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Is now the time for a grand experiment in active transportation?

This week's Market Squared finally has the developments of a recent city council meeting to discuss. Yippie! (Yes, I typed that.)
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For we happy few that live and breath municipal policy and politics, Thursday was a much-needed hit for our drug of choice.

I say “much-needed” because this was the first socially distant council meeting that allowed for delegates, and some of the usual suspects who frequently delegate at council in-person took the clerks office up on the opportunity.

If I may, I think this taps into something I mentioned in the last Market Squared column: there might be a lot of people sitting at home looking for ways to stay engaged, and the city should be interested in trying to find a way to tap into that. After all, we almost literally have a captive audience at home right now, with the exception for excursions to the grocery store, and sojourns outdoors for exercise.

I think one of the things that was made clear from Thursday’s meeting was that city staff are still trying to figure out their own workflow. I had a conversation this week with treasurer Tara Baker, and not only is her staff trying to manage all the work created by the outbreak, but they’re also still working on regular business, like the external audit, and doing it all from home with the occasional trip to city hall to scan documents.

As city staff is adjusting to the new normal, the Guelph community has showed themselves willing to actively mobilize to address the needs of the community since the beginning of this crisis. It’s commendable, but we’re in the middle game now and we’ve already done all the obvious stuff. It’s harder to find the gaps, and that’s where people need direction.

Otherwise, some people start hogging the agenda with ideas about using the fact that there is less traffic amidst the pandemic to turn the town into an active transportation utopia.

There, I said it.

The majority of the delegates at Thursday’s meeting used a report on managing the COVID-19 response to advocate for the turning of emptier city streets into active transportation paths for bikes, or even pedestrians in places where the sidewalks are especially skinny.

For the record, I’m not against any of these things, and if you can find someone in Guelph media and politics who’s more anti-car than me, I would be very surprised. Right now, I’m not thinking so much about getting out on my bike as I’m thinking about my neighbour who had to take the week off from his job at Costco because of the stress.

I also feel compelled to point out the incredible privilege of advocating for more bike paths as so many of our fellow citizens are struggling with the stress of more bills than income. And then there are parents trying to keep up with their children’s lessons in an online world without resources like ease of internet access or a decent computer.

The advocates were also saying that more active transportation paths can create alternatives for essential workers to get to their jobs without taking the bus or using a car. Sorry, but in my considerable experience getting around town on my own two feet, Guelph does not make it easy, and there are huge gaps in terms of trails and pathways where there are no direct routes between two parts of town.

It seems like a million years ago, but it was just February when a planning colloquium hosted by the city got many in Guelph’s leadership applauding the idea of a car-free city, or at least car-free portions of the city. My criticism now is the same as my criticism then: once you get out of the core, this is not a town built to be car-less in, and the only ones who seem to know that are the people who by choice or by circumstance already live a no-car lifestyle.

I admit that I also found the arguments from deputy CAO Kealy Dedman persuasive. How does the city establish an active transportation wonderland while at the same time loudly broadcasting Public Health’s message to say the heck at home? We’ve seen in the last few weeks the tricky balancing act between telling people it’s okay to get outside for exercise, but its not okay to gather in a crowds at the park.

Also, and I’m far from being that fiscal conservative guy, but is it really prudent for the city to be ordering cones and barriers to shut down lanes temporarily? Didn’t I see a report somewhere that said the pandemic has blown a $9 million hole in the budget we’re legally bared from running a deficit on?

Now I have no wish to undermine the passion and advocacy of our active transportation heroes, and I would like to think that there might be a mass awakening of the simple joys of a car-free lifestyle post-pandemic, but is now the time to invest so much time and energy in a social engineering experiment where there are already a lot of barriers?

On the other hand, it’s kind of nice to know that not much has changed since we’ve all went into lockdown about a month ago.

P.S. Send more council meetings, please.


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Adam A. Donaldson

About the Author: Adam A. Donaldson

In addition to writing his weekly political column for GuelphToday, Adam A. Donaldson writes and manages Guelph Politico, frequently writes for Nerd Bastards and sometimes has to do less cool things for a paycheque.
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