"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Saturday 22 September 2012

The Many Twists and Turnes of Politics.

Buses trunle around town regularly carrying no-one but the driver. 
At night, inthe dark,I think of a movie I saw when I was a child ,around about the time of SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs. It was  called The Legend of  Sleepy Hollow with a  headless horseman galloping  wildly through the forest terrorizing all who saw him.
It's hard  to see there's  a driver in the bus , let alone passengers.
A couple of years ago, Council was notified a bus  run on Industrial Parkway was  to be  cancelled.
Councillor Gaertner objected.
Council referred the matter to the Chamber of Commerce. They objected. . 
It was cancelled. We never noticed or heard from anyone inconvenienced by the cancellation. 
Since then, concrete pads  of different sizes have been laid at bus stops that  I never knew  were there. Never saw a passenger waiting or walking . Never saw a person dismounting from a bus. .
If there are any, I believe we can be assured they are being transported  by bus. They are not walking.
Nevertheless  we are  to build sidewalks on both sides of  Industrial Parkway to connect  the  concrete pad bus stops. . 
The project is so huge it must  be undertaken in four phases. 
The last figure I heard was $2 million.
One hundred and forty street trees  will  be removed from our urban forest to make way for  concrete sidewalks for  invisible pedestrians and  passengers  transported  by heavily subsidized  buses driven by  a  lonely  bus driver.
The  trees  to be  destroyed  are  probably along the road that services Sheppard's Bush on one side and the railway on the other..
Services is somewhat of a misnomer, since there are no  buildings   on either side of that  serpentine right of way.
Removing  trees  on the  Sheppard's Bush side will expose the rusty five foot high chain link fence that serves no useful purpose. 
Behind it , there's a  weed infested  berm that can't be maintained. 
That's a misnomer as well.
 It's a pile of  road rubble stashed  there to save money from disposing of it properly. 
It obscures the view of the playing fields. Like the  passing traffic might somehow interfere with the games. . 
It takes up  space that might  be better  used for parking and yes, a pathway for potential pedestrians and  people on scooters.Or even  mayhap,  straighten the crazy bends in the road.
The  road should be dubbed Timpson's Folly. It got him elected.      

3 comments:

Anonymous said...


It is my understanding from a statement made some time ago that it is "POLICY" that requires sidewalks to be installed on BOTH sides of Industrial Parkway, all the way from Yonge Street in the south to St. John's Sideroad in the north. What is the specific POLICY and when was it established?

By the way, Windy is always objecting to something or other.

I would suggest in the strongest possible terms that policies can be unmade as quickly as they are made.

Just look at the ludicrous breach of the Procedural Bylaw this past couple of weeks when a decision of Council concerning the awarding of a contract to the Auroran for the town's Billboard was overturned - quite illegally. There was also a memo from the CAO in connection with this matter that made no sense whatsoever.

It appears that members of Council and the CAO were completely at sea in a leaking raft without an oar, and were doomed to suffer a watery end.

If Council cannot deal intelligently with something as simple as a town Billboard ad, how in blazes do we get into a situation where a massive capital expenditure of $2million has been de facto approved as a part of the town's POLICY?

Can anyone demonstrate why sidewalks are required? Possibly Windy should conduct a walk to explain the merits.

Further, it is my understanding that all those little concrete patches built for designated bus stops were financed by the Region.

If this is the case, here is another reason for doing away with Regional government. Fisch, Fisch - go away!

Anonymous said...

What happened to Mr Timpson? I met him once when he was on the Traffic- Advisory board. I think he was the 'chair ' because he sat at the head of that table & ordered the others around. He was actually funny - started out by saying we were wasting our time & he ' did not do ' Stop Signs. Eventually the Council of that day decided that they did do Stop Signs.

Anonymous said...

What will it add to the annual budget to clear all those miles of sidewalks that no one will use? Just asking if it has been considered.