a per cent of the population. What about the other 99 per cent of property-taxpaying citizens and renters? Certainly not a democratic plan. The city’s solution lacks common sense.
We the people of this community no longer trust the people that run it.
20th Street is a prime example of how the citizens who pay their wages are heard. A long overdue sidewalk on 25th Street will solve the walker’s problem. Pedestrian-operated lights with crosswalks will make it safe to cross 32nd, 39th and 43rd avenues.
The issue of drivers speeding was a concern voiced by many. We have speeders every where in this town no matter what street. Blocking an intersection will not fix speeders. Citizens taking down their license numbers and colour of car and reporting these people to the RCMP will slow them down.
As I expressed at this event, from the mayor on down to those who sit at a desk or are labourers, they are our employees and we are their employers.
We, through our property taxes, pay their wages.
All we want is a common sense approach that works for everyone, but just a select few.
R. Haskivich
Vernon
