St. George's Ward election story

On Tuesday, October 5, all of the St. George's ward candidates received the following e-mail from Matthew VanDongen at the St. Catharines Standard:

On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 10:48 AM, Matthew VanDongen wrote:
Hi folks, the Standard's ward profile for St. George's is slated to run in the print edition Oct. 7.
That includes your photos and 'ball card' profiles, as well as a short story highlighting a particular issue of interest in the ward.
In this case, we've chosen the always-tricky issue of adding (or not!) more residential sidewalks.  I know the city new plan calls for making the city more walkable, which includes adding more sidewalks. But often, neighbours differ on whether they're needed or wanted.  Does St. George's need and walkability upgrade? Should we continue adding residential street sidewalks only by petition?
I'd like to hear what you think. We'll include concise, verbatim candidate answers on our website along with the story if they're submitted by the end of tomorrow.
I may also plunder your answers for use within the story!
You can reach me by e-mail or at 905-684-7251 ext. 260.
Cheers, Matthew


My full response to Matthew's inquiry was:

Laura Ip to mvandongen
show details Oct 5 (2 days ago)

Hi, Matthew

I've actually received three calls this week asking my opinion on walkable communities. In each case, the resident was looking for the community to be more walkable/accessible, as they either are just tired of taking much longer routes to get to where they want to go because of a lack of sidewalks where they are; or because they use an assistive device and sidewalks or other paths end abruptly, forcing them onto the road.

I am a strong advocate for safe communities and walkable communities. In both cases, sidewalks fall in line.

The city calls for being a walkable community in their plan. They need to follow-through on that.

There are a number of existing neighbourhoods in St. George's ward that do not have sidewalks and, in my opinion, need them. If a nieghbourhood is so close to a school that children would reasonably be walking to that school, then the City needs to add sidewalks. Further, if streets in a neighbourhood are used as cut-throughs between major streets, sidewalks need to be added for the safety of the residents who may be walking in that area. The Wakelin Terrace/Royal Manor Drive area is a good example of both of these.

Where these two things are not in play, then sidewalks should either be added when the road goes under construction, as it will be less expensive (to a degree) to add sidewalks at that point, or when the residents petition the City.

In every case, the City needs to be communicating with the residents and at least providing them with notice of work that is to come, as it will change the landscape of their neighbourhood and be disruptive for a brief time.

With fewer and fewer people relying on cars, whether by choice or necessity, we need to ensure that our communities are safe and accessible for everyone.

Laura