It has been a month since I posted my last blog about the issues of bullying and why folks today should not take it as a joke but as a serious offense. This blog will have a different look at things and topics within Waterloo Region.
Yesterday, Waterloo Region Council OKed the $818 million dollar LRT project and one business owner threatened Regional council with a law suit, but one councilor said the project is on "solid ground". The business owner said it violated section 24 of the Regional Planning Act, which says "Despite any other general or special Act, where an
official plan is in effect, no public work shall be undertaken and,
except as provided in subsections (2) and (4), no by-law shall be passed
for any purpose that does not conform therewith. R.S.O. 1990, c. P.13,
s. 24 (1); 1999, c. 12, Sched. M, s. 24." All I can say is, this guy has done SOME of his homework with regards the LRT, he is so right with the local business along King Street (From Waterloo to Kitchener), when construction begins to put the tracks along the route for the LRT, it will hurt local business greatly. They will lose a lot of profit during the summer, until the contruction for the LRT is completed in that area. As a person that takes public transit, I do enjoy the Region's bus system, which is known as the Grand River Transit (GRT) but taking the LRT might be difficult for others. The main question I want council to answer is: Will the LRT make connections with the GRT buses or will we get to watch as our connection pulls out of a transit terminal as we wait for the next one? Since I have been taking GRT for seven (7) years now, I have seen great things and great changes within the system and along each of the routes. I would rather see my tax dollars go towards aBRT (a Bus Rapid Transit) with the routes operating every 15 min Monday to Saturday and 30 min on Sunday. That is the one transit system people would love to have, but sadly, I will ask this question: do you want your taxes increased to help fund for this project? I can answer that: I have a hunch the majority of you would have said no to this. Thus, we have to live with the LRT.
Final Thought for LRT: I can see the region's economy, going down for the time of the construction of the LRT, I am pretty sure aBRT for Waterloo Region would be better for people as it would cost less money (I have done the math on this one) and it would be more effective and would create more jobs in the Region.
Changing gears now, time to look at the River Road expansion!
Last year, the city of Kitchener has approved the expansion of River Road that will avoid some rare salamander special along the original route. The route goes around the salamander habitat and will link to Bleams Road (on the other side) of Kitchener. As I told my parents this morning, this expansion is desperately needed, because the one road (Fairway Road) is bombarded with traffic and there is no other way around it, which is why the interestion of Fairway Rd. at King Street E is one of the most dangerous intersections in Waterloo Region. With the River Road expansion on the way the traffic on Fairway Road will remain the same up until the opening of the expanded River Road in which, many people will use that road.
Final Thought for LRT and River Road Expansion: our tax dollars should be used to fund and operate aBRT, I have done the math on this, for 3 iXpress Routes (202 University iXpress, 204 Victoria-Highland iXpress and 206 Ottawa Street iXpress) it will cost $6.2 to get the stops implemented and run the routes themselves. Which is much cheaper than to operate a $532 million dollar train from Waterloo to Kitchener. The River Road expansion is an excellent work of tax dollars.
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