[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

This seems reasonable.

I do not think we should be dictating people's lifestyle or locations. There are many reasons why people choose where they live. Some people just want some peace and quiet away from the growing hustle and bustle of the city.

Regardless, our city needs to facilitate better urban design without restricting people's choices.

I also cannot imagine imposing congestion fees for those entering the city from outside the Greenbelt. I live inside the Greenbelt but I do a lot of business and volunteering outside the Greenbelt and I will be really p***ed off if I have to pay a congestion fee every time I make that 5 minute trip across the Greenbelt when there is no adequate alternative. Arbitrary congestion fees in suburban areas are just mind boggling. What we would be doing is turning the clock back 100 years to the days of toll gates, without understanding the reasons why we got rid of them.

We have to be careful because certain policy choices may raise the price of housing even faster with the unintended consequence of driving more people, jobs and retail to the exurbs. Remember the 1960s when Ottawa wanted to maintain Victorian retail policies, which drove many stores to just beyond the city limits where they could open to 10 p.m. every night.

Instead, we need to be actually serving the public who are paying taxes. Sure, local services should be paid by local taxes, but we should not be punishing people because of where they choose to live.

Some retail businesses and areas, in particular just inside the Greenbelt in first-ring older suburbs, are already struggling. I don't think they'd appreciate if customers from just across a patch of greenspace had to pay a toll just to come to their place of business.