Raise the Hammer

Sorry, that posted prematurely, and doubly. If the mods could erase the preceding two posts it would be great!

Anyway:

I live on Walnut. The parking spots on Hunter are rarely full, except for a few across from Strut when it is open. The proposed new metered spots south of Hunter are currently free but 'stolen' by 9-5 commuters - most likely not from the downtown. Turning those into metered spots will essentially kick out the commuters, and more than make up for the Strut parking on Hunter. Because it takes approx. 25 seconds to walk between these two areas, and because there are city and private parking lots within another minute or two of Strut, I do not think feel it is necessary to keep parking on Hunter at all.

Although I would support converting Hunter to two-way and adding a bike lane with some parking, I think it is still better to have the parking spots replaced by much needed bike lanes (badly needed in downtown Hamilton) than remain as rarely used parking spots. Downtown Hamilton is much more car-centric than it needs to be, and it would be a shame to not implement this badly needed bike infrastructure because one business needs extra close parking.

The owner of Strut has written a letter to everyone in the neighbourhood claiming that not only will the neighbourhood suffer because of these bike lanes, but that EVERYONE'S PROPERTY VALUES WILL GO DOWN. I have no idea where an idea like this would come from (and actually think over time it will have the opposite effect) and disagree wholeheartedly with people coming into the neighbourhood to scare its residents like this.

I'm going to agree with seancb here and call NIMBY. I think if the bike lane goes on another street, local businesses there will crawl out of the woodwork and complain too. This is about parking for one business. Lets not be fooled by the "lets all get along" angle.