Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
What it will mean is a tremendous boon to development. You cannot force people into commie blocks on the peninsula. They don't want to live in those and to suggest that you can force them to do so by simply not building roads to areas outside the core is bizarro planning theory at its best -- cause misery to force people to adapt to your view of what the world should be. The upcoming HRM regional plan adheres to this lunacy and will fail as a result. People will live where they want to live and it is the job of govt to enable those choices or face being replaced. Getting people out of their cars is only possible up to a certain extent, after which it simply fails to address the transportation needs of peoples lifestyles.
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It's not the job of government to facilitate every individual decision. No where is it written that people have a right to live in their single-family house with a huge backyard on a cul-du-sac and drive to work alone in an SUV. We live in a free society so they're free to make that choice if they want, but government has no obligation to make that easy for them. This crossing is a plan for that lifestyle. If you read the report transit is an afterthought and ferries get no mention (becaues the bridge commission has no role in ferries). This report was written from a cram as many cars as we can in and out everyday perspective. This bridge proposal is a pro-car proposal. The odds of many pedestrians walking or cycling across such a long distance are low (even less if its a tunnel) and what does it connect with on the other side? A highway to suburbia. This will be the second biggest sprawl enabler since the MacDonald was built and its something this city should definitely pass on.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I'm clearly in the minority here, so further comment is probably a waste of my and your time. Even if I'm in the minority here, if the herald board is any indication, I'm in a majority in the city at large. If this crossing proposal actually goes beyond a consultants report it'll be the biggest political fight this city has seen in a long, long time.