30 km speed limit plan endorsed

[FairHamilton]

Originally Posted by fastcarsfreedom

This is a very interesting concept. I don't support or endorse it--and I think 30 km/h is extreme (and it has nothing to do with being from Ancaster or anywhere else). However, it would seem to me that the idea here is to isolate the neighborhood with limited entry points and reduced street-to-street access. If you don't mind my saying, it's extraordinarily suburban.

Agreed, 30km/h is extreme.

I find it interesting that North End residents are more important (30km/h) then school children (40km/h in most school zones I've seen).

I hope the police stringently enforce the speed limit and I'm guessing local residents will be the first caught speeding.

[markbarbera]

I expect the final version will have the speed limit at 40km/h. 30 is plain silly. And, as Fairhamilton pointe out, how can you reconcile a speed limit for a neighbourhood that is slower than a school zone?

Sounds to me that this is more about accelerating gentrification od the area...

[adam]

People go higher than 30km/h through the Limeridge mall parking lot! I don't think I've ever seen one of those thousands of single-occupant minivans going under 30km/h in my life.

[raisethehammer]

I think 30km is great. School zones should be 30 as well. Nobody EVER drives the speed limit anywhere. Those school zones are useless as everyone still does 50. 30km zone would have people doing closer to 40.
I hope this idea can expand to other neighbourhoods in the downtown area.

[Millstone]

Originally Posted by raisethehammer

I think 30km is great. School zones should be 30 as well. Nobody EVER drives the speed limit anywhere. Those school zones are useless as everyone still does 50. 30km zone would have people doing closer to 40.
I hope this idea can expand to other neighbourhoods in the downtown area.

People will not drive slower (except old people) because of a 30 km/h limit.

You heard it here first folks.

[go_leafs_go02]

Bingo..since when have you heard of someone getting pulled over really for doing less than 15 km/h over the speed limit?

This is Ontario, generally you can get away with driving above the speedlimit. My policy is 10-15 km/h over the limit in city/urban conditions. 15-20 km/h over on freeways and rural roads. Why else is the 401 still 100 km/h? If it were enforced, it would be probably 120 km/h speed limit.

[SteelTown]

No Decision Yet On North-End Plan
Ken Mann
9/15/2008

Hamilton politicians have once again put off a decision, in regards to a controversial plan to create a family and child-friendly north-end neighbourhood.

They've set the issue aside, after hearing a passionate appeal from residents who support lowering speed limits to 30 kilometres per hour in the vicinity of the west harbour.

The proposal also calls for the partial closure of certain streets, as an additional traffic calming measure.

Stephen Park with the North End Neighbours Association says it's about pedestrian safety and making Hamilton the best place to raise a child.

Critics calls it an attempt by north end residents to create what in effect would be their own "gated community".

[FairHamilton]

Gotta love decisiveness.

[adam]

They will stop you if they are trying to meet their quota for the month, believe me! My only ticket ever was for going 55 in a 40 zone (going downhill .. )

[the dude]

i love the last line of the article: Critics call it an attempt by north end residents to create what in effect would be their own "gated community."

just what exactly is that supposed to mean? so pathetic.

[highwater]

Actually, I agree with the 'gated community' statement. And the 'critic' who made it is an architect who lives in the north end. I don't have a problem with reducing the speed limit, but they are also trying to close off streets. This is about limiting access to the waterfront by people from outside their community. They are playing the child safety card to justify their exclusiveness, and even some of their fellow northenders recognize it.

[the dude]

you seem to know more about this issue than me, so i'll step aside. perhaps the article should have been a little more detailed rather than ending it on such a vague note.

[SteelTown]

Streets of ire
Grade school students show their support for traffic calming measures in North End

September 17, 2008
Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator

Students from St. Lawrence Catholic elementary school offered silent support Monday to the North End Neighbourhood Association's appeal for a speed limit of 30 kilometres an hour on all local streets, including Bay and James, which traffic planners propose keeping at 50 km/h.

Some sat on chairs at the public works committee meeting, others on the floor, and a handful held a colourful banner reading "not gated, just safe."

The sign was a reference to architect Bill Curran's complaint that a proposed neighbourhood traffic-calming plan is an attempt by a minority of residents to make the waterfront their exclusive domain.

Association spokesperson John Mattinson also challenged that notion Monday, saying the goal "is certainly not to create a gated community," just to reduce cut-through traffic.

Stephen Park, speaking for West Harbour Neighbours Inc., also backed the idea of a two-year trial of calming measures, noting that 5,250 people live in the 1.7 square kilometres of the North End, 1,200 of them children under 15.

Park cited a peak-hour count of 970 cars travelling Burlington Street West, 145 of them driving over 63 km/h, 46 over 80 km/h, in a 50 km/h zone.

The committee heard delegations a week ago and Monday, but isn't expected to vote on the plan until sometime next month.

Councillor Tom Jackson questioned closing some streets, saying he sees "closures of any kind, while beneficial to the neighbourhood, as a form of blockade to any others visiting the neighbourhood."

[FairHamilton]

I'm sickened when 'causes' use elementary school children who are incapable of making and acting on their own decisions for 'the cause'.

Could these school children have opted out? Did they have a civics class where both side of the issue was presented, before attending the committee meeting? Do they have the maturity to understand the entire issue? If one child said hey wait a second, I want a banner that says 40kmh, not 30kmh would class resources be put towards that banner?

I'm guessing not..........

[flar]

Originally Posted by FairHamilton

I'm sickened when 'causes' use elementary school children who are incapable of making and acting on their own decisions for 'the cause'.

Could these school children have opted out? Did they have a civics class where both side of the issue was presented, before attending the committee meeting? Do they have the maturity to understand the entire issue? If one child said hey wait a second, I want a banner that says 40kmh, not 30kmh would class resources be put towards that banner?

I'm guessing not..........

exactly what I was thinking when I saw this

[adam]

Exactly. When was the last time anyone ever saw a speeding ticket handed out along Main or King downtown?

[SteelTown]

New speed limit considered for city's North End

January 19, 2009
BY ERIC McGUINNESS
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/article/498860

Hamilton’s North End Neighbourhood — which includes popular harbourfront parks and boating clubs — could become the first in Canada with a 30 km/h speed limit.

City council’s public works committee voted 5-2 yesterday to recommend adopting the 30 km/h limit for a two-year pilot project, starting sometime in 2010.

Officials say they know of no other community in the country with a limit so low, although they cite Oslo, Norway and Albuquerque, N.M. as examples of other places that limit speed to 30 km/h in some districts.

East Hamilton Councillor Sam Merulla, who suggested 40 km/h would be more reasonable, warned that 30 km/h “really becomes a cash grab” because so many drivers will be caught speeding.

Ancaster Councillor Lloyd Ferguson said he was violently opposed because his suburban constituents visiting popular bayfront parks “instead of going home with a suntan will go home with a ticket.”

Saying he tried to drive 30 km/h and found it “almost impossible,” Ferguson said, “The police are going to want two or three more stealth cars to park down there.”

Ward 2 Councillor Bob Bratina, who represents the North End, attacked those views as coming from “a couple of individuals who have selfish interests, who disregard interests of this neighbourhood.”

Mayor Fred Eisenberger and councillors Tom Jackson, Chad Collins and Margaret McCarthy voted with Bratina to lower the speed limit throughout the neighbourhood, including James and Burlington streets.

The recommendation must be adopted by the full council Jan. 28 and then has to wait for other approvals before being implemented.

It’s part of a bigger North End Traffic Management Plan, which includes controversial street closings and other traffic-calming measures. The committee wants staff and community groups to take another look at those measures, and then the full plan must be filed with the city clerk for a 30-day public review period.

Gerry Davis, acting general manager of public works, said implementation of the plan also depends on the resolution of appeals against Setting Sail, a secondary plan for the west harbour.

[waterloowarrior]

Quebec and Alberta both have 30 km/h school zones
Montreal will be dropping its default speed limit to 40 km / h, with areas near parks and playgrounds dropping to 30
http://media.www.theconcordian.com/m...-3538682.shtml

[Millstone]

WTF? Toronto has 30 km/h as well. Typical speculator, garbage newspaper that it is.

[Jon Dalton]

Toronto does one better, they have neighbourhoods full of speed bumps so you can't go over 30 without breaking something. Hamilton needs to get in the game.