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Traffic and MHBPNA Advocacy

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On July 8th of last year (2015), three Mt. Hope residents came out to a Neighbourhood Association meeting and voiced their concerns about the speed of vehicles driving along Waterloo St.  The increase in traffic flow because of the closure of King (and what seems like any other street that gets you anywhere) was spurring a noticeable increase in the through traffic.  

As a response to this concern the MHBPNA, contacted the Waterloo Regional Police Services, and worked with our Community Resource Officer to bring attention to this issue.  

On August 20th, we were assured that Waterloo St would be added to the STEP program (Selective Traffic Enforcement Program).  This program helps designate time for enforcement in our hood.  This is the right path to slowing traffic by increasing the police presence and ticketing careless drivers.

This summer (2016) we heard of some enforcement happening in the Waterloo St area, and inquired to see if this was part of STEP.  It actually was not.  We learned that our STEP was run in the last quarter of 2015, October 1st to December 31st.  Most of the bad drivers had already found better routes around the construction.  Nonetheless, 1 hour total was spent specifically performing, STEP, and yielded no charges.

In February of 2016, after another meeting with our Community Resource Officer, an internal request for more enforcement along Waterloo St was made by our CRO.

As for Highway Traffic Act charges on Waterloo St that were a result of regular patrols, vehicle stop, etc: 12 charges have been laid.  These range from driving under suspension, equipment infractions and administrative charges.

Recently we spoke again with our Community Resource Officer about traffic.  It happened to be outdoors, and we could hear cars on other roads squealing tires, and revving engines.  He wasn’t surprised and stated that it happens in every neighbourhood, including his own.  The only way to truly enforce speed in neighbourhoods is to use photo radar.  The reality is there are 15 officers on duty at any given time, and between mental health issues, car accidents, etc, our officers are taxed.

It’s not that officers don’t care about our neighbourhood, or the bad drivers, it’s that there are many other issues happening all shift long.  As demonstrated above, 1 hour in 4 months won’t solve the problems we all see exist regarding traffic in our hood.  

This story is an example of how advocacy works. There are no simple answers to issues like traffic calming but it helps to understand the problem and the resources that are available. Some residents along Waterloo St. have erected hand-made signs asking drivers to slow down and the Region has posted many black and orange “Drive Slow” signs in Mt. Hope so these might help as well.
The MHBPNA has spent several hours meeting with police and other officials over this one issue and we will continue to monitor traffic across our ‘hood (getting the 50K signs installed on Weber St is another example of our work with politicians and staff).

We welcome residents to continue attending our meetings and talk to us about their concerns.

Finally, please be a good driver!  Call out bad drivers! Make it a habit to travel in your hood under 40km/h.  Bet you won’t even notice how much longer it will take you to get home.

mhbpna@gmail.com

The Urban Orchard

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Two years ago, I read an article about the Urban Orchards being set up in Seattle.  There have been many built around North America, but I was intrigued by the version described in the article.  I wondered if our NA could support something like this, and how it would all come together.  

Over the past two years, I have done a great deal of research, met many people doing agriculture work on City property, and talked to anyone I could about an Urban Orchard in our ‘hood.  For the most part, I found everyone, including the City, to be very supportive of this idea.  One of the most supportive was Adam Spencer, a local trained Horticulture Technician, who has agreed to help spearhead the project.

July 21st 7:00-8:30pm
Room 109 Breithaupt Centre

As I talked to people around the City, it was hard to distinguish what an Urban Orchard is, and how it differs from a Community Garden.  An Urban Orchard is a planting of trees, fruit bearing shrubs, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and other native fruit bearing plants.  This type of Urban Orchard is relatively self sufficient.  Once a year, volunteers would need to prune back the previous years growth to encourage new growth, and weeds need to be kept at bay.  That is about it. Community Gardens have much more administration and mainly benefit the people who manage their plots.  An Urban Orchard benefits all who walk through it, is open for all to enjoy and anyone is welcome to “harvest”. 

In May of 2016, the MHBPNA, agreed to support this initiative, and our first meeting is set for July 21st 2016 from 7:00-8:30pm in Room 109 at the Breithaupt Centre.  While we have lots of ideas of what we would like; ultimately, it will come down to the Urban Garden that the community wants to build, in the location the community wants.

If you cannot attend this meeting, please email us and we will keep you updated. 

Lane Burman
CoChair MHBPNA



Graffiti Busters

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When the Region originally shared the plans for the Weber St. widening the MHBPNA discussed with them the problem of graffiti. They did not adjust their design and graffiti has been a problem for the area around Weber and Victoria. It has been cleaned up but only after we have brought it to their attention.  As of June 2016, this area is still the responsibility of the contractor.

In the past few weeks we have heard complaints about graffiti along the Spur Line trail. We walked the trail three weeks ago and were startled by the amount we discovered. We contacted several City of Kitchener and Regional politicians as well as Regional staff because we were unsure who was currently responsible for the trail. We sent them several photos we had taken so they could understand the severity of the problem. It took staff more than two weeks to respond so while we were waiting we arranged an appointment with Gloria McNeil  who is the Interim Director of By-Law for the City of Kitchener. She was happy to meet on the trail and walk along it for an inspection.

[A side note is warranted here because, Gloria has been a great help to our community for many years. The Neighbourhood Mobilization Alliance met for over 10 years to discuss with By-Law, Police and Fire issues in our MHBP area and Gloria attended some of those meetings and was always helpful. She has also responded to many of our complaints about 152 Shanley].

Gloria was startled by the state of the trail and it took her several emails and communications to find out who was responsible. We also received a detailed response from Peter Linn, the project manager for the Spur Line and Weber Widening from the Region around the same time.

It seems that the work is still not finished on the trail and the contractor has several issues to resolve. Ultimately the trail will be the responsibility of the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo (though most of it is in Kitchener). But for now the Region is still responsible and that is who ultimately cleaned it up. We were very happy with the speed at which the issue was resolved after the city of Kitchener became involved. 

The Mt. Hope – Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association has also advocated for vines and other foliage to be planted along the walls of the trail as this is one of the best ways to discourage graffiti (the other way to discourage it is to report it and clean it quickly). The Region has already agreed to plant along the noise barrier walls along Weber St.

Margaret Ave Resurfacing Update

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On Wednesday June 1st, the MHBPNA had a unique opportunity to provide input to the City of Kitchener regarding the Margaret Ave Bike Lanes from a neighbourhood perspective.  We invited some members of our neighbourhood on a “ride along” Margaret Ave. and Union St. 
You may remember back in 2012, the City announced that Margaret Avenue was going on a ‘diet’.  Their plan was to narrow the lanes, define the parking spots and bike lanes.  The first attempt at this was not well implemented.  There were a lot of jogs, and the lines were not painted smoothly.  When we complained the City agreed and we heard of a ‘shave and pave’* of Margaret Ave with new painted bike lanes.  Then the Margaret Ave Bridge crisis occurred and the construction was put on hold.  The City then painted the lanes to a new configuration that took into account some of the concerns of riders and residents. Unfortunately, again the lines were not painted well, the paint truck broke down and this led to a mess in some places that confused a lot of people.

One point we should make about road painting is that the lines degrade much more quickly than in the past.  The Government of Ontario no longer allows epoxy to be applied to roads so only water based paints can be used.  Water based paint wears much more quickly so no matter how you paint, it will wear off.  The option of thermoplast, where a plastic is melted to the road surface is available, but is very costly. This process is generally restricted to things like the bike icons on the streets.

Every now and then we touch base with the transportation department.  One of the questions asked was about the ‘shave and pave’*.  We were thrilled to learn that it would be happening this summer (2016).

The City of Kitchener was willing to meet with us on bikes to ride the lanes and talk about some of the issues we saw prior to any work being done.  This was a great opportunity to learn about their planning process and to get answers to questions about some of the other designs we see around the world.

Some points we made included the poor quality of the painting, the poor quality of the actual bike lane, the jogs that still exist at Blucher St, and Guelph St, the varying widths of the lanes, and the inconsistency of the signage both on the road and on a post.

The city was aware of many of these issues and we were pleased with their  responses to our questions. They had been over this route frequently on their bikes and wanted to make it better.
We learned that there will be some challenges around the pedestrian island at the Giant Tiger.  The city is planning to widen the road slightly (and cut into the existing boulevard) to allow the bike lanes to be wider through this area, one of the tightest areas on the route.  We also learned that the painting will be done by the contractor and that there will indeed be a redesign to ensure it is more comfortable to ride for all ages.

It was very interesting discussing the importance of cycling in our community with people that are on our side.  The City of Kitchener has many people who are committed to biking and the Cycling Master Plan is alive and well and being looked at constantly.  My suggestion?  Buy a bike.

* A ‘shave and pave’, refers to a process where a series of machines work inline to first shave the top layer of asphalt, crush it, heat it and repave the road.  The road will be a lot smoother for both bikes and cars.

Lane Burman
CoChair MHBPNA

Transit Hub: Your Opinion Matters

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The Region of Waterloo put on a great display about the Transit Hub yesterday. They are seeking input on the Waterloo Street entrance and there are three options. 

If you could not make it to their presentation the display panels are on this page and you can still provide input into the design by clicking on the “Engage Region of Waterloo” link. Please contribute to the discussion!

Waterloo St. will have an entrance for local residents to access the hub via walking or biking. Duke St. will be the main “bike path” access and there are plans for a bike and walking path from Duke to King and past (eventually connecting with the Iron Horse Trail).

To clarify: staff are seeking input into the Waterloo St. entrance to the hub. The size and configuration of the actual hub is still to be determined and will depend on the private partner(s), market forces, other downtown development and the timing of the eventual heat death of the universe (this last point is more for long term planning).

Transit Hub Public Information Session

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The following is from the Region of Waterloo’s website:

 

The King & Victoria Transit Hub

The Region of Waterloo has purchased land at the north-east corner of King and Victoria streets for a transit hub. The lands extend north to the rail line and east to Duke Street. The future transit hub will connect many different types of transportation including ION light rail transit, Grand River Transit, expanded GO train and bus, VIA Rail, Greyhound, Coach Canada, CarShare, pedestrians and cyclists. Travellers will be able to make smooth, accessible and convenient connections at the new transit hub.

The transit hub vision is to be more than a place to connect to transit. It will bring people and businesses to Waterloo Region and connect them to the Toronto-Waterloo Region technology corridor.

Come explore the plans for the future transit hub

The Region of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener invite you to explore the plans for the future transit hub at an open house.

Date: May 19, 2016
Time: 4 to 8 p.m.
Location: Regional Administrative Headquarters, 150 Frederick St., Kitchener

At the open house, you can find out about the transit hub plan and site options. You’ll also be able to provide your thoughts on the Waterloo Street design concepts and pedestrian overpass/underpass options. Staff will be present to answer your questions.

We had a meeting!

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Every month the MHBPNA has an “executive” meeting which is open to the public. These occur on the first Wednesday (7 pm) or Saturday (10 am) of the month and are upstairs in the Breithaupt Centre.

We always have a basic agenda though “new business” is welcomed. The first hour is a general discussion of our neighbourhood, events, ideas, etc. The second hour is “executive discussion.” The public can still attend and talk but only executive members can vote on motions.

The next meeting will always be shown on our website here on the top right under “Calendar”. 

At our last meeting (May 7th) we discussed:

–Our meetings with Regional planners over the Transit Hub and Waterloo Street options
–A Victoria Common newsletter that is getting started and how we can reach out to the folks who are living there now.
–The timing and content for our next physical newsletter
–A review of our very successful Earth Day Cleanup (a co-project with the Mary Allen neighbourhood of Waterloo). We had over 40 people come to our section of the Spur Line trail and collected several bags of garbage and wound up some thick cable left behind by the company building the trail. And we almost won the “most interesting item” contest!
–Update on Lippert Park. Apparently it should be done by July and they are resurfacing the tennis/basketball courts.
–We have MANY exciting programs in the fall which include: Creative Lego (ages 4-6), Mechanical Lego (ages 7-8), Daytime Lego (ages 9-12), Introduction to Aromatherapy and some Vegetarian Cooking classes. We will announce these in more detail when registration is open for them and we have definite time slots.

Everyone in Mt Hope – Breithaupt Park is welcome to attend our meetings. Find out what is going on in our area. If you are planning an event we can help with ideas and perhaps provide some funding.

2016 Jane’s Walk Weekend a Success!

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Jane’s Walk 2016 had a great turnout in Waterloo region and especially in our MHBP neighbourhood. There were several walks that included MHBP including Wayne’s Mt. Hope Cemetery Walk (the theme this year was the 1916 name change from Berlin to Kitchener….we came close to living in Brock!), a walk on the Spur Line starting at Smile Tiger Coffee, a “children’s initiated” walk in Duke Street Playground and our own MHBPNA sponsored walk starting at the historic Greb shoe factory and progressing along Breithaupt Street while discussing both history and urban renewal.

We all had a great chance to learn a few things about Kitchener, Waterloo and other areas. And, perhaps most important, we met our neighbours and talked about places and people. 

MHBPNA will have more events in the summer and fall. Please stay tuned!

Spur Line Trail is “officially” open

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On Friday April 15th, politicians, Municipal and Regional Staff and a few residents gathered to block the Waterloo Spur Line Trail for the official ribbon cutting ceremony.  This irony was not lost on Mayor Vrbanovic, who commented on it.

It was great to see so much support for the trail from the politicians.  Catherine Fife’s representative specifically mentioned the support the Mary Allen Neighbourhood Association and the Mt Hope Breithaupt Park Neighbourhood Association have given to the project.
Tom Galloway, one of our Regional Councillors, also took the opportunity to announce that there has been a resolution regarding the ‘jog’ in the trail between Roger and Moore.  This is good news for everyone.
Eventually, the multi use trail will run parallel to the rail corridor and into the Transit Hub at King and Victoria.  Through some new funding the Spur Line trail will be continued through Uptown to Waterloo Park in the coming year.
There is still some tweaking of the lights to be done.  By the end of April, the software that controls the lights should be able to dim them in the late evening hours.  The LED lights installed have a very intense light that is tightly focused on the ground.  This helps to minimize overall light pollution. 

Join us next Saturday (April 23) to celebrate Earth Day as we join forces with the Mary Allen Neighbourhood Association to clean up the trail.  We will be meeting at Wilhelm and Weber St at 9:30am and the cleanup will end with a BBQ hosted by the MANA at Mary Allen Park at 11:00am.  Bring gloves if you can, we will supply bags.

Lane Burman
CoChair MHBPNA 
photo by “Joan”