Uptown Saint John Inc. wants to be heard on Peel Plaza
Telegraph Journal article “More Peel Plaza flak” reveals that Uptown Saint John Inc. – a group representing uptown property owners – wants to be consulted by the city about Peel Plaza. In particular the group doesn’t think the current plan to widen Wellington Row is wise and they want to suggest alternatives. They think it could hurt tourist appeal and they are concerned about traffic patterns.
The mayor doesn’t like this. Of Uptown Saint John Inc. Ivan Court is quoted as saying:
“If they are into letter writing again and playing games, it's time for them to get new leadership. They have been opposed to too many things in Saint John and I'm very upset that (Uptown Saint John general manager) Peter Asimakos has not contacted anybody I know about his position”
I am curious of two things after reading this.
First, is there a traffic engineering report that justifies the road work recently approved by the city?
Second, why can’t the mayor explain his support for projects without attacking the critics?
3 comments:
I'm not going to the bash the man, it's not like he has done anything terrible,at times you see him on the news & he's really well spoken,and basically knows how to get someone to listen...then at times,rant's & raves & whines like a little girl!!If someone says something he really doesn't like, he shows it easily...maybe he's better off to be back on the council...If you can't stand the Heat Mayor, Get out of the Kitchen!
Yes, a traffic study was undertaken, but my opinion is that the scope was very narrow, i.e., focus only on moving traffic efficiently rather than a hollistic view of businesses, character, walkability, pedestrian environment, etc.
My experience, however, is that you can never widen your way out of traffic congestion. Its like losening your belt when you're fat... you're not really addressing the real problem of your clothes not fitting right. If you keep the narrow streets, you'll piss of drivers, but force reliance on other forms of transportation. You just have to get the politicians to NOT listen to the pissed off drivers.
I happened to speak yesterday with the transportation engineer who did the original traffic study. Apparently Wellington needs to be widened by only 18"... very minor, relatively speaking, to accommodate a turning lane unless this was changed during detailed design (by another firm).
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