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car culture

Saturday September 8, 2013

September 8, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

 

September 8, 2013

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 8, 2013

Bike lanes backed for Cannon Street

For SaleThe city’s longest stretch of protected two-way bike lanes is coming to the so-called Cannon Expressway.

More than 2,300 residents signed a Yes We Cannon petition calling for segregated, bidirectional bike lanes on the fast-moving, four-lane artery.

The grassroots push helped convince councillors Thursday to approve bike lanes on Cannon between Sherman Avenue and Bay Street — even as they braced for blowback from commuters losing a car lane to the $600,000 pilot project.

“This is a tough call,” said Councillor Bernie Morelli, who added he’s heard from bike-lane supporters as well as residents enraged by the plan. “But I want (councillors) to know you’re doing the right thing.”

The new bike lanes won’t be a traffic stopper, said Justin Jones of the Yes We Cannon campaign.

“Look at the city’s own numbers, there is plenty of capacity on that street,” he said, pointing to vastly higher daily car counts on arteries such as Garth, Golf Links and Upper James compared to Cannon. “We’re not in any danger of traffic grinding to a halt.”

Slowing traffic, on the other hand, won’t bother area residents, said Dave Stevens of North End Neighbours, who noted 10 schools are located within a block of Cannon.

“We all want a safer street,” he said.

Jones urged the city to measure the number of cyclists using the new bikes lanes, but also the number of collisions, which he believes will drop. “This is a safety measure for cyclists and for (car) drivers.” (Source: The Hamilton Spectator)

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: bicycles, bicycling, car culture, cycling, Hamilton, local, maps, print sale

August 31, 2006

August 31, 2006 by Graeme MacKay

Garage doors. I hate ’em.

I originally drew this cartoon in April, 1999. The house indicated in Fig. 2 is the ranch style house I lived in while growing up in Dundas, Ont. It had a carport, which my dad couldn’t stand. I was glad to see a critique on garage doors as the lead story in today’s National Post. There’s hope for humanity.


Door closing on ‘dull’ design
Melissa Leong — National Post

Last week, Carl Zehr drove through a new subdivision in Kitchener and saw a wall of garages.

He looked at the rows of semi-detached homes with double-car garages in front, separated by swatches of concrete and small tufts of grass.

“When you looked at these in multiples, side by side if you were looking [down the street], you saw nothing but garage doors,” said Mr. Zehr, Kitchener’s Mayor.

“There has to be a better way.”

On Monday, the city’s municipal council voted unanimously to ban two-car garages in front of semi-detached homes, beginning in 2007. Mr. Zehr said the new zoning bylaw is not simply about ridding communities of what urban planners and architects call “snout houses.”

“It’s about quality of life, eyes on the street and making sure that people could interact in their front yards,” Mr. Zehr said.

Kitchener is the latest example of Canadian municipalities launching attacks on the garage in an effort to create more livable, sustainable communities.

Avi Friedman, an architect, planner and professor at McGill University, said more towns and cities are taking their inspiration from places such as Bois-Franc in Montreal, Garrison Woods in Calgary and Cornell in Markham. They have attractive streetscapes with trees and porches, and few front-facing garages.

“When you build garages, what you get is not only an unpleasing building that looks at times like a car wash, you also create a situation by which a large segment of the sidewalk is paved — not leaving room for trees,” Mr. Friedman said.

“The street is, therefore, very dull. Developing something like this is an anti-social statement.”

Valerie Shuttleworth, director of planning and urban design in Markham said the town was one of the first in Greater Toronto to wage war on the garage.

In the mid-’90s, the town set limits on the size of garages and began developing communities with lanes to access detached garages behind houses.

She said she didn’t get to know her neighbours until she moved to an area without front-facing garages.

Going back to suburban development in the 1920s, garages or sheds were found at the back of the home, planning experts say.

As society increased its reliance on cars, the garage began to creep around to the front of the home.

As more households required multiple vehicles, the garage grew to two, three and four-doors. And as land values rose, people wanted to maximize space by building on top of and around the garage.

“What consumers wanted was the convenience of having a garage attached. They wanted to increase the size of the outdoor space at the back of the house for their enjoyment,” Douglas Stewart, president of the Waterloo Region Home Builders’ Association, said.

“It’s convenient, it’s efficient and it improves the overall urban design,” he said of front-facing garages.

With increasing restrictions on garages, some builders and real estate agents lament the reduction of choice for the consumer.

“If builders are coming forward with houses and designs, it’s because they’ve got a demand out there that they’re trying to meet,” said John Kenward of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association.

“It’s all very well for somebody to stand back and say, ‘Frankly, I don’t like the look of it,’ but … I think the customer has to have a say in this at the end of the day.”

Eastforest Homes Ltd. built 52 semi-detached homes with double garages in a Kitchener subdivision, which was the cause of concern for the city.

But Dave Steinbach, a real estate agent with Peak Realty in Kitchener, said the houses sold “like crazy.”

They cost about $217,000 each. A single detached home with a two-car garage in the same neighbourhood starts at $295,000, he said.

“Today everybody’s a two-car family,” he said. “The city tends to think you use your driveway for a car and the garage for a car. But unless you build a shed in your backyard, where do you put the lawnmower and the kids’ bikes?”

Kitchener tightened garage rules for single-family homes in 2000 (the width of a garage is limited to 70% of the home’s frontage) but did not include semi-detached homes until now.

As municipalities become stricter on what can be built, the building industry has had to modify how it designs homes.

Garages are being pushed back into the house; municipal planning departments need to be consulted on colour schemes for homes.

“They’ve turned the construction market upside down,” Mr. Steinbach said. “All these restrictions add to the final cost of the house.”

Restrictions are the result of municipalities learning to manage the pressures of growth and urbanization or communities being proactive in their planning, design experts say.

“If the Mayor of the community doesn’t think of himself as the chief urban designer of the city then no improvement is possible. It has to be led by the top echelons,” said Toronto-based architect Peter A. Gabor.

“You would be astonished at the range of measures that are controlling development all across the region. Council gets very inventive.”

But planning experts argue that if the goal is to create a better public realm, kicking massive, front-facing garages to the curb is a timid first step.

To reduce the focus on the car, local officials need to develop more compact communities, better public transit and live-work-play areas, Ms. Shuttleworth said. She added that Markham is planning a major employment centre near its Cornell community.

“This issue of the garage is really a symbol or a sign of a much deeper underlying problem,” said Ken Greenberg, a Toronto-based urban designer.

“At the rate Southern Ontario is growing, we have to find new paradigms of handling that…. I think there’s a huge pent-up desire in the public for alternatives to the conventional form of low-density sprawl.”

Posted in: Canada, Lifestyle Tagged: car culture, commentary, Garage, garage doors, housing, rants

March 17, 2001

March 17, 2001 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð March 17, 2001 Crackdown on Agressive Walking More than 40 pedestrians have died in traffic accidents in Hamilton in the past six years. Last year alone, 470 people were hit by cars. Of the eight who died, three were to blame for the accident. Police are now gearing up to catch law-breaking pedestrians and aggressive drivers in May as part of the annual road safety blitz. "People walk out whenever they feel like it," said Hamilton Constable John Rusnak. "It only takes about 40 seconds for the light to change. It's certainly worth life and limb to wait." About six Hamilton pedestrians die in traffic accidents every year -- a total of 43 since 1995. The May jaywalking blitz will focus on three of Hamilton's worst intersections: King Street East and Wellington Street, Barton Street East and Kenora Avenue, and Ogilvie Street and Governor's Road. Anyone caught disobeying the signals or failing to use the crosswalk could face a fine of up to $40. Under the Highway Traffic Act, a person can be charged with failing to use the designated crosswalk if they are within 100 metres of the crosswalk. "We're just saying: 'Listen --cross the proper way,'" Rusnak said. "We want to reduce the number of people struck on our streets." (Source: Hamilton Spectator) Hamilton, car culture, pedestrians, walking, traffic, enforcement, auto, streets, safety, policing, jay walking

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – March 17, 2001

Crackdown on Agressive Walking

More than 40 pedestrians have died in traffic accidents in Hamilton in the past six years.

Last year alone, 470 people were hit by cars. Of the eight who died, three were to blame for the accident.

Police are now gearing up to catch law-breaking pedestrians and aggressive drivers in May as part of the annual road safety blitz.

“People walk out whenever they feel like it,” said Hamilton Constable John Rusnak. “It only takes about 40 seconds for the light to change. It’s certainly worth life and limb to wait.”

About six Hamilton pedestrians die in traffic accidents every year — a total of 43 since 1995. The May jaywalking blitz will focus on three of Hamilton’s worst intersections: King Street East and Wellington Street, Barton Street East and Kenora Avenue, and Ogilvie Street and Governor’s Road.

Anyone caught disobeying the signals or failing to use the crosswalk could face a fine of up to $40.

Under the Highway Traffic Act, a person can be charged with failing to use the designated crosswalk if they are within 100 metres of the crosswalk.

“We’re just saying: ‘Listen –cross the proper way,'” Rusnak said. “We want to reduce the number of people struck on our streets.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: auto, car culture, enforcement, Hamilton, jay walking, pedestrians, policing, safety, streets, traffic, walking

Thursday July 23, 1998

July 23, 1998 by Graeme MacKay

July 23, 1998

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 23, 1998

People first in downtown

There is no silver bullet to solve the problems plaguing downtown Hamilton. Revitalizing the city core depends on a host of small solutions, including solving the problem of traffic arteries that serve as one-way mini-expressways to speed commuters through the heart of the city. A new study outlining ways to convert one-way streets to two-way is a welcome starting point in creating a downtown that serves pedestrians and businesses first, rather than cars and trucks.

Two-way streets are a bold, controversial concept in a city that has successfully employed a one-way road system in the absence of a major cross-town expressway below the escarpment. But the idea shouldn’t automatically be dismissed as impractical. The community should keep an open mind about radical methods of transforming the downtown core.

Research on the merits and drawbacks of two-way streets is a prerequisite. Many other steps are needed — such as cheaper and more convenient parking, wider sidewalks and more commercial and residential development — regardless of whether two-way streets become a reality. But at minimum, this new study moves downtown planning ahead with preliminary suggestions for more two-way streets.

Some key proposals include converting King and Main to two-way streets from Paradise Road to the Delta; making Cannon and Wilson two-way; and reconstructing and widening Cannon to become an extension of York Boulevard. The Cannon proposal is a substitute for the Perimeter Road, linking Burlington Street to Highway 403. Costing an estimated $250 million or more, the Perimeter Road is currently too expensive for regional taxpayers. But it would be the best route. The region should try to find funding partners for the project.

We have concerns about rebuilding Cannon Street. While cheaper than the initial phase of the Perimeter Road as far as Bay Street, the Cannon proposal would disrupt homes and businesses.

The study — and possible alternative routes — deserve more public meetings. Regional council should continue to get advice from many quarters, including the newly-formed downtown partnership. Two pilot projec ts deserve support. One proposal, converting Bay Street from Main to Cannon to two-way operation, may potentially better connect the rejuvenated bayfront with downtown. A second idea, reducing the number of lanes on King Street, from James to Bay, would allow experiments in parking and more space for pedestrians.

Leadership is needed to find ways of reconciling a vibrant downtown with the traditional mobility that Hamiltonians have enjoyed. A green light for the pilot projects will allow everyone to see where two-way streets fit into a healthier, prosperous downtown. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial, A8, 7/23/1998)

 

Posted in: Hamilton Tagged: automobile, car culture, cars, downtown, Hamilton, highways, Transit

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This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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