Frontal Letter

6 June 2005
Dr. Peter George,
President
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West,
Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8
Re: Safety concerns associated with McMaster's new vehicle entrance.

Dear Dr. George,

I am writing on behalf of Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC), a working group of McMaster's chapter of OPIRG (Ontario Public Research Interest Group).

In the interest of improved sustainability and safety we write to you during the Commuter Challenge week. TLC members believe that McMaster University has not properly addressed several safety and transportation issues related to the new front entrance. We outline these problems along with suggestions for improvements below.

1. The "Front Entrance Design" document states that: "Permit holders for Zone 3 will not be permitted to use the new road. Only HSR and GO buses, occasional visitors to campus, and service vehicles will use it. Projected volume is very low - similar to that of a local street" (page 14 of The Draft Report, April 2004). We have heard, however, a few rumours that this clear promise by several McMaster administrators will not be kept. Given the persistency of these rumours, we wish to receive an explicit plan outlining how Physical Plant intends to enforce usage of the entrance only by HSR buses and occasional visitors and service vehicles (GO buses are already diverted from the central campus, an arrangement that should represent a positive and permanent change).
We suggest the following: 

1. The Welcome Booth should have a stop sign and a large sign informing ALL Vehicles (with the exception of buses, bikes and emergency vehicles) to stop and check in. This Welcome Booth must be staffed from 7:30 AM until 10:00 PM to prevent reckless cruising of vehicles into the heart of McMaster.
2. Only Visitors who pay the parking fee should be allowed to drive past the booth. This restriction must apply to drop-offs if there is to be limited traffic on campus.
3. The staff working at the Welcome Booth should alert Campus Security if vehicles drive through without stopping and Security should respond quickly and ticket violators. Campus security must also closely monitor the entrance when the Welcome Booth will not be staffed.
4. McMaster University is formally committed to integrating with its surrounding community. Unfortunately, McMaster's administration has not bothered to insist upon the most basic pedestrian need, which is one-stage crossing of Main St, as part of the new front entrance design. This is in spite of the fact that this is a main thoroughfare of pedestrian traffic between the neighbourhoods south of Main St. and McMaster and the hospital. It is telling that a few hundred meters west of McMaster, the new Fortinos store has shown better care of its customers and managed to negotiate with the city of Hamilton two favourable traffic lights that stop simultaneously the two-way traffic on Main St for extended periods. The two-way traffic is also stopped simultaneously in two other intersections just east of McMaster. Arranging a single-stage crossing at Main street by working with city stuff will show necessary commitment to the safety of pedestrians and improved community atmosphere.

The intersection next to the A.N. Bournes Building is expected to become busy because drivers parking in parking lot zone 3 will have to use the Cootes Drive entrance. Unfortunately, the intersection is poorly designed and extremely dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists using the official alternative transportation route, which goes through McMaster and across Cootes Drive. The problem with this intersection is that alternative transportation users travel along an east-west route while automobiles travel along an east-north route AND north-south route, hence creating a dangerous conflict within a giant asphalt zone.

We urge you to take immediate steps for changing this intersection. To avoid health and safety risks to students and staff, temporary alterations will be necessary by the start of the next school year in September 2005. We suggest that the currently much too wide and ambiguous intersection will be changed into a full 4-way intersection with 4-way stop signs. The intersection would consist of three narrow roads from the east, north (the Cootes entrance) and south (the parking lot) and the alternative transportation route from the west. A temporary solution may involve stop signs and bollards.

McMaster University has worsened the situation at the Cootes crossing by creating a hazardous "temporary truck entrance". For safety reasons this entrance needs to be closed permanently by September 8th, 2005 and we suggest the removal of the asphalt and landscaping in the summer of 2006.

To show some commitment towards alternative transportation concerns the University must take this opportunity to enhance cycling and walking on campus and downplay the domination of automobiles. Even though the section of University Avenue north of the front entrance is supposed to be a pedestrian-priority area, pedestrian traffic is currently very restricted with two narrow sidewalks while the limited vehicular traffic enjoys unnecessarily ultra-wide lanes. If there is any real commitment to pedestrians on campus the sidewalks must be widened into the area that is currently roadway. The roadway should be reduced to the minimum 7 m necessary for two vehicular lanes. We assume that the wide roadway that is just being completed in the first phase of the front entrance construction is necessary to negotiate the curve. The opportunity to narrow the roadway for the remaining section heading North towards Gilmore Hall will enhance quality of life on campus.

We are pleased that raised pedestrian crossings have been implemented in the new road design. We wish to ensure that the two busy intersections northeast and northwest of the Psychology Building would have the necessary 3-way stop signs. Furthermore a sufficient number of signs must indicate the posted 20 k/h speed limit and warn drivers that they travel in pedestrian-priority area. Finally, official "no entry" traffic signs (buses, bikes and service vehicles excluded) will be necessary at prominent locations leading north into the limited access portion of University Avenue. Both the limited access and speed limited should be strictly enforced.

We understand that McMaster's administration wishes to make the campus more automobile friendly in order to increase the university's visibility to potential donors. However, many of the talented academics you wish to attract to and retain at McMaster place great value on the quality of life on campus. It is thus unfortunate that McMaster officials fail to understand and provide for the emotional and safety needs of its students, staff and employees. This failure reduces McMaster's competitiveness among Canadian Universities. TLC members look forward to receiving a detailed reply to our requests soon.

Sincerely yours,


Jim

James S. Quinn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
For Transportation for Liveable Communities.
CC Mr. Tommy Piribauer, President, MSU.
Dr. Betty Ann Levy, President, MUFA
Councillor Brian McHattie
Ms. Nancy Wilk (to be distributed to the Central Joint Health and Safety Committee and to the various faculty or building Joint Health and Safety committees)
TLC

Dundas Walk-About

TLC Members "Walk-About" Dundas with ward councillor Art Samson

Members of TLC arranged a "walk-about" with Dundas ward 13 councillor Art Samson to look at sustainable transportation from the ground up.

Roads without proper sidewalks, no convenient bike racks near stores, missing ramps for wheelchairs, crosswalks that don't align with ramps were all noticed during the exploratory walk.

Transit, or lack thereof was also discussed, as were the lack of bike lanes on Hatt Street, and the need to protect the Spencer Creek trail as a through footpath were also on the agenda.

CAR FREE WEEK IN HAMILTON!

MUSICAL LINE-UP FOR RECLAIM THE STREET PARTY, Sept. 25. 
A WEEK OF CAR FREE EVENTS! September 20 - 26, 2004
contact info for each event below

Monday, September 20, GUIDED BUS 'N HIKE trip from McMaster University to Spencer Gorge (Tews/Websters Falls). Take a city bus then hike the beautiful Spencer Gorge to Websters Falls in Dundas.
Meet your guide, Tony Hendry, at the front entrance of the McMaster Medical Centre (Main Street) at 5:30 p.m. sharp. Full-time McMaster Students use your student card with valid HSR sticker for a free ride.
Bring water and a snack, wear proper clothing, some section rugged terrain. Aprox. 2 hour trip.
Contact Tony: Nocleanair@aol.com

Tuesday, September 21, GUIDED BICYCLE TOUR from McMaster to the Waterfront Trail. Local Historian Brian Henley will mount-up to lead the bicycle tour of the historical harbour along a multi-use path (i.e. suitable for cycling, roller blading and walking). (Under two-hours, easy ride)
Meet at McMaster University's Wentworth House (at Sterling Street) at 5:45 p.m. sharp.
Bring your bike in to the Mac Cycle Co-Op (at Wentworth House) an hour before the departure for a free bike check up! Contact Paul: PAUL.UY@learnlink.mcmaster.ca

Tuesday, September 21, CAR FREE ART, POETRY, MUSIC and FILM night, 7:30 p.m. at the STAIRCASE CAFE THEATRE (27 Dundurn Street North) Celebrate Car Free Day with performances by poets Jeff Seffinga, April A. Severin, Tony Hendry, music by Pauline Kajiura, and John Buffalo Shield plus OPEN MIC.
Check out the CAR FREE ART SHOW in the cafe with art by Gord Pullar, April A. Severin, Richard Preston, Peter Karuna, Tony Hendry, Myles Hagar, Matt McInnis, Jennifer Weiler, Cees Van Gemerden, and others. Contact April: aseverin@sympatico.ca
At 9:00 p.m. it's the feature film RUN LOLA RUN! in the Staircase Theatre.


Wednesday, September 22, CAR FREE DAY street parties - It's your street, take it back! Invite your neighbours out for a traffic-calming street-party. Turn the tables on cars by making them "visitors" in your area. Don't want to party? Hold a street garage sale, road hockey, etc. Going for it? We want to know about it! Send an e-mail to grassroots@hwcn.org. Contact Randy - grassroots@hwcn.org

Wednesday, September 22, McMaster Celebrates Car Free with a non-stop cycle of events, including Quadricycle tours with Darryl, cargo carts, H20 for cyclists and transit riders and more. Mac Cycle will be doing repair workshops, safe cycling course and bike buddy offers
Thursday, September 23 - "BIKE DRIVE-IN" at GAGE PARK BANDSHELL. Free Car Free movies outdoors in beautiful Gage Park (Gage and Main, Hamilton) Movies begin at dusk. Contact Gord: gp@nas.net


Friday, September 24 - CRITICAL MASS BIKE RIDE, 5:30 pm Hess and George Street. Since May 1998, Hamilton Critcal Mass has been taking the street to celebrate one of humanity's best-loved inventions: The Bicycle! Grab a friend and head down to Hess Village for this 45 minute tour of the downtown.

Saturday, September 25 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.- STREET RECLAIMING - King William between James and Hughson is the place to be Saturday for the CAR FREE STREET RECLAIMING PARTY. Pepper Jack Cafe is hosting a musical event featuring tonnes of local talent including Matthew de Zoete, The Perennials, John Plescan, Punchbuggy Yellow, Soup & Ante, Raging Grannies and more. TLC is supplying the sod to convert pavement into a green oasis, and there will be street performers, magicians, the Scorpiotron interactive drum-kit/sculpture, face painting, badminton, and free bike repair clinics by Recycle Cycles.


While you are there check out the local eateries for some downtown cooking.
Walk, Cycle, Take the Bus, Car Pool, but get there for the best street party in Hamilton!
Randy contact grassroots@hwcn.org 905-627-2696

Sunday, September 26 - CAR FREE COOTES - Ward One councillor Brian McHattie will lead a nature hike in the Carolinian forest and wetland known as Cootes Paradise. Owned by the Royal Botanical Gardens, it is steps away from the Westdale/McMaster/Dundas areas.
Brian is former President of the Hamilton Naturalist Club.
Meet at 10:00 a.m. at the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) McMaster office in the McMaster Student Centre room 229. Contact Randy: grassroots@hwcn.org

Background

Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC) is an all-volunteer "working group" of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) McMaster. TLC takes an active roll in advocating and agitating for sustainable transportation options for Hamilton.
 
TLC began celebrating Car Free Day in 2000 with a street demonstration/party and parade downtown Hamilton.

Europe has been holding annual CFD celebrations and events since 1999.

By far our most successful event was a STREET PARTY on King William Street, just east of Hughson in 2002 (last year's party got rained out).

Street musicians including Steve Sinnicks and Raging Grannies, Live DJs, Huffy the Clown with his balloon art, we even unrolled sod to temporarily de-pave the street. We used "street-hockey ettiquite" to limit access to motor vehicles.

One of the goals in celebrating Car Free Day is to get people thinking about streets as public spaces and the way cars have encroached and despoiled our city. It's also a chance to be part of an experiment to transform the space into a more liveable, community-supportive environment. Yes, you are allowed to have fun!

In past years we've had support from the Art Gallery of Hamilton, where two successive Sundays were given over to bike-themed films shown at the gallery for Car Free Day. One year, the Hamilton Street Railway provided thousands of Car Free Day leaflets on all their buses. Our cousins at Recycle Cycles have provided free bike tune-ups, and the ACT office at McMaster has been a great community partner.

We've had articles in the Hamilton Spectator and VIEW magazine and reports on Hamilton Indymedia and CFMU 93.3 fm about Car Free Day, and continue to work to expand the event.

Racing Away with the Cycling Money

WORLD CYCLING RACE - HAMILTON 2003 - "Cycling is not just a sport"

Cycling Is Not Just A Sport: It's Also Transportation!
 
City Council will have a difficult time ignoring the concerns of city cyclists when bike advocates show up to the 2nd floor council chambers with their vehicles.

On Thursday, Hamilton City Council's Committee of the Whole will be voting to "fast track" almost $12 million worth of road improvements so the city can host the 2003 World Cycling Championships.


The work being done for the World Championships will do nothing to make the streets safer for cyclists who live and ride in Hamilton all the time, even though three cyclists have already been killed by motor vehicles on Hamilton's roads this year, and many more injured.

Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC) is demanding that the city recognize that cycling is not just a sport but also a sustainable means of transportation, and fast track plans to make it a safer option in Hamilton.

Roads made up 46% of the city's 2001 capital budget. Approximately $29.3 million will be going towards expressways, particularly the Lincoln Alexander Expressway, and another $33.5 million will be going towards other road projects. The capital budget for cycling projects is only $300,000.

In a city where 20% of households lack cars, and 40% of residents say they cycle regularly or occasionally (Hamilton-Wentworth Community Cycling Survey, 1997), spending $209 on car-centric capital improvements for every $1 on cycling is not acceptable.

The city already has plans that, though imperfect, could make the roads safer for cyclists, and might prevent future deaths. TLC demands that the city immediately implement "Shifting Gears: A New Cycling Plan For The Hamilton-Wentworth" as well as the traffic calming measures for downtown as suggested in "Putting People First: Downtown Transportation Plan."

Transportation for Liveable Communities is a group of Hamilton citizens and McMaster university students committed to promoting sustainable means of transportation--walking, running, cycling, and public transit. We will be attending the Committee of the Whole meeting (Thursday, August 9, 2 pm, Hamilton City Hall's council chambers), along with our helmets, our reflective gear, and our bikes, to demand that City Council make it a priority to support cycling-as-transportation by fast tracking the money to make substantial, immediate capital improvements, just as it will be doing for cycling-as-sport.

MASS ANXIETY

by Randy Kay, April 3–9, 2003

Critical Mass Hamilton came out of hibernation last Friday with a “Pedal For Peace Critical Mass Bike Ride.”

Perhaps it was the mention of the word “Peace” but as the first cyclists arrive at the usual meeting spot at Hess and George Streets, squad cars of Hamilton’s finest are there, one idling in the pedestrian zone, another slowly cruising the area. Two beat cops stroll by to add to the police presence.

The threat? Today it is a peaceful group of cyclists who will ride together in a “mass” and feel safe on city streets as they celebrate alternatives to the private automobile. In a ride that’s too fun to be fully understood as a protest, Critical Mass has the power to fleetingly transform streets normally dominated by exhaust–spewing, carnage–producing motor vehicles and aggressive drivers.

At 5:10pm, one officer suggest he is unimpressed with the numbers, as only a dozen cyclists are on site greeting each other, talking amongst themselves. But slowly, steadily, more riders appear, cruising in from the north, south, east and west, until 20 minutes later the area is filled with 50–60 cyclists, in–line skaters and an intrepid McMaster student on an unicycle. The officer doesn’t mention numbers again, but begins vainly searching for a “leader.”

Fortunately, the cliché about leaders is easily disrupted by a gathering of Critical Mass. For example: police want to know the route, but the route is organic and depends on the mood and initiative of the Mass.

The Mass weaves through the downtown as people make decisions on the fly, ride “leaders”constantly in flux. Tired of hanging around with the paternalistic police, bicycle bells start to chime and at 5:38pm the bicycles coast out of Hess Street toward downtown, two police cruisers, lights flashing, now in tow.

Making their way through wide, one–way streets lacking basic infrastructure for cyclists, the Mass slows the pace of the city to what is arguably a calmer, saner, safer speed.

As cities in Iraq are bombarded, some on the ride equate the profligate burning of fossil fuels with the burning of human flesh in oil wars. “No more oil/No more war/Time to take our bikes out more!” goes the chant.

This sort of pro–active peace–mongering has police on edge? From sidewalks, pedestrians watch in amusement or disbelief as the group glides by Copps Colosseum, the Library, the Farmer’s Market. A cyclist with a knack for alliteration shouts out: “For fossil fuel–free fun/Bicycles are number one!” On his back a home–made sign “Burn Fat, Not Fuel.”

The grins on the faces of cyclists gives indication of just how liberating a ride like this can be. The lack of safe routes in the city acts as a deterrent to thousands of would–be cyclists; for some, Critical Mass is their first positive experience cycling downtown.

The riders wave and smile at drivers and pedestrians as they go, pedaling over downtown streets George, Caroline, Main, MacNab, King, Bay, York, Wilson, Hughson, Cannon, James, King William, John, Queen and finally Hess, 45 minutes later.

As the ride coasts to a stop back at Hess Village, riders give a cheer, followed by a pause of anticipation as the police clamber out of their cars to begin an over–the–top lecture. Clearly frustrated, the two officers invent and exaggerate incidents, including the presence of a TV crew from CH who will, it seems, broadcast the “reckless” and “embarrassing” display to innocent children. (A call to CH assignment editor Mike Miles dispels the officer’s claim.)

Sergeant Paul Johnston claims that they were “invited” and bemoans the fact that the riders spurned their offer to “help.”

Officer Bob Nelson arbitrarily assigns leadership status to one person and hands out a couple of laminated cards detailing Bicycle Fines. Nelson berates the citizen cyclists, calling them “idiots” and threatens to interfere with the next ride by charging cyclists for any infractions.

In a city with high rates of cars running red–lights, drunk drivers and a legacy of hit and runs leaving behind dead cyclists, when it is suggested that cars — not bikes in a Critical Mass ride — are the real threat to children, Officer Nelson just scoffs and tells the cyclist to “grow up — cars are here to stay.” (Ironically, for a week in October, police will be busy shutting down large portions of the city to accommodate cyclists in town for the World Road Racing Cycling Race.)

Despite the dressing down, departing cyclists seem buoyed by the buzz of the communal ride. The next Mass is set (as always) for the last Friday of the month, Friday April 25, 5:30pm starting at Hess and George Streets.

C'mon! Cootes Needs Changes!

January 20, 2004
Ms. Christine Lee-Morison,
Capital Planning
City of Hamilton
FAX 905-546-4435

Re: A major concern about part of the proposed Ainslie Wood / Westdale neighbourhoods transportation master plan.

We are writing on behalf of "Transportation for Liveable Communities" (TLC), a working group of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) at McMaster University.


TLC members found several well thought proposals for improving alternative transportation corridors, discussed on page 61 of the class EA for the proposed Ainslie Wood / Westdale neighbourhoods transportation master plan. However, we consider as unacceptable the proposed changes to the bicycle and pedestrian crossing at Cootes Drive and Sanders Boulevard (hereafter Cootes crossing). We think that the proposed Cootes crossing fails to address major negative environmental impacts at one of the most environmentally sensitive marshlands in our region, Cootes Paradise.

Whereas we hope that we can negotiate a resolution to our substantial concerns, we will have to involve the Ministry of Environment if you do not promptly outline a timely resolution process. Please note that we do not seek explanations but a suitable resolution procedure resulting in a safe Cootes crossing.

DEFFICIENCIES OF THE CLASS EA

The class EA correctly identifies Cootes crossing as a safety hazard on page 34. However, on the same page and on successive pages, the document depicts gross misunderstanding of pedestrian and cyclist needs. This failure must be corrected in order to prevent negative environmental consequences.

1. Improper description of Cootes crossing

Cootes crossing is one of the busiest junctions of alternative transportation corridors in west Hamilton and is well used by cyclists, pedestrians and runners for commuting and recreation. Cootes crossing appears on the official Hamilton Bike map as part of a signed bike route and is indeed well signed. At this crossing, cyclists, runners and pedestrians from Ancaster and Dundas converge on their way to McMaster University, Westdale and downtown Hamilton.

Unfortunately, however, the class EA wrongly refers to both Sanders Boulevard and the alternative transportation trail next to Cootes Drive as ending at Cootes crossing. Furthermore, we feel that the reference to "pedestrian infiltration" (line 17, page 34 of the class EA) is offending.

In short, the class EA fails to depict the importance of Cootes crossing, its current formal designation and, most importantly, the future positive environmental potential of a safe alternative transportation crossing in that location.

2. Failure to consider and to properly evaluate all reasonable and feasible alternatives

The class EA (page 34) correctly identifies Cootes crossing as a "safety hazard". It proceeds to consider the four alternatives of do nothing, close access, improve access and build overpass. Although improved access is the preferred alternative, neither the proposed improvements nor the evaluation criteria are appropriate.

First, given the importance of Cootes crossing and the necessity of generating a massive increase in alternative transportation users in this area, the city must provide a safe passage to alternative transportation users. Hence the critical question must be "is the preferred alternative safe?" The obvious answer, however, is no!

We believe that the only alternative that can allow for a safe Cootes crossing is a traffic signal. Disappointedly, this option was not considered.

3. Deficiency of the preferred alternative

The current official speed limit along much of Cootes Drive is 80 Km/h. A sign of 60 Km/h is posted approximately 100 m north of Cootes crossing. In reality, automobiles approaching Cootes crossing from either north or south currently travel at speeds exceeding 80 Km/h. Changing the 60 Km/h sign to 50 Km/h, which is the most substantial proposed "safety improvement" for Cootes crossing, will not make that crossing safe.

We are puzzled about the logic for, and cost effectiveness of, the proposed changes in curvature of the right lane approach from Main St. into Cootes Drive (see Figures on page 37). Either the current exit or the proposed reduced-curvature exit effectively serve as acceleration lanes by drivers heading north into the four-lane, divided highway of Cootes Drive, just a few hundred meter from the official 80 Km/h speed limit sign.

Finally, the proposed line markings are insufficient and unrealistic (see Figure on page 37). The Figure suggests a 1.5 m wide pedestrian crossing where dozens of pedestrians cross at the same time during peak commuting.

Our proposal

Research and professional polls have unambiguously indicated that a large number of people are prepared to switch to alternative modes of transportation if a safe route is provided between their community and work place. A safe Cootes crossing can make commuting in west Hamilton much more appealing. Thus a safe Cootes Crossing will help McMaster University and the City of Hamilton achieve their formally stated goal of generating a dramatic increase in the use of alternative modes of transportation.

We think that the only alternative that can allow for a safe Cootes crossing is a pedestrian/cyclist activated traffic signal and physical traffic-calming measures to slow traffic (ex. raised table). We realize that a traffic light may cause minimal delay to vehicles. However, the environmental cost of a massive increase in automobile traffic and parking next to Cootes Paradise are much higher.

Sincerely yours,

For the members of Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC)
CC Mr. Brian McHattie, City of Hamilton

PLAYING IN TRAFFIC

Despite minor interventions by weather and some very large Hamilton police, Car Free Day was a huge success in Hamilton.

Precisely, at 3:00 pm, as 50 cyclists prepared to depart for a Critical Mass bike ride the lurking, massive grey clouds opened up and poured rain all over the place. The shower, which lasted only a few minutes failed to dampen the rider's spirits: the sun was soon shining again on cleaner streets as the ride coasted out of Hess Village and onto downtown Hamilton streets.

The ride snaked its way through the downtown, a traffic calming, pollution halting mass of cyclists, including young children, enjoying the safety and thrill of riding together on streets built to serve the speed of cars rather than the needs of sustainable transportation.

The ride flowed over Main, King, Bay, York, James, John, Wilson, Catherine, Hughson and, half an hour later, rolled in to King William street to begin a street party that would last the next two and a half hours.

The vision of children playing in a liberated street space is a powerful one. In an urban environment overrun by roads and motor vehicles and polluted with smog and noise, the sight of children chalk drawing, dancing, running freely and playing is a joyful sight.

Adults were experiencing the pleasure of the car free space by reclining on pavement covered with sod, by mingling and talking, laughing and dancing to live music and live Djs.

Cars coming upon the scene looked for an alternate route, while the few insistent drivers who didn't quite get the message were escorted through a crowd which gave way slowly to allow them passage. It was "street hockey" etiquette that put the car in its place by reversing the usual power structure that sees cars dominate and erode human spaces.

People passing by on the Barton bus looked with astonishment on a scene that jarred with the normal reality for auto-inflicted Hamiltonians: here were people reclaiming streets for human interaction, for people not cars, for clean air not smog, for life not death.

Approximately 40 minutes into the festivities the group was challenged by two Hamilton police beat officers who, after stumbling upon an unauthorized expression of joy, eventually called in backup to deal with the dancing, chalk drawing, bubble-blowing crowd of all ages. An SUV-sized Sergeant Harris arrived on the scene and after some quick sizing-up, informed the celebrants that while the event was likely illegal ("we're not going to quibble over it" he informed us- we had no permit - imagine, a permit to use your own streets!), the police would "give us a break" and allow the party to continue. He warned that we were "lucky this time."

WE SHALL PROCEED... 

Lucky were the people who like their streets safe, active and democratic. The one remaining bike-officer stayed for a short while and then disappeared to leave the car free crowd to their own non-automotive devices. With only the occasional undercover drive-by, the party continued with a musical line up which included local performers Luna Tico drummers, Steve Sinnicks, Hamilton's knitters of radical song the Raging Grannies, and Guelph-based DJ Skywok with DMS and Jesse Miller spinning awesome techno and house.

The Rude Native Bistro on King William was the anchor for much of the day, setting up an outdoor food table on their narrow patio (a car free street would allow for expanded patio space) and accommodated our requests by allowing musicians to plug-in to their power supply until the tardy portable generator arrived.

They understood the value of a people friendly space and were totally in support of the idea of car free city spaces.

The estimated one hundred people who braved the threatening weather helped to create a vision of a possible -- and if we are to save the planet, a necessary -- car free future. And of course a party to remember and build on.

Local bike-mechanics from Recycle Cycles set up a bike stand to do free bike tune-ups for lucky cyclists. For the past five years these volunteer mechanics have been running a bike-repair workshop in the basement of a church, taking donated bikes and fixing them up to sell cheaply to people who can't afford, or don't want, the latest high-end bike model.


Huffy the Clown, a regular at Car Free Days in Hamilton, was there creating balloon animals for grateful children, some of whom took advantage of free face-paint; and there was a rusty honda civic which was made available to receive painted messages signaling an end to the automobile age and calling for a sustainable transportation future: "Paint the Car into Oblivion" read the banner above the car.

Indeed, it seemed entirely possible during those few hours of car freedom.
____________________________

Hamilton Indymedia was there. The McMaster Silhouette sent a reporter and photographer to cover the event for the student paper at the university. And although the corporate media was notified they failed to show. Hamilton's only daily newspaper the Spectator was apparently busy working on important breaking news items for Monday, with the following headlines destined for the front page: "Chief wants hookers off streets," "Halloween pumpkins smaller this year," "Autumn's here, and that's all there is to it" and "City wards get names for next vote." 
 
Recycle Cycles is always looking for volunteers to help repair bikes and learn bike repair skills (all skill levels welcome) Visit the shop in the basement of Erskine Presbyterian Church, 19 Pearl Street North (enter off Morden) Saturdays from 9:00am until 12:00 noon.

LET'S CYCLE INTO THE FUTURE

By RANDY KAY, The Hamilton Spectator


Look around. Can you imagine a city street without cars? It's not easy given the design of North American cities built to serve automobiles, where people no longer walk but drive everywhere, where a suburban home's most prominent room is the garage.

With cars prying into our lives more and more it seems hard to picture a place where children move freely, where street life is quiet and open for interaction, where people go to meet, eat and play in a downtown, where cyclists are accepted as an integral part of the transportation mix, where mass transit is used by a majority of people.

As a society we have stopped thinking of streets as interesting places to be. We have learned, as a result of traffic design, that streets are for moving privately owned vehicles as efficiently as possible from a to b. As a result, we get ugly, unliveable downtowns, lots of smog, noise, and far too many deaths and injuries.

But there are glimpses of a better way.

Car Free Day, an annual celebration of the potential for a safer, cleaner and more liveable world is one such glimmer of the possible.

Cities in Europe have been celebrating Car Free Day since September 22, 1999 when 66 French towns, 92 Italian towns and the canton of Geneva came together to coordinate the first Car Free Day. Since then, participation in Car Free Days has grown to include over 1000 cities in 33 countries.

This year Car Free Day coasts in on Sunday September 22 in Hamilton.

Transportation for Liveable Cities (TLC) has been pushing car free day into traffic for the last two years in Hamilton.

An afternoon rush hour parade of roller-bladers, cyclists, wheelchair users, and pedestrians followed by a parking meter party on King Street (CFD 2000); a sidewalk clinic at King and MacNab for people seeking to go car-free or car-light and a locally produced video about Car Free Hamilton shown at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (CFD 2001).

This year people looking to escape the car-trap they are in will celebrate Car Free Day 2002 by temporarily reclaiming street space on King William Street, between James and John, beginning at 4:00 pm.

There will be drumming by Luna Tico drummers and Drum Call!, live music from Steve Sinnicks; DJ Skywok with DMS and Jesse Miller spinning techno and house, and the friendly bike mechanics from Recycle Cycles spinning your wheels in a Free Bike Clinic. Also on hand: children chalk drawing, a free speech video corner and lots of fun.

While there, let your imagination roll down streets where music flows, where concrete is transformed to green grass, where quiet outdoor chess games replace grease and oil stained parking spaces, where new statues and fountains rise, where people rest in former parking lots now treed parkettes, where cafe dwellers have front row seats for a parade of diverse and unexpected street life void of revving engines, squealing tires and clouds of exhaust.

In an invigorated, liveable downtown, King William would be a great car-free destination due to its scale and selection of unique shops and restaurants. A car-free atmosphere would only enhance the character of this street and perhaps inspire movement to restore the rotting facade of the Lister Block: decent affordable housing and independent shops in the Lister would help cement the core's future as a people place.

Author Katie Alvord (Divorce Your Car) provides some existing models: "Car-free and car-restricted zones can create inviting public spaces like Boston's verdant Southwest Corridor, Boulder's thriving outdoor Pearl Street Mall, or the networks of auto-free streets gracing European cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Closing out cars can make terrific space for people and is often great for business. Several Tokyo shopping districts ban cars on Sundays; when people regain possession of these streets, says one report, an air of carnival prevails."

In Europe, local merchants' approval rate is 60% in support of Car Free Day. Why not Hamilton?
The return of two way streets on James and John is also a sign that good things can happen in the city to improve opportunities for cyclists and pedestrians to co-exist with calmed (slower) traffic. Off road multi-use paths like the Bayfront or the Rail-Trails also beckon as beautiful alternatives to ugly and congested main streets for recreational as well as commuter cyclists.

Streets become people places when we reassert our right to have a place to meet and play, where cars are scaled back, slowed down and in some instances outright banned.

David Engwicht has written about streets in terms of our right to street space. In Reclaiming our Cities and Towns he observes that "At the moment there is an unspoken assumption that the streets of the city belong equally to everyone and therefore there is a divine right for people to drive where they want to, when they want to."(114)

What this observation points to is hinted at in the oft used street protest chant: "Who's Streets? Our streets!" In terms of roads and traffic, "traffic reduction and street reclaiming have at their heart a redemocratization of our streets, a handing back of control....[leading] to much more efficient cities and neighborhoods...stamped with their own character and personality." (Engwicht, Street Reclaiming, p.183)

Theorists can argue over the finer points of how, when and where to create decent streets for vibrant exchanges, but on Car Free Day people are free to conduct their own experiments.

In a world where we don't blink at the 849 deaths that occurred on Ontario's highways in 2000, the safest year ever according to the Ministry of Transportation, where each day there are now more than 2.78 million vehicles on highways in the Hamilton and Toronto areas, of course it is difficult to summon up images of a world not infested with cars.

All the more reason to work harder to build alternative vision through action. If the people lead, the saying goes, the politicians will follow (which begs the question why have politicians in the first place').

In Toronto, Car Free Day is officially recognized and supported by the city. In Hamilton, Car Free Day seems to be resisted by the majority of the pro-road-building council.

A presentation by TLC to council a year ago included a requests for Hamilton to get on board with free HSR on the day, some official recognition of Car Free Day, and since the city is spending millions repairing roads to be ready for an international bike race in 2003, we asked them to fast-track in tandem the modest but much needed (and long-awaited) "Shifting Gears" cycling plan for cyclists who happen to live and ride in Hamilton.

A report returned acknowledging what we knew: that our ideas were totally in line with the sustainability plans in the city's own (and sadly neglected) Vision 2020 documents, but it would come down to budget day.

So here we are in 2002 doing it yet again without official help, with the notable exception of the Hamilton Street Railway who reproduced our Car Free Day flier and made them available on all 180 HSR buses.

Any proximity to a car free or car-lite future of course depends hugely on expanding and enhancing the HSR so that, both in terms of cost and efficiency, public transit becomes a viable option for people currently car-dependent.

Unlike private automobile ownership, Public Transit gives a wider range of people safe independent mobility, helping integrate young, old, low-income, differently-abled and other non-drivers more fully into community life.

A single bus can take up to 40 vehicles off the road, save as much as 70,000 litres of fuel and keep 9 tonnes of air pollutants out of the air per year; given our record breaking smog seasons, more good reasons to increase funding to the HSR and expand GO train service.

City politicians could help by preventing sprawl development which all but guarantees an auto-dependent future of people driving through your neighbourhoods to reach destinations formerly walkable.

Perhaps, as one person who contacted us suggested, if politicians rode the buses they would improve the service.

We are not proposing a multi-million dollar, all-in-one silver bullet to cure the downtown's ailments, so embarrassingly popular with the politicians; instead we offer a grassroots approach to incremental change, seeds for a new way of living in the city. Car Free.

PMP 2002

SUSTAINABLE CYCLES (Hamilton, Monday, July 29, 2002)

Report on the Parking Meter Party and Esso leaflet
by Transportation for Liveable Communities.

In the relentless afternoon sun and heat, the sidewalk chalk almost melts into the pavement as a succinct message is scratched onto the asphalt entrance at the Esso station at Main and Leland: "STOP SMOG."

For 40 minutes people hand out leaflets about smog and Esso's attempts to discredit the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty on global warming which the U.S. has refused to join.

Greenpeace is calling for a boycott of ESSO (ExxonMobil in the U.S.)

The majority of people are happy to receive the information, along with a free bike-route map for the Hamilton region.

One customer suggests going after Ontario Power Generation (formerly Ontario Hydro) for their coal burning power plants in Nanticoke, which he describes as "a disgrace."

He is told about a peaceful protest last year at the Corporate Offices of OPG in Toronto where several people were arrested and criminally charged for demanding that OPG convert from burning coal to cleaner natural gas.(their trial is in Toronto in September)

One woman receives the leaflet on Esso, scans it, and decides to go elsewhere to fill up. A boycott is begun.

No one disputes the fact that humans are seriously messing up the air with hyper-consumption lifestyles.

One driver refused to accept any information. He apparently complained to Esso staff who finally ordered the leafletters off the property, tersely giving them a "one minute" warning and threatening to call the police.

The threat happened to coincide with the need to depart for a soon to begin Parking Meter Party just a few blocks away organized by local transportation activists in Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC).

TLC arranged the party to welcome a dozen members of the Cycling for Sustainability crew who had just arrived in Hamilton on their way across Canada.

About 30 people gathered to share food, listen to music, play hackey sack, decorate the asphalt's oil and grease stained ugliness with colourful sidewalk chalk, and hear a premierC4S recitation of Dr. Seuss's environmental tale" The Lorax."

As bicycles displaced cars in the parking spaces, people stopped by to say hello and share food with the C4S cyclists and take a leaflet.

C4S's Kevin Hamilton explained that they are hoping to raise awareness about simple steps people can take to live sustainably on the earth. They are cycling their message from coast to coast from Victoria B.C. to St John Newfoundland. On the way they encounter people in various communities putting sustainability into practice in their daily lives.

Yet even in the enjoyable atmosphere of people gathered in community to celebrate the possible future of sustainable living, the poisoned atmosphere of the current state of air quality lent a sense of urgency to the message.

1,900 people in Ontario go to early grave each year due to smog-related respiratory problems according to the Ontario Medical Association, 110 of them in the Hamilton area. Transportation accounts for 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada as well as being the single largest source of air pollution in the country, according to stats from Environment Canada.

While the message about air pollution gets into the news, (the day after the parking meter party the Hamilton Spectator ran a story on air quality, reprinted below) positive grassroots actions such as these by C4S and TLC are largely ignored by the corporate-owned media in Hamilton.

Yet it is citizens' actions that are necessary if we are to survive in a tolerable, liveable, breathable world.
The message? Don't wait for someone to do it for you, organize your own street party, a walk to school program, car-share club or car pool. Try the bus, bike, or walk to some of your destinations. Call your city councillor and tell them to make clean alternatives like the HSR bus service more available instead of cutting back - tell them to stop planning on paving the Red Hill Valley or the Mid Pen Highway. Write a letter to the editor in your local paper. Be the change you want to see!

CAR FREE DAY HAMILTON - VIDEO

FREE CAR-FREE COUNCILLING ON CAR FREE DAY 2001

Thursday September 20, 2001 12 noon until 1:00 pm
Stuck in traffic? Wanting to break the car habit but need a helping hand? Looking for a quick car divorce? The good Doctor Foutenspoche will be on hand on Car Free Day (Thursday, September 20) with practical solutions to North America's car addiction problem.

Pull up a chair in his downtown office, conveniently located in a parking space on King Street West, near Jackson Square (between James and Bay).

While Hamilton Council waits for a staff report on Transportation for Liveable Communities' request for municipal support on Car Free Day, TLC activists will be in the streets once again with their message of car free-dom.

The same folks who've brought Parking Meter Parties, Memorial Processions and Critical Mass bike rides invite you to come for the music, the chalk drawing, the bubble-blowing, banner waving, drumming, face-painting, car-free fun. And right after the party, check out the three minute epic Car Free Hamilton VIDEO at the Art Gallery of Hamilton Community Gallery/Upper Lounges. Free!


After all, Hamilton could sure use a little TLC: cleaner air; quieter, slower, safer streets; more bike lanes and paths; pedestrian zones; improved HSR service; bike racks on buses; parking lots transformed into green spaces; better links to commuter rail; in short: a bold step in the direction of sustainable transit for all.
Last year, 70 million citizens in 760 municipalities located in 26 countries enjoyed Car Free Day. With TLC pushing, Hamilton won't be far behind.

---

CAR FREE DAY 2001 Report

Car Free Day in Hamilton unfolded beneath cranky skies.

A pre-fab "the Doctor is IN" facade is erected in moments. A giant "World Car Free Day" banner is duct-taped to the window of the Royal Bank on King Street West, and signs attached to light standards and (again) to a conveniently located illuminated Royal Bank sign.

"Transportation for Liveable Communities: No Room for Racism on our streets" read one sign in response to racist attacks in Hamilton in the aftermath of the World Trade Centre bombing. Another read "Stop the Carnage" referring to the estimated 3000 traffic fatalities that occur every year on Canadian roads.

Our Car Free Day goal today is to help people out of their cars - permanently.

Members of TLC handed out leaflets offering 12 steps to Car Freedom, as well as information on the true cost of our auto-addiction, taken from Katie Alvord's Divorce Your Car (which passes as an article of faith for TLC die-hards.)

John Milton donned his Mad Doctor disguise and waited on patients seeking a way out of their unhealthy co-dependency with their local petrol dealer.

Some therapy questions you can ask yourself:

• Do I really need to take this trip?
• How Can I get where I want to go without using a car?
• What changes would allow me to take this trip without using a car?

Collective Changes:

• Better land use, safer and slower streets, more support for transit, less subsidization of highways, car-free city centres.

Individual Changes:
Location and lifestyle choices.
If you are planning to relocate, ask yourself these questions:

• Can you easily walk, bike, or take transit to work?
• Does your employer, or do other community employers, offer bicycle commuting support, carpooling, vanpooling, and/or telecommuting programs?
• What services, stores, schools and other facilities are within walking distance (whatever that distance may be for you) of your home/your job site?
• What's within biking distance, and are the routes near your potential new home comfortably bikeable? Also check to see whether bikes are allowed on transit, and ask for a local bike map.
• Where's the nearest transit (bus, light rail) stop, and is it within a 15-minute walk from your home? What areas does the transit system cover, and does it reach places you'll want to go, like your job site, schools, shops, medical services, sports stadiums, theatres, libraries, or parks? Check to see also if it links with other transport services, like passenger train stations or airports; if it operates past midnight and /or before 7 a.m.; and if there is a transit map or guide available.
• Are there additional services such as long-distance train service, car-sharing, car rentals, paratransit, taxi service, a rid matching service, etc.?
• Is the community compact and does it have plans to stay that way? Does it have other features that support car-free travel, like car-free streets or parks or an urban growth boundary?

The good Doctor might also recommend David Engwicht's "5 R's of Traffic Reduction"

• Replace car trips with walking, cycling, and transit;
• Remove unnecessary trips by batching errands, sharing rides, using the phone, or getting deliveries;
• Reduce trip lengths by shopping and/or working locally
• Reuse save space by reallocating and reclaiming streets;
• Reciprocate for mutual benefit with walking buses, car sharing clubs, bike-maintenance clinics, transit passes, and shop-and-work-local incentives

As it turns out, the ugly weather cut in to potential clients in a serious way; nevertheless, TLCers, some as young as two-years-old, stuck it out long enough to hand out plenty of flyers and give away free bike route maps for the City of Hamilton to many a passer-by.

As the rain increased its tendency to soak our almond-butter sandwiches, the mini-alternative-to-the-car-circus folded up shop and hustled over to the comfy confines of the Art Gallery of Hamilton. There, the accommodating folks had set up a television and a vcr for a screening of the latest video from our friends at DIVA (Dundas Independent Video Association) who produced a three-minute epic: Car Free Day Hamilton.

A dozen spectators sat spell-bound through the production which outlines the negative impact of cars on our city and then, like sparks of sunlight flashing off stainless steel spokes, shows a glimpse of a potential future. Critical Mass bike rides, parking meter parties, Car Free Day.

We were pretty impressed, as were city councillors who managed to stay awake for the entire 180 seconds, plus another 180 seconds of a speech when the Car Free video premiered at the swanky Hamilton City Hall Council Chambers on a huge screen, just over a week before, on Tuesday September 11 (yes, that Tuesday!).

In the speech, TLC asked council to support Car Free Day by providing free bus service on the day, as well as creating car free areas in the city, and undertaking a public awareness campaign to promote sustainable transportation.

TLC also slid in some demands for the City to fast-track their excellent but so-slow-as-to-seem de-railed "Shifting Gears" (soon to be dubbed "Spinning Wheels") Cycling Plan, and to think about things like front-mounted bicycle racks on buses.

By way of punctuation, they also received a petition supporting TLC's demands signed by hundreds of citizens.

What we got from council was this: "(Item 5.3).Committee directed staff to bring back a report to provide an overview of the existing cycling plan, a review of a 'Car Free Day' and consideration of "free" HSR Day, by the end of the month."

Rest assured that TLC is on the case in Hamilton and is not about to let the city rain on our sustainable transportation parade.

Pedaling toward Car Free Day 2002 with the wind at our backs

TAKING TLC TO CITY HALL

TLC Presentation to Hamilton City Council, S.11, 2001

When the eyes of the world are focused on Hamilton during the World Cycling Championships in October 2003, we have to wonder what possible scenario Hamilton will be showcasing.

Will we have a high death toll, as we have this year, among pedestrians and cyclists run down by automobiles on city streets?

Will we have experienced another record breaking summer of smog days?

Will we still have giant one way roads splitting the downtown into loud, fast and dirty traffic corridors?

Or, will we have slower, quieter, safer two-way streets with pedestrian improvements, bike lanes and paths. Will we rest in treed park-ettes where there were once parking lots? Will the HSR be well funded and sporting front mounted bike racks as are found on bus fleets in several Canadian cities including Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver?

The question is, will we have a much more liveable city than today, with solid infrastructure in place to support sustainable transportation?

Can we, in the next two years, step up the pace of needed transportation improvements?

There have been some excellent advances made in Hamilton with recreational trails that can be further linked to expand environmentally healthy transportation options. There are innovative and progressive plans in the city's "Putting People First downtown land use and transportation plan" and "Shifting Gears: A new cycling plan for Hamilton."

Today we are here to ask that the city and staff put an emphasis on implementing the city's shifting gears cycling plan in its entirety prior to the cycling race.

When the world media gathers in Hamilton, we want to show off these and other improvements: dedicated bike lanes and a linked series of paths, traffic-calming on major streets, and bike racks installed on the HSR bus fleet.

Now if I could focus on CAR FREE DAY by quoting from carfree canada's website: "With Toronto hosting and staging it's First Car Free Day in 2001, we take our place as the First Canadian and North American city to host Car Free Days. We have also positioned ourselves to become the model and leader of an initiative that has captivated the imagination of bureaucrats and citizens alike around the globe" www.carfreeday.ca

This month, Car free day Toronto will be enjoying full-street bike lanes on St. George Street, road games, street performances, bikewear fashion show, hay-rides, grass-covered pavement, obstacle courses, and valet bike parking.

The bragging rights to car free day may go to Toronto for being the first city in North America, but Hamilton has an opportunity to catch up by making meaningful changes to our transportation system now.

We have a petition with hundreds of signatures gathered on short notice asking the city and staff to support car free day this year and in subsequent years by providing free HSR service on Thursday, September 20; by undertaking an ongoing significant public relations campaign aimed at promoting car free day and sustainable transportation in general; and finally, asking Hamilton to create car-free zones within the downtown (and elsewhere) which would enhance local business environments with the long-term goal of making car free zones in Hamilton permanent, vibrant and viable people places.

Thank you.

POST PARKING

Transportation for Liveable Communities (Hamilton) REPORT

UN-CHANGING THE CLIMATE, 
ONE PARKING SPACE AT A TIME

Combining the motto "live as though the revolution has already occurred" with Emma Goldman's "If I can't dance, it's not my revolution" members of the Climate Change Caravan and Hamilton's Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC) ate, played and danced in the parking lot in front of Westdale businesses for several hours Saturday (July 28, 2001.)

Children are twirling, running and playing, chalking the bare asphalt with images of beauty or hopscotch squares; music is playing through loudspeakers, people are talking and dancing, handing out leaflets, writing in journals, hanging out.

The Climate Change Caravan (CCC), a group of 30 cyclists on a cross Canada mission to educate and activate citizens to take responsibility for global climate change, has arrived in Hamilton and a parking lot in Westdale has been transformed into a pedestrian play zone.

Car drivers stare blankly, trying to figure out why people are not moving out of their way: they want to park where they are accustomed but bicycles and moving bodies are in the way.

Cars reverse, and look elsewhere for a place to deposit their cumbersome metal shells.  About 60 people are reversing expectations by holding a parking meter party in celebration of the potential for Canadians to change: rather than continue to change the climate with unparalleled levels of fossil fuel combustion, the Climate Change Caravan is betting on the actions of citizens to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet.

At around 3:30 pm, TLC scouts Christine and Andrew started laying down orange traffic cones to reserve five parking spaces for the CCC support bus. They managed to stave off the parking commissionaire who approached them and gruffly inquired as to whether or not they had a permit. Since the spaces were paid for (with quarters in the meters) and the dilemma of finding a location for leaving the ticket was too much of a quandary, (neither Christine or Andrew where wearing wiper-blades at the time) he left them to attend to the more usual routine of ticketing automobiles.

Then around 4:00 the bus pulled in, just as other cyclists from TLC arrived to claim other empty parking spaces for the party.

In all, about 15 spaces were made temporary pollution-free zones.

Onlookers could be seen staring, dumbfounded; cyclists cruising through the area changed their course to stop and check out the inviting scene which included soap bubbles; children with faces painted with flowers, buses and bicycles; a table laden with food; parking spaces filled with bicycles and lawn chairs; people dancing, playing hacky-sack; and the rather impressive deep-red Climate Change school bus replete with solar panels, wind turbine and a store of vegetable oil (used to fuel the bus.)

People from as far away as the Yukon happened upon the party and joined in the fun.

The sight of children liberated and able to play without fear of being run down by automobiles was inspiring. Children are too often the victims of North America's obsession with cars, either as fatalities, or as prisoners in neighbourhoods over-run with motor vehicles and roads.

Children are also going to bear the brunt of global warming. As Canada's top climate change expert says, "we can expect temperatures in the Toronto-Hamilton area to top 30 C -- often 35 C -- more than 50 days each summer by 2050, unless we cut global greenhouse gas emissions. That's up from the present 15 or 16 days each summer."(Hamilton Spectator)

Increased temperatures will result in more smog (the heat from the sun "cooks" pollutants from motor vehicles, industry and power plants to create smog) which means more people dying from bad air. The Ontario Medical Association estimates that 1900 Ontarians die prematurely each year due to poor air quality.

As this article is being written, yet another smog advisory has been issued by the Ministry of the Environment, making this the worse year on record for smog alerts.

Are we going to be hostages to our hyper-consumption lifestyles, or are we going to learn to tread lightly on the earth?

Cyclists in the CCC began their journey in Tofino, B.C. and have been raising awareness in cities and towns along the way about personal consumption habits which drive the damage of climate change. Check out their web site at www.theBet.ca

parking meter noise

Car culture killing us, activists say

By MIRA OBERMAN, The Hamilton Spectator
A12, Thursday, July 19, 2001

Trying to convince Hamiltonians to leave their cars at home is about as easy as convincing them to skip Tim Hortons in the morning.

It just goes against the grain.

Kind of like playing chess on a blanket of sod spread out over a King Street East parking spot.

About 30 people created a "car-free space" in front of Jackson Square Monday afternoon in an attempt to raise awareness about the destructive side of a North American obsession.

Beatrice Ekwa-Ekoko, 32, can't fit everything she dislikes about cars into one breath.

Cars harm the environment, kill children, isolate people from their community, gobble up half of the city with parking lots and roads, and frighten cyclists off the streets.

It sounds wonky, but the mother of three has a lot of solid facts to back her up. According to Statistics Canada, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of hospitalization among Canadians aged 15-35.
More than 40 pedestrians have died in traffic accidents in Hamilton in the past six years while 470 more were hit by cars last year.

And motor vehicles are the leading cause of smog pollutants in North America.

"We're in an environmental crisis -- we've had more smog days this year than ever before," Ekwa-Ekoko said as dozens of cars sped past the parking spot filled with lawn chairs, bikes and protesters sitting on green grass.

"People actually cannot breath the air it's so bad."

As a solution, Ekwa-Ekoko would like to see city hall do more to encourage alternative forms of transportation.

She'd like to see big improvement for the HSR and GO transit, She'd like to see more bike lanes so cyclists can get downtown safely. She'd like to see a city-wide educational campaign that would include closing downtown streets to cars on World Car Free Day, "It's about quality of life --slow down and take a breath of clean air," she said.

Ward 2 councillor Andrea Horwath stopped by the parking meter party yesterday and said Ekwa-Ekoko might be able to get some of what she wants.

"Out city will be totally connected with trails in the next couple of years," she said. "Bike racks (on HSR buses) are a great idea since we're also having issues around strollers and walkers."

But major changes, like reworking traffic flows to make Hamilton feel less like an expressway, are going to take a lot more time. If they happen at all, Horwath said.

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PARKING METER PARTY - VIEW MAGAZINE

BY SCOTT NEIGH

For a few short hours, last week, the uniform grey of downtown Hamilton's concrete was disrupted by a splash of vibrant green. Members of Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC) held a "parking metre party". They reclaimed a parking space on King Street, in front of Jackson Square, putting a layer of sod on top of the asphalt, blasting out music, dancing, playing chess, and placing phone calls to their municipal councillors.

"Cars kill community," says TLC spokesperson Beatrice Ekwa-Ekoko. "We're claiming a piece of public space that's usually destined for the car...where community can be encouraged."

The group was demanding that city hall increase funding for new bike lanes and public transit service, put bike racks on HSR buses, and lobby for expanded GO service to Toronto. In addition, they were asking that city council close downtown Hamilton to cars on September 20, 2001, which is World Car Free Day.

Ekwa-Ekoko points to countries like Denmark and the Netherlands, where 20% and 33%, respectively, of all trips are made by bike, not car. Some Latin American cities, most notably Bogota, Colombia, have taken steps to restrict automobile use in their downtown areas, and Bogota's mayor hopes for a complete ban on cars in urban core areas by 2015. Bordeaux, France, will soon have 50% of its streets reserved for pedestrians and cyclists.

For TLC member Seth Sazant, the imagery of the plot of grass in the parking space was a "representation of how crazy things are...My mode of transportation is bicycle. I feel angry as well as threatened a lot of the time by cars." This action was important, he says, becasuse it is "bordering on useless to be writing to my councillor, when the city has not done much to make streets safer for bikes, for example. I'm pretty frustrated."

The reaction from passers-by was mixed. William Davy, aged 13, stopped as he was biking past the party, and after brief discussion, joined in the fun. He says, "I'm really hoping that they'll make it so bikes can go on buses."

Ralph Ellis was more skeptical. "Getting rid of cars is a lost cause. It's a good idea, but it's a lost cause." Even intermediate measures, like a significant increase in bike lanes, he sees as unlikely. "You'd have to take up a certain amount of road space...[and] then you'd have drivers getting mad."

City councillor Andrea Horwath, who represents the downtown ward, paid the party a visit. She described the event as "great", and herself as "frustrated" with the speed of progress in the city on sustainable transportation measures. "The focus of our transportation department and the focus of our council is asphalt expansion programs." She wants to see "equal investment in other modes of transportation."

Marvin Caplan, who represents Ward 1, also dropped by. He expressed general support for TLC's demands, and said everyone should "act locally by reducing the use of single occupancy vehicles." However, he said the demand for a ban on autos downtown during World Car Free Day "would be a problem," and he was skeptical of the direct action methods chosen by TLC. "Not that I have a problem with them. They just won't work."

One of the participants in the action was Euan Gibb, an auto worker. Though it might appear that he would have a lot to lose if there was a cultural shift to more sustainable means of transportation, he doesn't agree. "I don't accept the premise that we need to perpetuate a huge auto market." He believes that auto workers would "not necessarily be adversely affected." He advocates changes like reducing opportunities for overtime, and having a shorter standard work week, to allow more people to benefit from a given demand for labour. He points to the success of France's recent reduction of the length of its work week.

TLC's next action will take its struggle on the road, to the corporate headquarters of Ontario Power Generation (OPG) in Toronto, on August 20. OPG operates the Nanticoke coal power electiricity generation plant, the largest single source of air pollution in Canada. The group will be joining people from across the province in a civil disobedience action to demand greater action to improve air quality. Back in Hamilton, the group will be taking part in Gaia-Fest 2001, a radical eco/political gathering and festival, in Gore Park on September 9.

SOD IT!

PARK IT!

First PMP in Hamilton drew a crowd (King W at MacNab) 

Hamilton. Ontario. Monday, July 16, 2001

More than one motorist did a double take while driving downtown Hamilton during the lunch hour: where they expected the usual grey concrete and asphalt they were treated to some impromptu green space and a parking meter party.

The parking meter party was thrown together by local transportation activists, members of Transportation for Liveable Communities (a working group of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group at McMaster) who hope to make this a frequent event for lovers of clean air, and safe, quiet streets.

Parking meters provide cheap party rental space (50 cents an hour in downtown Hamilton) and are readily available on city streets all over North America. Unroll a bit of sod for texture and some green and crank up the boom box. Pull up a chair, play a game of chess, have a glass of lemonade. Enjoy the streets!

At about 11:00 am a few people started handing out flyers at King and James Streets; by noon, a full blown street party was underway.

As people unrolled fresh sod, others strung banners and colourful flags. Chairs and table were set up and the cassette dropped into the boom box. A quarter was placed into the parking meter, the dial turned and then, nothing could stop the celebration.

As the steady stream of mobile smog producing factories (AKA automobiles) rumbled past, about 40 citizens partied on the grass. People held signs that read "End the Automobile Age" and "Cars Kill Community."

Over the strains of music (the Clash "Car Jam;" Rancid "Avenues and Alleyways;" Patti Smith "Dancing Barefoot") members of TLC encouraged citizens to call their councillors, going so far as to provide a cell phone and a list of council phone numbers; some people invited their councillors to the party; a couple actually made it down to check out the action.

Artists used chalk to enhance the dull sidewalks with artful renderings of flowers, as others blew soap bubbles which gently floated out over the traffic.

A bike repair workshop materialized and lucky cyclists got free tune-ups from Mark and Chris of Spin Cycles.

Eric Ferguson brought down several orange bicycles (modelled on the white bikes of Amsterdam, the bikes are free for anyone to use, as long as they leave it for others when their trip is done) and bicycle couriers stopped by to have a glass of lemonade and chat.

People concentrated on two chess games that were sharing prime real estate while people danced beside them. Some people just laid down and stretched out, enjoying the only green space within sight.
Passer-by gave thumbs up, and some joined in the fun.

One elderly pedestrian promised to quit smoking if we could get rid of the cars downtown, a promise he repeated for the benefit of all through the bullhorn.

TLC demands include a push for long awaited bike lanes on downtown streets, support for municipal public transit and for Hamilton to take part in World Car Free Day by closing streets to cars on September 20.

The celebration was offset by the dark side of life in North American cities: car-nage.

Hamilton drivers have, through years of official encouragement and traffic design aimed at "efficiency", become a serious menace.

Cameras installed to catch red light runners in Hamilton reveal the depth of the problem: compared to Toronto where cameras captured an average of 53 motorists running red lights in May, Hamilton captured an average of 198 motorists for the month.

Recently in Hamilton, 36-year-old Tim Ekelman was killed as a speeding car (racing with another car) slammed into his bicycle from behind. As the Hamilton Spectator reported "A black baseball cap lay half a block away at the point of collision and a man's contorted body lay twisted and bleeding heavily at the intersection." The driver has been charged with criminal negligence causing death. Police are searching for the other car, which left the scene of the "accident".

The man's sister in law works as a parking-meter attendant and happened upon the parking meter party. She instantly understood TLC's message:

It is past time to curb the car.

Between 1990 and 1998 motor vehicle accidents killed 289 people in Hamilton Wentworth and injured 34,220 more. Worldwide cars kill 500,000 people, two thirds of whom are pedestrians, of which one third are children.

According to the Canadian Automobile Association, there are now more than 2.78 million vehicles on highways per day in the Hamilton and Toronto region.

One full transit bus could replace up to 40 single occupant vehicles, thereby saving 70,000 litres of fuel and avoiding nine tonnes of air pollutants a year!

The same day that climate change talks resumed in Bonn, TLC activists reminded people that motor vehicles are the leading cause of smog, and contribute 65% of all carbon monoxide emitted into the environment, a primary element contributing to global warming.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to Hamiltonians, who are experiencing the worst year ever for poisonous smog. Last summer's total of nine smog days were matched as early as June this year. This year also ushered in the earliest smog alert ever issued (April)

Activists vow to keep pressure on politicians at all levels to fund and implement transportation strategies that encourage non-fossil fuel alternatives and support integrated public transit systems.
Canada currently has no sustained federal support for transit and Ontario has made no commitment to transit investments. Ontario has, though, recently announced their intention to build a super "mid peninsula" highway, which will only exacerbate suburban sprawl, highway gridlock, smog and global warming.

A light rain which began just as our two hour limit ran out on the meter signalled the end of the party. As people rolled up the lush green sod to reveal the oil stained pavement beneath, the main question on people's minds was "when is the next parking meter party?"

The answer is: "Soon."

PARKING METER PARTY!

Transportation for Liveable Communities presents a  

Parking Meter Party
Monday July 16, 2001
11:30 am to 1:30 pm

Meet at King Street just west of James Street (across from Jackson Square by the CIBC bank tower)
Bring some grass (the kind you sit on), a lawnchair, food, drums, soap bubbles, boombox ,sidewalk chalk, and your sense of adventure as we reclaim some prime downtown street space in smoggy, noisy, car-infested Hamilton.

We will supply the quarters for parking spaces, which will magically transform into liberated car-free spaces.

There will be a free bike repair clinic, free lemonade and most importantly, some car-free space as we confront out of control auto-culture.

Bring your musical instruments, gas masks (for the smog), banners, signs, bikes, roller blades, wheelchairs, kitchen sinks and help de-pave the way to a car free future.

CALL YOUR CITY COUNCILLOR

 
Contact your city councillor and demand bike lanes on King and Main; ask them to support World Car Free Day by closing streets in Hamilton to cars, September 20, 2001.

Hamilton City Councillors can be reached by phoning (905) 546-2489, or fax (905) 546-2535, or write them at City Hall, 2nd Floor, 71 Main Street West, Hamilton Ontario, L8P 4Y5. Click here to find council contact info on the web

THE FRIGHTENING FACTS ABOUT CARS:

• Cars are the leading killer of children under 14 years of age in North America.
• Vehicles are the number one source of smog producing pollutants in North America (Ontario Ministry of Transportation.)
• There are currently no safe, direct bike routes (marked bike lanes) on downtown Hamilton streets (King and Main)
• According to the Canadian Automobile Association, there are now more than 2.78 million vehicles on highways per day in the Hamilton and Toronto areas.
• More than 40 pedestrians have died in traffic accidents in Hamilton in the past six years. Last year alone, 470 people were hit by cars. (Hamilton Spectator, March 15, 2001).
• Between 1990 and 1998, a total of 289 people were killed in motor-vehicle crashers, 77 of whom were pedestrians or cyclists. (Spectator, March 26th, 2001).
• Between 1986 and 1998, 6760 pedestrians and cyclists were injured by cars. (Spectator, Jan 30th, 2001).
• A single bus can take up to 40 vehicles off the road, save as much as 70,000 litres of fuel and keep 9 tonnes of air pollutants out of the air per year (Pollution Probe).
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average person who cycles instead of driving alone saves (per mile) at least 24 pounds of smog-causing pollutants and 1.1 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• In Denmark, 20% of all trips are by bike. One third of all trips are made by bike in the Netherlands.
• Buenos Aires has a complete ban on private vehicles in the downtown district on weekdays.
• Bordeaux, France will shortly have 50% of its streets reserved for pedestrians and cyclists (Steve Nadis and James Mackenzie, "Car Trouble" 1993).
• Driving downtown in Oslo, Norway, costs $2 per trip (Environment Views p. 12 spring 1993)

To get involved in bringing about a breathable, liveable future of sustainable transportation, contact Transportation for Liveable Communities c/o The Ontario Public Interest Research Group, (OPIRG) McMaster: (905) 525-9140 ext. 27289 or e-mail opirg@mcmaster.ca

REMEMBERING: ACTING: CHANGING

MEMORIAL PROCESSION - VIEW MAGAZINE

BY SCOTT NEIGH, March 29, 2001

In an event that combined carnival with mobile traffic calming, last Thursday members and supporters of Transportation for Liveable Communities (TLC) held a memorial procession through the downtown to remember pedestrians and cyclists killed by cars in Hamilton.

The collection of more than forty citizens, with ages ranging from a few months to seven decades, occupied the leftmost lane of King Street between Wellington Street and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

They moved at a leisurely pace, distributing leaflets and sharing grim statistics over a megaphone.

"In Hamilton, between 1990 and 1998, 289 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes, 77 of whom were pedestrians," announced Andrew Curran of TLC. "Cars are the leading killer of North American children aged zero to 14 years."

While creating a moving blockade of one lane on King Street, the group received some supportive calls from sidewalk-bound pedestrians, and was the target of little or no obvious anger from drivers. The group, which was riding bikes, walking, and even skateboarding, blocked the intersection of King and James Streets for about one and a half cycles of the traffic lights, to observe a moment of silence. A chorus of horns signalled driver anger at this brief but complete interruption of traffic flow.

The group travelled through the walkway by the Art Gallery, and across Main Street to the open area in front of city hall. They blocked Main Street for about half of a cycle of lights during this time, and were treated to a string of profanities by an irate driver.

"We'll probably anger a lot of motorists, but that's fine, that's par for the course," said TLC member Jeff Santa Barbara, before the procession started. "But occasionally you find a supportive motorist, and we're hoping to turn the angry motorists into more of the supportive motorists. We have a bit of literature to hand out that hopefully will change peoples' minds a little bit."

One member of the diverse crowd that made the symbolic journey was Tooker Gomberg, the candidate that placed second in the race to be Toronto's mayor last November, behind Mel Lastman. Gomberg is a former Edmonton city councillor, and a long time environmental and social activist.

He observed, "If I could wave my magic wand and make these cars disappear, we'd have a really nice scene, here, in downtown Hamilton. But we're infested with cars."

Senior citizen Sally Tabuns joined the event "to protest the drivers killing so many pedestrians." She is also "really mad" about recent anti-pedestrian rhetoric in the media, particularly that targeted at seniors.

"As far as having a video of tips for seniors on how to cross the road--are you kidding? I've lived long enough, I know how to cross the road. The drivers ought to learn how to drive, and have some patience."

The procession was met at city hall by Ward 2 Councillor Andrea Horwath, to whom they presented a list of pedestrian and cyclist demands. The list included that the annual $300,000 budget for cycling initiatives be maintained; that snow clearance on frequently used sidewalks be made higher priority than that for roads, in residential areas; that the city deveop a pedestrian plan, and implement the cycling plan originally brought forward in 1999; and that a city-wide transportation demand management plan be developed and implemented, to provide incentives for walking and cycling, and deterrence for single occupancy vehicle use.

In addition, says Erica Oberndorfer, "Speed reduction is a huge thing. We're hoping for a 30 kilometre per hour zone in the downtown."

Horwath complimented the organizers of the event, calling it "a really successful and educational rally," and promised to present the demands to council.

She was cautiously optimistic about what the reaction of her colleagues might be. "I don't think it has been tested with the new council, yet...I don't think a wholesale change is going to happen, but if we keep pushing pieces and pieces and pieces, we can get somewhere."

In speaking at the event, and at a teach-in at the public library later that day, Gomberg encouraged TLC and other citizens to continue with their efforts to "conspire to transform our cities."

He pointed out that, although more than twice as many people on the planet depend on cycling for transportation as use the automobile, developing countries like India and China seem keen to adopt North America's car culture. He suggests that "the only way we can say to those people, with any integrity, 'Don't drive, don't make the same mistake we did,' is if we in the industrialized world say, enough is enough...[and] in our cities, enthusiastically embrace the alternative modes of transportation."
As far as public policy goes, his main question is "how can we make some of these alternatives more attractive, so that, little by little, people start choosing other alternatives?"

Gomberg warns that what he calls the "transportation mess" did not just happen by accident, and will require deliberate effort to escape. "This is the greatest conspiracy story I've ever heard, and it's true."
He says that in the 1930s and 1940s, the streetcar was a very popular mode of transportation in North America, that "people were riding it in a very big way, and the system was expanding." It has been documented in an investigation by the United States Senate, published as the "Snell Report", that the streetcar networks in 30 or 40 cities around the continent were bought up and destroyed by a front company for Standard Oil (now Exxon, parent company of Esso), the Firestone tire company, General Motors, and a few smaller players.

"We didn't get into this mess by happenstance," Gomberg observes. "And now we've designed our cities in such a way that it is very difficult for many people not to drive."

He cites academic Jane Jacobs, who has described how cities have been shifted gradually, over time, to automobile related uses, by a road expansion here, a parking lot there, a paved driveway somewhere else. However, Gomberg has confidence that cities can be won back from the car.

He advocates creative, public action to try and reclaim some of that urban space, such as the Reclaim The Streets parties that were popular in England in the 1990s, and strong lobbying action to oppose road consruction and expand public transit.

Another option, he suggests, is depaving. He and some friends converted a paved alley in Montreal to a "pocket park" in one afternoon.

"It's easier than you might think. On a hot day, it peels up like toffee. You just need some pick axes, some shovels, some beer."

DEMANDING LIST

MEMORIAL PROCESSION - MARCH 22 2001

LIST OF PEDESTRIAN & CYCLIST DEMANDS

Presented To: Hamilton City Council
Presented By: Transportation For Liveable Communities, a Working Group of McMaster OPIRG

• That the 1999 staff report Shifting Gears: A New Cycling Plan for Hamilton-Wentworth be implemented.
• That the $300,000 budget that has been dedicated to cycling initiatives each year since 1992 be maintained in 2001 and beyond.
• That motor vehicle speeds are enforced and, in residential areas, reduced to 30 km/hr.
• That traffic calming and other vehicle speed reduction techniques be implemented.
• That a Pedestrian Plan be developed for the New City of Hamilton.
• That a sidewalk needs study be conducted and priority areas identified.
• That sidewalks be built as part of any new development and that these sidewalks have a boulevard or separation between the sidewalk and the road
• That intersections in the New City be systematically reviewed and prioritized for necessary pedestrian-friendly improvements
• That snow clearance on frequently used sidewalks and trails be made a higher priority than road clearing and salting in residential neighbourhoods.
• That a City-wide Transportation Demand Management Plan be developed and implemented. Such a plan would provide incentives for walking and cycling and deterrents for single occupancy vehicle use.
• That the New City support development within urban areas and deter greenfield development.

Cars are killing us

In Hamilton, between 1990 and 1998
289 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes,
77 of whom were pedestrians or cyclists.
Cars are the leading killer of
North American children aged 0 -14 yrs.

CARS ARE KILLING US.

But it doesn't have to be this way...
___________

Join us for a Memorial Procession for Change

Meet at 2:30 pm. Thursday MARCH 22, 2001
corner of King Street East at Wellington
solemn procession to Hamilton City Hall

A procession to remember the hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians who are killed and injured by automobiles in Hamilton each year.

Bring a flower to create a temporary memorial on the street.

Bring your bicycle, wheelchair, roller blades, walking shoes, skateboards, or scooters and join the struggle to make our city streets safe for children.

Practical solutions towards safer streets will be presented to a representative of the City of Hamilton.
Contact TLC - Transportation for Liveable Communities
c/o OPIRG-McMaster, 905 525-9140 ext.27289; opirg@mcmaster.ca

and later

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION and Healthy Communities:
Visions for the New City of Hamilton

-a public speakers series-

________________________________

TOOKER GOMBERG

"Activism for Healthy Transportation"

Thursday March 22, 2001
7:00 room A
Hamilton Central Library

WALKING THE OP ED LINES

Everybody Targets Walkers

By Christine Shalaby - TLC (Hamilton Spectator, March 2001)

On Thursday, March 15, Jocelyn Bell wrote a front-page article entitled "Police Target Walkers," about the anticipated "crackdown" on jaywalkers to take place in May.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this article was not the statistic given about how many pedestrians have been killed by cars over the last six years (43), but the sheer acceptability of this campaign.

What is being suggested here is that if people are being hit and killed by automobiles, it must be their fault, and pedestrians must be re-educated as to how to coexist peaceably with these masterful showpieces of our society.

This type of victim targeting can be likened to an NRA crackdown on the victims of gunshot wounds, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Fining pedestrians is like fining shop owners in parts of town where they are likely to be robbed for badly selecting a place to set up their business.

This campaign ignores the structural nature of the jaywalking problem. The problem isn't pedestrians or cyclists, or even motorists necessarily, but for the most part, the problem is that Hamilton has been designed for drivers. Those of us who cannot afford or choose not to own cars are held at the mercy of the automobile culture.

Guns are legal. Murder is not. Cars are legal. Hit-and-run is not. What is being ignored here is the chaos into which our city has descended. Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians do not share the roads, but struggle over them in an endless tug-of-war that is severely imbalanced.

Hamilton's police are trying to address this problem by educating senior citizens on how to "Step out Safely." Perhaps a more effective campaign, one that would have more long-term impact, would be the improvement of driver education. No matter how nimbly a pedestrian may be able to avoid oncoming traffic, the continuing presence of a "defensive driver" culture will work against all those who cross the streets by foot, whether with or against the light. And a tonne of steel will always win over a human being.

As long as the city of Hamilton ignores the overarching problem of a pro-automobile urban design, no real improvement will ever be made to "the jaywalking problem."

Only through the construction of more bike lanes, the adoption of traffic calming techniques, and a greater respect for the pedestrian in matters of street design will this problem begin to diminish.
In short, we must learn to share our streets as true members of a community, rather than support oppressive fines and rules that consistently favour one class over another.

Don't target the walkers: target the system

- - - -

Police target walkers

Jocelyn Bell,  The Hamilton Spectator Thursday March 15, 2001

More than 40 pedestrians have died in traffic accidents in Hamilton in the past six years. Last year alone, 470 people were hit by cars. Of the eight who died, three were to blame for the accident.
Police are now gearing up to catch law-breaking pedestrians and aggressive drivers in May as part of the annual road safety blitz.
"People walk out whenever they feel like it," said Hamilton Constable John Rusnak. "It only takes about 40 seconds for the light to change. It's certainly worth life and limb to wait."
About six Hamilton pedestrians die in traffic accidents every year -- a total of 43 since 1995. The May jaywalking blitz will focus on three of Hamilton's worst intersections: King Street East and Wellington Street, Barton Street East and Kenora Avenue, and Ogilvie Street and Governor's Road.
Anyone caught disobeying the signals or failing to use the crosswalk could face a fine of up to $40.
Under the Highway Traffic Act, a person can be charged with failing to use the designated crosswalk if they are within 100 metres of the crosswalk.
"We're just saying: 'Listen --cross the proper way,'" Rusnak said. "We want to reduce the number of people struck on our streets."
Although jaywalking and disobeying traffic signals is a habit that spans all age groups, senior citizens and children are at particular risk of being hurt.
Because children are short, they have trouble seeing cars and drivers have trouble seeing them. Kids are also poor judges of the speed at which an oncoming car is being driven.
Seniors are often less mobile than younger adults and may take longer to cross.
About a quarter of the pedestrians struck and killed each year in Canada are senior citizens.
"Many of the worst intersections are around seniors' residences," Rusnak said. "Drivers need to be patient."
A Canadian Automobile Association spokeswoman says the risk to older pedestrians increases in winter.
"Snowbanks pose a particular problem to seniors," says CAA's Pauline Mitchell.
White hair and a light coloured jacket are enough to make it "difficult to distinguish between a snowbank and a senior standing beside a snowbank."
Hamilton police are trying to spread the message to seniors with a seminar called Step Out Safely. It teaches pedestrian safety tips to senior citizens. The annual traffic safety blitz begins in April with seatbelts and speeding and continues to November.
--With files from John Burman, The Hamilton Spectator