I agree Missy and well said...College Park most likely would like see to see this whole city built around his lifestyle, anyways welcome to the UT forum Missy.
Thank You AG, Thank You for understanding that my 85 yr old mother is NOT capable of riding a bike to Roncesvalles to pick up her prescriptions, do her banking and
bring home her mega groceries.
I boggles my mind that most of the people that attended these meetings, who's voices were allowed to be heard, are mostly SINGLE and RENTERS in our community.
They have NO financial vested interest in our community. They are merely transients that will move at a whim to yet another trendy place that will suit their needs, probably using their bikes to make the move. These young, single people without a care in the world, except for their own pleasure should have no voice in these matters at all bcos they do NOT know what responsibility is.
Just about every home owner in this community owns a car & uses it to do their shopping. Yes, some of the younger ones do also own bikes and enjoy our parks for their sport, but they use their cars to do their major shopping......which now will also be a TREMENDOUS hassle for them as it will be for me, to even attempt to find parking on a street that will no longer allow us to make a U-turn to grab that isolated spot on the other side. Hence, they, like me will get so fed up of trying after a few times that they will just say "Awe, forget it, I't just head to Loblaws, No Frills or Sobey's at the Food Terminal.
It boggles my mind that the shop owners voices were NOT heard. Ask them, ask them all & they will tell you the fiasco of those meeting. They will all tell you how they hate the loss of parking spaces, deliver truck spaces and the lack of convience for their car driving customers whether they live in this community or not.
How many born here people that had to move out of this area due to the lack of available housing at that time (no one was selling back then) still loyally make the trip back to their home turf, by car, to shop at their favourite deli's, go to church & banking on this street.
Gord Perks message is loud and clear. "We don't want your stinky cars coming to our neighborhood".
Gord Perks LIED to me on the day he knocked on my door, canvasing for my vote. I had a Rob Ford sign on my lawn and asked him who he was going to support for mayor. He looked at my sign, then at me, then sheepishly on the ground and said that he had not made up his mind as to who he is going to support.
Unfortunately for me, I looked at his web site after I voted to see in plain bold letters "Gord Perks STRONGLY SUPPORTS Slitherman.....(not a typo, merely my opinion of the man that cost us 1 Billion Dollars in the e-Health scam). His office HOUNDED my 85 yr old mom & me on election day, with phone calls and door knocking to make sure we voted for him. They even had the nerve, once at our door, to ask my mother to wake me to make sure that I voted for him. Thank God she refused.
Another LIE that rolled off Gord Perks tongue to me was yesterday when I called him in my livid state, after my experience on Ronces, just outside Qi Health Food Store & Maple Produce, with the new extended sidewalks that made my backing out of the church's driveway a nightmare. No longer will we be allowed to just back up sort of sideways and then merge into traffic as it clears.
His lie was that "All the shop owners wanted these changes." Well I blasted him & kept on blasting him. "The shop owners did not want these ludicrous changes".
He tried to calm me down with "You will see how pretty Ronces will look with all the new trees". Well that got me going even more. I sternly raised my voice to the point one would say it was very, very loud & reminded him that trees don't pay the bills, nor do they fill the coffers of our store owners. And that if I had known that he was Anti Car prior to the election, that I would have made it my mission to enlighten all the car owners in this community that he was against us in favour of cyclists. And that I will make sure that I never ever vote for him or his liberal fumbling, scamming party again. And that I will present all my favourite shops with a farewell card & let them know that I will no longer be able to shop at their stores bcos Ronces is no longer car friendly. Wow, did he loose his Howdy Doody voice at this point. Yep, he had the never to say "You can't do that, it's your responsibility to support the store owners". Well, that demand put me over the top. I found myself standing as my octaves got even louder as I bellowed in a growling voice (trying to suppress my explosive ire), that I swallowed all these years of inconvenience, parking tickets, far away parking, breaking my back to drag my groceries to my car with my poor health and all to support my local merchants, but this is the last straw, that I will not subject myself to anymore torture to make him look good with this fiasco he created and that I will let ALL the shop keepers know why I am leaving and that they will have HIM to blame.
It was priceless......he finally lost his cool........which I hope kept him awake thru the night, knowing that I will make it my mission in life to enlighten the world to his incompetence and prejudice towards those that drive cars out of necessity.
Forgive me, but this is the straw that has finally broken my back. I already left a message for Rob Ford. He will officially be in office this December. Once our streetcars are up and running, I will ask him to accompany me (or a member of his staff) on a Saturday shopping experience on the new grid lock Roncesvalles to see for himself, how
BUSES, YES BUSES could have serviced everyones needs with out creating a grid lock due to these platforms and bulging sidewalks.
This is NOT over by a long shot Mr. Perks.......No, this is not over, this is just the beginning!
WE WANT OUR RONCESVALLES BACK THE WAY IT WAS, A FRIENDLY STREET FOR ALL IT'S SHOPPERS AND NOT YOUR FEW SELECT GROUPS.
And next on my agenda Mr. Perks is go start a petition to demand that all cyclists have to be subjected to the same laws of the road that we car drivers are forced to comply with. That they be forced to complete and pass a road test, obtain a drivers permit/license and plate which will be mandatorily displayed on the back of the bike seats, so that WE can identify them & report them to the police when they are flagrant of road protocol and or causing damage. And yes, they too should be forced to obtain insurance, as there has been many a time that they refuse to stop when a car door is being open and bang into the car, creating damage.
Yes, it's time that these cyclists of yours become responsible road drivers as we all must be. NO MORE FREE LUNCHES MR. PERKS.......PERIOD!
Sorry, but I am so livid over this. I will not back down. It's bcos we all back down that they do what they want with us. Finally we have a mayor that also wants to clean up
our city of all these ridiculous political antics. Finally we have someone that has common sense and WILL listen to us. Our job will be to sign petitions to give him ammunition to work with. It's time that we all stop backing down!
ROADS ARE FOR CARS, SIDEWALKS ARE FOR PEOPLE AND BUSES EASE THE GRID LOCK BURDEN NOT STREETCARS & PLATFORMS.......PERIOD!
