Comment 121783

By Haveacow (registered) | Posted July 30, 2017 at 22:45:36

I to am a Ryerson planning Grad and I to am also Urban Planner but as an independent consultant not a member of Metrolinx. I lived in Toronto for the first half of my life and worked with TTC during the summer as part of line crew. I worked for the CPR the next summer as track crew in the Agincourt Yard (now CPR Toronto Yards). Now I live in Ottawa with my family and have worked with YRT/VIVA, OC Transpo (Including the original O-Train, now the Trillium Line). I did early systems and capacity planning of the Confederation LRT Line. I also was on the board of a Railway Museum until recently. So I honestly have a feeling of kinship here.

With the sheer number of projects on the go I am constantly surprised the Agency known as Mertolinx hasn't just self destructed yet but it seems to soldier on, so best of luck!

However, as per the subject of your article anything man made will probably eventually, lead to cancer. But if LRT OCS wires lead to cancer then there are many other things like high tension power lines, certain very common electrical and electronic components that will lead to the death of us all via cancer. This is not by any measure an exhaustive list stuff that could kill us with possible connections to cancer by the use of high voltage and magnetic fields. So I would not really sweat it and demand proof from legitimate medical sources when people make these kinds of claims.

After following what has been an emotional and sometimes wild series of events in Hamilton's LRT proposal and living through Ottawa's LRT history it is no surprise that LRT opponents have sunk to these kinds of claims. When you see the positions taken and lies by some, not all, anti-LRT opponents, it really shouldn't surprise anyone that the cancer angle gets played. The shear desperation of some LRT opponents is quite remarkable.

At a public meeting for a transit line extension assessment I was once part of, a woman told me that any noise (especially construction noise) above the noise level of a hand drill (about 40-50 decibels) would literally kill her husband. So any construction must not produce noise above 40-50 db. How this would be possible in an oxygen based atmosphere is unknown to me and I chose to tell her that. You can't run a dump truck at less than 40-50 db. if you plan to actually use it. Sensitivity to honestly concerned residents is critically important but you do here some whoppers every once and while. I honestly hope the man was okay when the project happened but 40-50 db is not that loud.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds