Comment 55915

By matthewsweet (registered) | Posted January 12, 2011 at 10:06:00

Don't feed the trolls

I attended the Land Use workshop for the B-Line last night. The usual objections were well in place, ie traffic disruption, construction delays, businesses need people to drive to them, etc. This smacks of something that I always remember Ryan writing about some time ago, described as Survivor Bias (correct me if I'm a bit off on that). Those who have made their living under the current conditions will naturally fear changing what is currently working for them. The uncertainty of future projections for development is too much for many people to overcome. I can't fault them for that. However we cannot cater to those narrow interests. Traffic will find a way to continue flowing through a city designed to cater to the car, construction is a fact of life and this is no different than a major road reconstruction which would not meet with such opposition, and I personally wonder how many businesses along the B-Line corridor already do a lot of their business through walk-ups rather than drive-ups.

A businessman I listened to speaking to one of the Rapid Transit staff said he needed to see specific case studies which closely mirrored the situation in Hamilton. That is a totally fair request and points to exactly the sort of approach that RTH and Hamilton Light Rail have taken for the past few years in advocating for light rail. Focus on empirical data, show the successes in other cities similar to our own, take the best practices from around the world and apply them hear, let the facts speak for themselves. What has worked elsewhere can work here. The biggest thing standing in our way is fear of change and self-loathing that pervades our city and people. "It couldn't possibly work here, this is Hamilton". Yes it can.

By moylek (registered) - website Posted March 18, 2013 at 16:04:11 in reply to Comment 87287

The world will make more sense to you, Capitalist, when you start seeing a world full of people instead of cardboard stereotypes.

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