Letters to the Editor: Glenn Nashen’s prioritizing of traffic complaints

The Suburban

August 10, 2011

 

Councillor Nashen is right that CSL has many streets and taxes are an issue. He’s also probably right that not every case is a life and death one. But safety for all Côte St. Lucers in all neighbourhoods should be his priority and he should be more incensed at the danger on our streets than at our “alarmist” reactions.

Is it alarmist to think we deserve safe streets?

Is it alarmist to compare our roads to neighbouring boroughs or towns replete with bollards, bumps, signs, planters and other measures?

Is it alarmist to want the same safe streets new buyers are anticipating in the new Cavendish development?

Is it alarmist to say not all Côte St. Luc streets are family-friendly? Should we have consulted the engineering department before we closed on our home?

Statistics show numbers, but they don’t show me yanking my kids from the curb because of: endless parades of commuters speeding up to make the light; pizza delivery guys playing F1; hundreds who discover my street is a shortcut to another neighbourhood; morning commuters racing past each other; the disregard for the corner stop sign – a corner made more dangerous by encroaching bushes and low light (apparently a nearby light destroyed during the ice storm was never replaced).

Hampstead had it right, blocking off some streets. They rightly care more about their residents than their neighbour’s commutes.

For crying out loud, we slapped up an Aquatic Centre in just a few months, surely we can get a speed bump, shorten lights, brighten a corner and enforce a stop. It’s a no-brainer.

I suggest nightly driving tours through other areas of Côte St. Luc – commuter flash mobs – respecting speed limits – but traveling on other small streets ad nauseum until we see how alarmist those residents get. One hundred and forty-six streets… Wow. Any suggestions where we should start?

Pina Trengia

District 3

Côte St. Luc

About these ads