IRTS-Important

Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000 19:10:52 -0300
From: daalders@ns.sympatico.ca (david aalders)
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To: "sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca" <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
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____________________________________________________________

You may recall seeing this letter drafted by a group of citizens
concerned about HRM's strategy for transportation in the region (The
Interim Regional Transportation Strategy), a few weeks ago.  Regional
Council was supposed to vote on whether to accept the Strategy, but it
has not yet made it on to a council agenda.
When it does, we would like to present the case that the strategy is
flawed, as was the process for consulting the public.  We are asking the
council to put sustainable transportation measures in place while
holding off on any roadway
changes until an endorsed Regional Plan is in place.
We feel as a group of citizens concerned about the impact that
transportation has on our lives, that the HRM strategy is not reflective
of what citizens would like and is devoting far too many resources to
road building and
expansion.

WE ARE ASKING WHETHER YOU WILL SUPPORT OUR COMMENTS IN THE LETTER BELOW
BY AGREEING TO SIGN ON TO THIS LETTER.

If you would like to add your community group's name or your name as an
individual to the letter, simply respond to <trax@istar.ca> with your
community group's name, or your name (and title, if you wish) as an
individual supporter. We will then sign the letter on behalf of all
those who support our concerns, and present it to the Mayor and
councillors next week.

Please forward this to others who you think may also support our
request.

Sincerely,
Sue Watson
on behalf of the Transportation Issues Committee (and others)
Ecology Action Centre
________________________________

Halifax, September 4th, 2000

Halifax Regional Municipality
P.O. Box 1749
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 3A5

Subject: Interim Regional Transportation Strategy

Dear Mayor Fitzgerald and Councillors:

We have reviewed the December 1999 draft of the Interim Regional
Transportation Strategy which, we understand, will be presented to you
shortly in a revised version for approval.

While we have not seen the revised version, we concur with your vision
of a sustainable transportation system for HRM and congratulate you for
adopting the vision for urban transportation of the Transportation
Association of Canada.  We thank you for taking into account issues of
environmental protection, human health, social equity, choice and the
overall quality of life within our neighbourhoods.  However, we are
concerned that the content of the Strategy does not reflect the values
and principles upon which it claims to be based.

We are writing today to share the numerous and serious concerns that we
have regarding the proposed Interim Regional Transportation Strategy.
They include:

· Process: the consultation process around the December 1999 version of
the Strategy was flawed on several fronts, particularly in its design.
The Open House sessions were not well advertised and were therefore not
well attended.  The process did not seem to allow for public input to be
taken seriously into consideration.  Furthermore, you will be asked to
approve a revised version of the strategy to which the public will not
have had access.  HRM residents cannot support a strategy that they have
not seen and which will so greatly impact their quality of life.

· Regional Planning: Many HRM residents have invested considerable
efforts and hope in the recently undertaken and very valuable HRM Vision
20/20 exercise.  We understand that progress is being made and that you
should be presented with a final version of the Vision and some values
shortly.  We would argue (and experience shows) that a transportation
strategy, given its long-term implications on land-use patterns, cannot
be separate from nor precede an approved Regional Plan, something that,
we assume, will likely emerge out of the HRM 20/20 exercise in the next
12 to 18 months.  We fear that an approved Transportation Strategy
outside the context of HRM 20/20 will have very negative impacts on the
overall perceived value of participating in public processes within HRM.

· Scope: We do not consider that an effective transportation strategy
for HRM can be developed by solely considering the urban and sub-urban
areas of the municipality.  The strategy needs to be comprehensive and
encompass the entire HRM in order to be able to bring into the
discussions important questions such as the construction of a commuter
rail between Sackville and Halifax, a crucial element of a sustainable
transportation system.  In their book on overcoming automobile
dependence, Newman and Kenworthy conclude: “…any city seriously wishing
to move toward sustainability by changing the private car-public
transportation equilibrium in favor of public transportation, must move
in the direction of electric-rail-based transit systems.  Only in this
way can a city begin to compete with the car in the most basic travel
choice factor of all: relative speed. ”

· Content: We recognize that there are transportation issues within HRM
that need to be addressed but do not feel that the proposed course of
actions will solve them, prevent new ones and/or help achieve the vision
of the strategy.  The proposed investment ratio of roadway changes to
demand management activities will not allow the HRM to meet the vision,
fails to respect the social equity principle and will not significantly
increase transportation choices for HRM residents.  The fact that
effective and significant investments in transportation demand
management measures could reduce the need for roadway changes, as could
the recently observed increase in gas prices, have not been assessed.

The vast majority of the $225 million, the significant recommended
investments of taxpayers’ money, is to be allocated to roadway changes
(construction, twinning, expansion) to facilitate car flow, even before
all the options have been explored.  This is a false premise on which to
build the transportation strategy; studies show that it is at best a
temporary solution and that it leads to other negative consequences such
as air pollution.  “…increasing travel speeds only increases the amount
of travel .. and that the associated increase in traffic … will mean an
overall increase in fuel and emissions. … People do not save time when a
city builds in car travel infrastructure that enhance speed – they just
travel further. ”  We are concerned that the long-term impacts of the
proposed strategy have not taken into account effects on land use
patterns, on air quality (and associated human health problems) or on
commitments of HRM to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ 20% Club, for instance.

For all the concerns pertaining to process, regional planning, scope and
content of the proposed Interim Regional Transportation Strategy listed
above, we would recommend that you put a hold on any roadway changes
until the above concerns can be addressed and until an endorsed Regional
Plan is in place for HRM.  Having said this, we would like to see HRM
move ahead in putting in place measures (investments and policies) that
will help transportation become more sustainable in our city, mainly the
objectives comprised under Chapter 5 of the document (though we would
argue that expenses for educational and marketing purposes might be
better spent elsewhere until transportation choices have been improved
on several fronts).  It is imperative, for instance, that the second
track of rails be preserved to keep the option of a commuter rail system
open.  We would also suggest that you include Metro Transit within the
HRM Traffic and Transportation Services to help plan for the
transportation system more effectively.  Finally, the proposed
sustainable transportation measures could be further supplemented
bysupporting initiatives such as the implementation of a car-share
program within HRM.

As citizens concerned for the long-term quality of life within HRM, we
thank you for taking our concerns and recommendations into
consideration.

Sincerely,

(Footnotes referencing quotes will be included in the letter)



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