Raise the Hammer

The Beasley Neighbourhood Association agrees:

Dear Chair and Members of the General Issues Committee,

We write to express the Beasley Neighbourhood Association's strong support for Councillor McHattie's proposal to establish a Ward 1 and Ward 2 One-Way to Two-Way Street Implementation Team.

One-way streets are a great detriment to Beasley. Unidirectional flow on major streets such as Cannon, King, Main, and Wellington promotes high-speed, high-volume traffic which makes the streets inhospitable to all users other than motorists. Cannon Street in particular divides our neighbourhood in half, with residents on either side of Cannon finding it difficult and unpleasant to walk to destinations on the other side. Main and Wellington Streets act as barriers to pedestrian and bicycle traffic between Beasley and the adjacent neighbourhoods of Corktown and Landsdale. The safety of children who must walk across Cannon and Wellington (and Victoria) streets to reach Dr. J. Edgar Davey School is a particular concern.

On neighbourhood streets such as Hughson, Catharine, Mary, Rebecca, and King William, one-way traffic makes it difficult for cyclists and motorists to navigate to their destinations and encourages motorists to travel at inappropriately high speed. As a result, our neighbourhood is made a less attractive place in which to live and to do business.

Almost all of the one-way streets in our city are in Wards 1-3. The residents of the remaining wards do not want one-way streets in their communities, and they have not been compelled to accept them. We ask for equal treatment in our own neighbourhood and through the rest of Wards 1 and 2. Please support Councillor McHattie's proposal to establish a Ward 1 and Ward 2 One-Way to Two-Way Street Implementation Team.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Borrelli & Sylvia Nickerson Co-Presidents, BNA