Sidewalks for Sidewalking
Back at the beginning of the month, Brampton's city council decided to direct staff to find a solution to the problem of cars parking illegally on the streets overnight - a noble cause. However, the devil is in the details. Council asked staff to look into allowing residents to park over the sidewalk, at recreation centres and potentially at area schools.While council added that parking in these areas should only be allowed at certain times, it clearly displays council's philosophy on transportation. Regardless of when such parking is restricted to, this move sends a very clear message:
Cars are more important than pedestrians, and are more deserving of the sidewalk space.
Rather than attempting to find out why there are more cars than the area is designed for, attempting to reduce the amount of cars by improving transit services to neighbourhoods, or attempting to encourage walking and other forms of environmentally friendly transportation, Brampton's leaders have thrown their hands up in defeat.
I have faith that the city planners will realize the folly of Council, but it pains me to think that those with the power to enact law can entertain such shortsighted, regressive thoughts.
Labels: urban design
posted by Andrae Griffith @ 7:37 p.m.
3 Comments:
Yay Brampton, you've done it again.
But as revenge for those on foot, the city traffic planners couldn't plan their way out of a cardboard box, let alone traffic light coordination.
Well the question is, what is there in Brampton that would entice you to walk? Downtown Brampton is an exception, where at least there are some interesting things to do such as attending the new performing arts centre or City Hall. But in the residential subdivisions, there honestly isn't much reason to walk (except to the corner store or to catch the bus).
Not having anywhere to walk to is beside the point. The point I was trying to make is that if we want to encourage active forms of transportation like walking and cycling, we want to ensure that the paths are always available.
Even if you restrict sidewalk parking to overnight hours, I seriously doubt they will be moved by morning. When I went jogging at 6:30 am during the summer, that one on of my biggest pains - and it isn't even legal in Caledon.
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