[getsmart-l] Encouraging walking will not undermine efforts for Mid-Pen Highway

[Janet May]

*http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=765324&auth=Doug+H
erod

 

November 6, 2007

 

Herod's Column

Region encouraging walking won't undermine efforts for mid-pen highway
November 6, 2007 Doug Herod*

 

I'm not saying certain Niagara regional councillors are a little paranoid
when it comes to the proposed mid-peninsula highway, but ...

 

They suspected walkers were out to torpedo their favourite project.

 

Allow me to explain.

 

Several weeks ago, the good folks at the Region were blithely listening to
one of those motherhood and apple pie presentations that frequently pop up
at council.

 

On this occasion, it was a pitch to help set a Guinness world record for
most people simultaneously walking a kilometre.

 

Whether or not the provincewide effort would pay off in victory was fairly
irrelevant. The main point was to promote walking as a form of exercise and
as a neglected way of travelling to the local store, school or park.

 

A companion piece that night to the world record try was a bid to get the
Region to sign the International Charter for Walking. The charter aims to
create "a culture where people choose to walk," according to the literature
of the sponsoring group, Walk21.

 

Those signing the charter "recognize the benefits of walking as a key
indicator of healthy, efficient, socially inclusive and sustainable
communities, and acknowledge the universal rights of people to be able to
walk safely and to enjoy high-quality public spaces anywhere and at
anytime."

 

Like I said. Motherhood and apple pie.

 

Regional Chairman Peter Partington was more than happy to sign on.

 

The next presentation at the Sept. 27 council meeting was a consultant's
study touting the value of the mid-peninsula highway.

 

The document, commissioned by the the Region and the City of Hamilton,
suggests untold riches will come our way if the new highway is built.

Conversely, we'll turn into an economic basket case if it isn't.

 

Fine. Two rubber-stamp jobs in a row for regional councillors, right?

 

Wrong-o.

 

St. Catharines Regional Coun. Tim Rigby didn't like the smell of things.

 

Rigby was OK with the "wonderful" presentation on the mid-peninsula highway,
less so with the travel-by-foot stuff.

 

While he supported the world record attempt and the idea we should be
walking at every opportunity, he was, well, a little scared of the charter's
possible implications.

 

More specifically, he worried if supporting the charter might affect the
Region's ability to lobby for the highway.

 

The charter seems to refer to the urban experience, acknowledged Rigby, but
the reality is Niagara has plenty of rural land with lots of spaces between
communities.

 

Applied to Niagara, is the message of the charter that we walk between these
communities, he asked.

 

"I'm wondering, are we now going to start to look to building walkways
between our communities, and perhaps suggest that in the (mid-peninsula)
corridor we would be creating a walkway rather than a highway?

 

"This is where I get a little perplexed. What are our priorities here?"

he asked, adding that perhaps regional staff should "take a look at the
charter and what it really means."

 

Partington said he was pretty sure the charter wouldn't affect Niagara's
ability to grow, but he wasn't about to dismiss Rigby's concerns.

 

"Clearly, you raise some issues," he told Rigby.

 

Council dutifully ordered staff to investigate.

 

Yes, indeed, citizens of Niagara, your taxpayer money was put to work to
determine if there was a sinister side to the International Charter of
Walking.

 

The result? A five-paragraph staff report that suggested council chill out.

 

The charter and the highway study address separate transit matters, members
of the planning and public works committee were told last week.

 

The highway document deals with the movement of goods at international and
inter-regional levels; the charter speaks to the movement of people in
neighbourhoods and urban centres where walkability is a "practical option."

 

Both are worth supporting in order to "create healthy, sustainable
communities within an economically vibrant region."

 

Phew!

 

Motherhood and apple pie escape with their reputations intact.

 

 

 

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