WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 11. 1987. PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson Advise and Dissent TOWN PLANNING: P'ART IV, Tnarir ; One planning issue which concerns both residential and commercial areas is traffic. The automobile has created more headaches for planners than any other single issue. The need to provide more roads and parking for an ever increasing number of vehicles has put incredible pressure on municipalities throughout North America. We give our cars as much attention as our pets or even our kids, yet have only contempt for all the other drivers who dare to clog the roads when we're in a hurry (which is always) and who manage to slide into the last parking place just before we get there. The automobile has a clearly defined place in our society as a convenient and reasonably efficient means of moving us around. jHowever, if not kept in its place, the car, with its insatiable appetite for more roads and parking can destroy our communities. Traffic needs to be controlled in residential areas and all new subidivions are planned with this in mind. Local streets - courts, crescents, and boulevards - con- nect to collector roads which in turn connect to the major streets. In new sub- divisions, the designation of these streets as local, collector or arterial is obvious. However, .the core areas of virtually all old towns were designed in the horse and buggy days with a grid system of criss-crossing streets. In this sytem, traffic is less easily controlled - if you discourage traffic on one street, it simply goes down the next. Add to this the fact that these grids almost invariably surround a major traffie intersection - Brock and Dundas in Whitby - and traffic uses the residential streets to bypass the downtown congestion. In Whitby, the positioning- of the traffic lights even encourages it. There are two schools of thought about traffic - those who side with the cars (move them through as quickly as possible) and those who side with residents $let the main streets get clogged, just don't come through my neighborhood). I side with the residents - it has been demonstrated all over North America that in- creasing the capacity of a road system simply increases the traffic and the need for further expansion. Congestion is the best deterent to traffic. Our Town council, like most municipal administrations until recent years, sides with cars. I live on Euclid Street which along with a section of Mary Street forms a convenient by-pass of the four corners. Euclid Street is designatedda local street, but a couple of years ago No Parking signs were put up on one side after some drivers complained that parked cars were slowing them down. Since Euclid Street is supposed to be only a local street, what was the traffic doing there anyway. Council chose not to deal with the broader issue and put up the signs - the traffic must go through. Traffic can and should be discouraged in residential areas - the main problem is the will to do it, a recognition that the owners of $150,000 homes are worth listening to. Unlimited street parking can be one of the simplest deterrents, but other simple solu'tions are four-way stop signs at every corner or limited left and right turns. An inventive solution in one part of Toronto is a grid of one-way streets which change direction every other block - its like a maze, unless you know the area intimately, you invariably end up about a block from where you started, right back in the traffic. Now that I've proposed eliminating traffic from the residential areas and put- ting it back on the main thoroughfares, what happens to the commercial areas? Some merchants associate increased traffic with extra business, but cars don't shop - only when they are parked do their drivers become customers, and if traf- fic and parking problems discourage them in the downtown area, there are many shopping plazas where they can and will go. In addition, the noise, pollution and poor atmosphere that traffic creates is not conducive to a viable shopping area. While our planning department is worrying that Brock and Dundas will not be able to handle al the projected traffic in a few years, other municipalities are ac- tively discouraging cars. They have widened their sidewalks to encourage pedestrians and in some cases like Sparks Street in Ottawa, streets have been closed completely to create a public mall. As any modern plaza can attest, a viable and successful shopping district requires less traffic, more pedestrian comfort and more parking - especially convenient parking. If you wander down the back alleys of downtown Whitby, you wil realize that there really is quite a bit of parking there and because it is direc- tly behind the businesses, it could be very convement. Right now though, it is very dirty and unattractive and in many cases not readily accessible. The Town i consultation with the BIA should consider buying or leasing these wastelands, connecting them so they are accessible and convenient, landscaping them so they are attractive, and publicizing them so they are used. Ultimately the solution to Whitby's traffic problems lies beyond the Town's authority. New regional arterial roads need to be built which can eliminate the downtowfl bottleneck. The E-W congestion on Highway 2 is a Region-wide problem and only when regional council decides to complete Rossland Rd. or some other artery clear across the entire region will traffic on Highway 2 be reduced. North-South congestion will hopefully be reduced if and when Highway 12 moves over to Thîckson Rd. Public transit also bas the potential to eliminate some traffic. Whitby Transit does a good job locally but as the communities in the southern part of Durham Region grow together, the need for a single coordinated transit system becomes increasingly important. It is vital that when the GO trains come to Whitby next year, that there be a convenient transit system connecting into Oshawa and beyond. Unfortunately politicians tend to avoid solving problems until after they've been around for awhile - which means that the traffic is bound to get worse before .it gets better. In the meantime, the people should apply pressure to avoid a piecemeal, band-aid approach to traffic planning and develop comprehensive ti°st°u pNETsWEEK: HERITAGE CONSERVATION WITH OUR FEET UP By Bil Swan give him a gesture of our good will. Say perhaps Free Trade Poker Stakes, Round two: Ad stumping rights to our town green belt, some of our February night in Beaver, Ont. with the win children and al the town's ce estial virgins." Mayor howling like frosty bearings. Inside the Legion hall, Johnny has aways been known as a tough poker regulars turn the air blue. player. "You know. Sort of soften him up first. Like "Is he here yet?" asks a voice. we gave that fish fry to the French visitors last Inside the Legion hall, in the basement beverage week. Don't you think?" room, eight people sit. Among thbem are severa Who knows what trite conversation might follow, members of couneil, an out-of-work bartender, a were it not for a sudden commotion at the front newspper editor, and, beind the bar, Gertie the door. Then the door bursts open and a figure stands Garter. Gertie once worked as a saloon girl (and silhouetted against the hall light. It is Sam you know what that means) ir the Beaver Lone Ewessofeh. He is a tall dude, gangly, all elbows and Star. She now holds a position as a Pay Equity bar- knees, dressed in a stove-pipe had covered with tender at the Legion, it being an equal opportunity stars and stripes, and a vest and leotards to match. endloertLi"Stand aside," he says, firing his six-guns in all "When's 'e com'?" asks Gertie. directions. "Ah've come to devour virgins and "'Nee time," replies Mayor Johnny Cannuck, his seduce oh nCldren. n broad chin covering almost every malfeasance. MayoroJonny Cannuck shakes is hnd, pum- (They are waiting, one should add, the arrival of ping vigorously. At the same time he turns to an Sam Ewessofeh. Sam is to play another round of aide: "Better round up some virgins and children " free trade poker with Mayor Johnny and the boys. we can make this guy at home." The game is scheduled for the Legion hall since the The room for a moment sounds like a horse fly in only other property in town with public facilities is eat. The Mayor, and Sam, and a few other coun- the McDonald's restaurant. The last round was held cillors, start moving toward the backroom. in the Beaver Lone Star saloon. But the townsfolk tI knew it," says Broadaxe. "Next he'll be wan- burned down the Lone Star last July 1, claiming ting to seh us encyclopedias and Bibles." such a saloon was.not in keeping with the Canadian But now tbey are gone compietely, ieaving sucge. he asloow so n keemg withtheanadian Broadaxe alone in the room with Gertie the Garter, image. They thus destroyed the only backroom in woi eidtebrplsiggass town.) wbo is behind the bar polisbing glasses. "Before you go," she says, her voice carrying "If we'da met at McDonald's I coulda had a fillet over her shoulder and halting Broadaxe as though while we waited," says Bent Broadaxe. be bas been gripped by a shepherd's crook. "I want "If ya want a flly, maybe you should look Gertie to talk to you about Pay Equity." over again,t" someone replies. "A wonderful idea, wonderful, wonderful," says A sopping bar cloth sails across the room, landing Broadaxe. "But that's... " perfectly in a mouth. " Just because I used to be a. "Oh, sure," says Gertie. "That's a provincial saloon girl," Gertie snarled, "doesn't mean I have matter. Don't you think I read the BNA Act, too? I to put up with your dirty talk." just want to get some feed back before I take this to Razor Strop, wbo ran against Johnny Cannuck in a higher court. You are in favor of Pay Equity, the last election, focuses his eyes on a single point. aren't you?" " I think we sbould toss Sam out when he gets here," "0f course, of course," burps Broadaxe. Most he says. "He wants us to gamble away our whole politicians do that, repeat themselves when they town. He wants to put his culture up against ours. have nothing constructive to add. You know what tbat means? Ail our eucbre decks, "Weii, what I want to know is, do I get it? I mean, bowling ba tas, crokitole boards... e before the Lone Star burned down, I earned three, oHe'l want our women, and close our buggy whip four time what I do now. So is a bartendpr's work of factories," adds Broadaxe. equal value to that of a saloon girl? And does that Mayor Johnny Cannuck shifts his position bring my wages up or cut the going rate for saloon minutely. "Now don't be hasty. Remember, he is girl tips? If youknow what I mean?" our guest. I think it would be onlyrightm wewers to ,Broadaxeis.not surehewants.to. eoi