Quote:
Originally Posted by swimmer_spe
Well, when I was a kid, I had lots on my list, and got some of it. What would be on your Halifax wish list? What could improve the city now, and be great as it grows?
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To answer the question, I sometimes think it would be nice to have an LRT running from central Larry Uteck, across through Clayton park all the way to the west end. The land around the stops tends to densify making the community more walkable. The problem is that I think it would be disruptive to a lot of people in Clayton park, and securing a suitable route could make Ottawa’s LRT problems look simple. The Waterloo LRT had a much easier time with relatively flat terrain and open space, but it was still hugely controversial.
I believe we need to start with local solutions before moving to large-scale regional projects. Start with “what can improve this street corner”, then move towards the regional view (observe all at once of course). I’m a bit reluctant to say everything that will be needed to move 1 million people when I don’t know which areas they will be living in. I’m saying that if we want to plan connections, we need to plan on where people will live at the same time. I can still get behind a few big things like a NW arm crossing, LRT or fast ferries.
My biggest objection is how the proposals critique Toronto’s urban form, but their guiding principles of “abundant land + more freeways” essentially emulate the past development of Toronto. I’ve had to drive to Toronto from Waterloo on a couple weekday mornings for some appointments, and it’s absolute hell starting from Milton. I’ve spent three weeks living in a city of 15 million with better traffic than Toronto. They had some wide arterial roads (non highway) but also superb public transit (subways every 2 mins) and extreme mixed-use density. That’s why I think all these projects proposed in the original post would support more than 1 million, perhaps 2-3 million, if everything was built at even a moderate density like you recommend.
On the topic of the NIMBY attitude, I see it as a necessary evil for the city to function. NIMBYs are hardly a Haligonian phenomenon, let alone one restricted to democracies. I can say for certain NIMBYs exist in abundance in “non-democratic” countries where large scale projects are seen as normal. I may disagree with 95% of what the Halifax NIMBY groups say, but I don’t want to make myself ignorant to the 5% of points I agree with. Let’s say we have a proposal, any proposal; how do we extract that beneficial 5% to make the project better, and make it a sustainable choice future generations won’t regret?
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