Lansdowne Traffic Meeting - Postscript

In a very general way, I might admit that I've heard some Glebe residents talk about having "Lansdowne fatigue" and that they want to be "for" something instead of "against" something.  Well, when it comes to Lansdowne-related traffic issues (I'm talking day-to-day and event-related traffic), there is definitely no fatigue and residents are very much for making Lansdowne traffic work. 

Between 150-180 residents (I stopped counting at 150) packed into the basement of St. Giles Church this evening to hear Councillor David Chernushenko and City staff present their plans for traffic management when Lansdowne opens.  While we had been concerned about attendance given the late setting of the meeting date and limited meeting notice publication, Church staff and others were surprised as they had only initially put out chairs for 50 people!

We knew going into the meeting that the plan to be presented was about monitoring traffic and not about taking action ahead of Lansdowne opening.  The GCA position on this is clear - failing to plan is planning to fail - so ensuring the success of Lansdowne means taking actions ahead of time (we've made a number of recommendations in that regard).  The phenomenal turnout for this meeting is a clear demonstration that residents are behind the GCA - in fact, Brian Mitchell, the GCA Traffic Committee Chair, received loud cheers following his address outlining our disappointment that not more is being done.

There were a number of questions from the community members as well.  I thought you might be interested in some, although I must apologize as I wasn't quick enough in noting the responses provided by the various panellists:

• Is there any plan to monitor the economic impacts of congestion that is anticipated to occur as a result of increased Lansdowne traffic?  and will there be a plan to recover those costs for the benefit of those negatively impacted?
• Why is monitoring being planned for October and March when there are fewer people cycling in those months?  Will parking studies be undertaken in March when there is still snow on the ground?
• Monitoring is all very well, but what actions will be taken when gridlock occurs?
• Will traffic monitoring results be made public?
• Currently, parking around Abbotsford and Glebe Centre is being taken up by some of the many construction workers, restricting parking options for others.  Where will retail employees of Lansdowne stores park when they finally open?
• Why are shuttle buses using residential streets instead of arterial roads?
• Can the City and OSEG to find funding for the Fifth Ave/Clegg footbridge?
• How will the traffic (and noise) resulting from people exiting theatres or bars late at night be managed?

From these questions and the very raucous crowd, it's clear that planning for the management of Lansdowne Traffic is an important issue for the GCA to continue to advocate for.  We'll also reach out to Bernie Ashe (CEO, OSEG), who in his remarks expressed OSEG's interest in working with the local community.  

Thanks to everyone from our community and neighbouring communities for attending the meeting tonight.  It shows that we all care about this issue.  If you would like to see the panel boards Brian presented at the meeting, they will be posted on our website (glebeca.ca) in the Traffic committee section in the near future.

See you in the 'hood,
Christine