In recent weeks it seems a light has turned on for some new home buyers and local councils: high density equals little parking.
Rockwood, Erin, Centre Wellington and no doubt other spots that have had big-builder subdivisions pop up in recent years all sing the same tune. This is the fall out of provincial policy demanding new builders maximize land use.
On the surface it was a lovely idea, and we have no doubt some builders like cramming in homes. Less pipe in the ground, less concrete to pour and less asphalt to lay. But after the first awesome summer in a new home, faults begin to show.
Last year, many of these subdivisions were deluged with snow. Already narrow streets and less than ample driveways were impacted by unsafe snow piles, taller in spots than an adult. Every other service, from garbage and recycling collection to safety matters like hydrant clearing, was made far more difficult to handle due to tight streetscapes.
Family celebrations or company coming over only add to the parking woes. It must be mighty frustrating for those who entertain and want to do right by their neighbours, who put up with clogged streets.
With a worsening economy and likely an ambitious reach to get into the housing market in the first place, some homeowners have sublet rooms or added basement apartments to help defray costs. Few of these potential impacts on the streetscape were considered when initial development plans were approved.
Traffic? Well, that’s a whole other issue.
A scarcity of local employment forces many newcomers to head elsewhere for jobs. That adds to countless others over the years who sought a better quality of life for their family and more home for the money. The morning exodus begins far earlier than it once did. Traffic along the way – in many other small towns and urban clusters – forces commuters to hop in their car and hope they arrive to work on time. The return in the late afternoon, or into the evening, shows up in long lines of idling vehicles as far as the eye can see. Indeed, as the days become shorter and darkness descends, our personal ride home includes a glimpse of Highway 6 in the distance where headlights dance along like a train in the night.
Recognizing these changes anecdotally, begs the larger question: is this living? Have we become so wrapped up in the rat race that we are sacrificing our quality of life?
While changing this growth-at-all-costs mentality would be difficult in the extreme, we do believe citizens in these new subdivisions need to be heard. They have a story to tell, and it sure isn’t the fairy-tale developers and the province have spun.
Trustees, school board changes
A professional friendship closing in on 30 years netted a peculiar talking point the other day.
It was almost a “jinx” kind of moment when we both noted being around too long and knowing too much. But we have seen plenty in that time, know many nuances long forgotten and top-notch people who have moved on to their great reward.
It is through that mindset we bring up an old name from years ago. Betty Jones was a local school board trustee from old Eramosa. At the time there were many “Bettys.” Sincere, genuine, excited about educational opportunities for students and we would suggest, in it for all the right reasons.
Times were a bit simpler, and education focused on the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic. Her time followed many years after the consolidation of local schools, which occurred in the 1960s. That concept replaced one-room schools, which had often been run by local parents serving as trustees.
With size came the chance to access larger pools of teachers, to standardize education and to develop a more robust environment for students.
Over time, the bureaucracy grew, and procedures burgeoned. Volume replaced simplicity and the more convoluted the system became, the more it cost. Unions flourished, politics began to define conversations about education and here we are today.
In recent weeks students have returned to school, and the role of trustees came into question. Ontario’s Progressive Conservative provincial government has taken over leadership at some school boards in the province as a result of claimed impropriety. Poor spending choices that reflect the acrimonious disregard political types seem to show for the public purse are part of it.
The desire to centralize and control makes up the balance of the argument to consider eliminating school boards altogether.
There is no doubt that the education system has issues to solve.
Underfunding, allocation of resources, poor upkeep, constantly rising labour costs and a bloated bureaucracy have always been issues of concern. Perhaps this is the juggernaut Ford’s team wants to tackle, but we aren’t convinced these age-old problems are in any better hands with a faceless bureaucracy at Queen’s Park, than management by local trustees, elected by local residents.
This will be a case of “stay tuned,” as the province tests its theories elsewhere.
If Betty was here to chime in, we suspect it would be a soft question like “what’s in the best interests of the children?”
That’s a question that should be on everyone’s mind.
